We all have trade paperback (TPB) collections we'd like to see. Here's one of mine:

Gallery

You might not know it today, but for the time, this was an epic story. Ken Connell, wielder of the Star Brand, is the most powerful man in the New Universe, but frankly, isn't very good at using the power. Deciding that he doesn't deserve the power, he tries to transfer it to a handheld weight, and blows up all of Pittsburgh. Oops.

The Pitt shows the NU's reaction to this devastation (which gets named the "Black Event"), and that leads to a government response, which leads to The Draft, which leads into The War. That may not seem like a big deal now, but at the time, the decision to wipe a fictional version of a real city off the map made the news, and actually had people in Pittsburgh asking, "Why us?" The answer to that is pretty simple: because then they can name the crater left behind "The Pitt." Duh.

If you don't think this was a big deal, consider the number of times it's been imitated since then: 1) Coast City (Reign of the Supermen, DC); 2) Moscow (Trencher, Black Ball Comics); 3) Detroit (Freak Force, Image); 4) Qurac (an entire country! Outsiders, DC)... I believe there's a couple of others, but c'mon! At least five different smoking craters where cities or countries used to be, thanks to superpowers! If it were all one comic universe, Earth would be a pockmarked pustule of a planet. As far as I know, New Universe is where that city leveling trend started. That's why I'd like to see this TPB - to reread the story that started it all.

10/13/12 Update: Thanks to running across The Pitt story arc page, I added Justice #18 and D.P.7 #18, both of which tie in to The Pitt. The Justice issue is about Justice having a premonition of The Pitt disaster, and the D.P.7 issue is about the D.P.7 team checking out the devastation. I suppose they're not essential, but what the heck, a 9 issue trade makes me feel like I got my money's worth in a TPB, and it's more in line with the Marvel Classic series of trades.

For the cover...well, I don't really like any of the issue covers for the TPB cover, to be honest. However, out of all of them, I think that Justice #18 is the most striking, and it's one of the only ones that gives any indication of what The Black Event was.