JLA - Heaven's Ladder

In this 2001 prestige-format one-shot from Panini Deutschland, writer Mark Waid and artist Bryan Hitch deliver a standalone JLA epic that redefines the team's cosmic scale. The story pits the League against a godlike alien intelligence, showcasing Hitch's groundbreaking splash pages and Waid's character-driven spectacle. Though a single issue, it stands as a landmark of early-2000s superhero storytelling, demonstrating how a self-contained graphic novel could capture the awe of the DC Universe's mightiest heroes.