Items8The creator’s order
  1. 1Alias (2001)Alias (2001)Published Jan 1, 2001Jessica Jones is a former superhero turned cynical private investigator in New York, and Brian Michael Bendis writes her cases as grubby, talky casework rather than capes and punch-ups. Alias launched Marvel's mature MAX line in 2001 and ran 28 issues, with Michael Gaydos drawing gritty,…0
  2. 2Cage (2002)Cage (2002)Published Jan 1, 2002Brian Azzarello and Richard Corben's five-issue MAX series from 2002 turns Luke Cage into a hired hand on a rough beat, asked to look into the death of a young girl killed when one set of gangsters shot at another. It plays as street crime, not superheroics. What matters is the seedy strip club,…0
  3. 3Punisher Max by Garth Ennis Omnibus (2018)Punisher Max by Garth Ennis Omnibus (2018)Published Jan 1, 2018Garth Ennis wrote the first 60 issues of The Punisher under the MAX banner, starting in January 2004, and this omnibus edition collects that run. The setup removes the superhero world entirely: no costumes, no guest stars, only Frank Castle against gangsters and worse. It is widely called the best…0
  4. 4Luke Cage Noir (2009)Luke Cage Noir (2009)Published Jan 1, 2009Marvel's Noir line drops Luke Cage into Prohibition-era Harlem, home after doing his time, and hands him a classic private-eye setup: a wealthy white man hires him to find out how his wife ended up murdered uptown. Mike Benson and Adam Glass write it as straight period crime over four issues, and…0
  5. 5The Punisher by Greg Rucka (2012)The Punisher by Greg Rucka (2012)Published Jan 1, 2012Greg Rucka's 2011 Punisher is the procedural take on Frank Castle. It opens with gunmen shooting up a wedding, and the bride, Rachel Cole, survives to become as much the lead as Frank himself. Two New York detectives work the case from the other side, one of them secretly feeding the Punisher…0
  6. 6Hawkeye by Matt Fraction & David Aja Omnibus (2015)Hawkeye by Matt Fraction & David Aja Omnibus (2015)Published Jan 1, 2015This omnibus collects Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye, which began in 2012 and treats Clint Barton as an ordinary guy in a world of gods and super-soldiers, spending his time protecting his apartment building and its neighbors from Russian mobsters in tracksuits. It is lighter and funnier…0
  7. 7Moon Knight Volume 1: From the Dead (2014)Moon Knight Volume 1: From the Dead (2014) 7.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2014This first collection holds Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey's whole 2014 Moon Knight run: six issues, and each one is a complete story, so it suits readers who want a case wrapped up per sitting. Marc Spector is back in New York, and colorist Jordie Bellaire keeps him in pure white against the…0
  8. 8Alias: Red Band (2026)Alias: Red Band (2026)Published Jan 1, 2026The newest option here, launched March 11, 2026, puts Jessica Jones back in adults-only territory: a series of grisly murders in Hell's Kitchen pulls her into a case alongside Typhoid Mary, while she is now married to Luke Cage, the city's mayor. Sam Humphries writes, Geraldo Borges draws, and…0