Hero Squared Complete Collection

by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Joe Abraham (illustrator)

The critically acclaimed superhero satire from industry icons Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis (Justice League International) takes the heroic comedy into the multiverse, compiling the entire story in a brand new complete collection.

20 For 20! Celebrate 20 years of BOOM! Studios with the entire critically acclaimed satirical superhero series created by industry legends, Justice League International's Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis!

In the breadth of the multiverse, you could be anything! Even Captain Valor, the legendary superhero, could be a simple slacker named Milo in our world! And is he ever?! When Valor finds himself shunted a universe over and living with his pathetic parallel, it's a team-up for the ages! Together, can they save the world from Valor's arch-enemy, Calignous, who just so happens to be the variant version of Milo's girlfriend, Stephie? Maybe!

A superheroic farce from the Bwa-ha-ha boys, two of the greatest writers of all cape comics, Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis with artists Joe Abraham, Nathan Watson, and more! The ultimate collection of powered hijinks, multiversal metaness, and complicated love triangles!

Collects the Hero Squared X-Tra Sized Special one-shot, Hero Squared (2005) #1-3, Hero Squared (2006) #1-6, Hero Love and Death #1-3, and the Planetary Brigade spinoff series, Planetary Brigade #1-2 and Planetary Origins #1-3!

464 pages, Paperback

Published October 7, 2025

About the author

Keith Ian Giffen was an American comic book illustrator and writer. He is possibly best-known for his long runs illustrating, and later writing the Legion of Super-Heroes title in the 1980s and 1990s. He also created the alien mercenary character Lobo (with Roger Slifer), and the irreverent "want-to-be" hero, Ambush Bug. Giffen is known for having an unorthodox writing style, often using characters in ways not seen before. His dialogue is usually characterized by a biting wit that is seen as much less zany than dialogue provided by longtime collaborators DeMatteis and Robert Loren Fleming. That approach has brought him both criticism and admiration, as perhaps best illustrated by the mixed (although commercially successful) response to his work in DC Comics' Justice League International (1987-1992). He also plotted and was breakdown artist for an Aquaman limited series and one-shot special in 1989 with writer Robert Loren Fleming and artist Curt Swan for DC Comics.

Giffen's first published work was "The Sword and The Star", a black-and-white series featured in Marvel Preview, with writer Bill Mantlo. He has worked on titles (owned by several different companies) including Woodgod, All Star Comics, Doctor Fate, Drax the Destroyer, Heckler, Nick Fury's Howling Commandos, Reign of the Zodiac, Suicide Squad, Trencher (to be re-released in a collected edition by Boom! Studios)., T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and Vext. He was also responsible for the English adaptation of the Battle Royale and Ikki Tousen manga, as well as creating "I Luv Halloween" for Tokyopop. He also worked for Dark Horse from 1994-95 on their Comics Greatest World/Dark Horse Heroes line, as the writer of two short lived series, Division 13 and co-author, with Lovern Kindzierski, of Agents of Law. For Valiant Comics, Giffen wrote XO-Manowar, Magnus, Robot Fighter, Punx and the final issue of Solar, Man of the Atom.

He took a break from the comic industry for several years, working on storyboards for television and film, including shows such as The Real Ghostbusters and Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy.

He is also the lead writer for Marvel Comics's Annihilation event, having written the one-shot prologue, the lead-in stories in Thanos and Drax, the Silver Surfer as well as the main six issues mini-series. He also wrote the Star-Lord mini-series for the follow-up story Annihilation: Conquest. He currently writes Doom Patrol for DC, and is also completing an abandoned Grant Morrison plot in The Authority: the Lost Year for Wildstorm.