Yo! Hamsters, over here…munch away
I second the early Giffen Legion issues, especially the Darkness Saga,
the Giffen JLA was hilarious, no question.
Sandman (Gaiman) raised the bar on comics. I love the Endless.
Kingdom Come
The current JLA is great, the New World Order arc especially.
One I’ve never forgotten, DeStefano’s ‘Mazing Man.
Moores’ Swamp Thing.
And really, some of the very early comics are simply fun to read anytime. Old Superman, Green Lantern, All Star.
I would completely agree. But what do you consider the #1 X-Men story?
Behold the power of ditto!
I have been enjoying the Ultimates quite a bit as well.
But Off The Toppa My Head-
Watchmen-What would superheroes really be like? How would the world really react to them? Characters who have depth and develop and change throughout the story. Layer upon layer of meaning and plot. Worthy of its reputation
V For Vendetta I haven’t even got all the issues, and I still consider this one of the greatest comics ever. After a devastating war, England has become an Orwellian nightmare. A single man is working to bring down the system. He is a genius and a fool. He has no face. He has no name. They call him V.
Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children Text against splash pages of black and white paintings. Not every issue was a masterpiece. But many were.
* Can’t Remember Story Title* -A solid rainbow appears in a neighborhood. People try desperately to ignore it. Then it dies and the whole town works to bury it and the fact it was ever there.
A Conspiracy Of Sweaters - A man who has lost his sight is in a mental institution, learning how to cope with the loss and take control of his life again. The Protector, the world’s only superhero, checks in. He announces that he quits and the world will have to do without him.
Beneath A Useless Universe-An old man comes home to find Death in his kitchen. Death hasn’t come to claim him. And he doesn’t take a holiday. Death stays with the man for a while and reveals that he doesn’t have the answers either.
A CottonCandy Autopsy-A 3 part storyline(Anybody’s Freak, Abajo, and The Resurrection Of Joey Punchinello) that starts with clowns fleeing a burning circus. On their travels they find love, death, their inner demons, and perhaps salvation.
Another (and another, and another) vote for The Dark Knight Returns.
I would also submit that other Miller classic - Batman: Year One. The story parallels between Bruce Wayne returning to Gotham to find his calling and Gordon coming to Gotham to join the police force are incredible.
But Off The Toppa My Head-
Watchmen-What would superheroes really be like? How would the world really react to them? Characters who have depth and develop and change throughout the story. Layer upon layer of meaning and plot. Worthy of its reputation
V For Vendetta I haven’t even got all the issues, and I still consider this one of the greatest comics ever. After a devastating war, England has become an Orwellian nightmare. A single man is working to bring down the system. He is a genius and a fool. He has no face. He has no name. They call him V.
Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children Text against splash pages of black and white paintings. Not every issue was a masterpiece. But many were.
* Can’t Remember Story Title* -A solid rainbow appears in a neighborhood. People try desperately to ignore it. Then it dies and the whole town works to bury it and the fact it was ever there.
A Conspiracy Of Sweaters - A man who has lost his sight is in a mental institution, learning how to cope with the loss and take control of his life again. The Protector, the world’s only superhero, checks in. He announces that he quits and the world will have to do without him.
Beneath A Useless Universe-An old man comes home to find Death in his kitchen. Death hasn’t come to claim him. And he doesn’t take a holiday. Death stays with the man for a while and reveals that he doesn’t have the answers either.
A CottonCandy Autopsy-A 3 part storyline(Anybody’s Freak, Abajo, and The Resurrection Of Joey Punchinello) that starts with clowns fleeing a burning circus. On their travels they find love, death, their inner demons, and perhaps salvation.
What I mean by that comment is, it is a story fimly entrenched as being set in the eighties. You cannot try and place it in todays world, as it will no longer make sense in accordance with the timeline set in the book. In using the term “dated”, I in no way meant it to sound deragatory.
Speaking as a Batman fan, I think Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke is a top example of good storytelling. Being one of the first Batman stories I ever read, it forever defined the Joker in my mind.
I think Gotham by Gaslight needs to be mentioned, both for being the first Elseworlds book, and also being a great story.
And Cerebus was amazing, up until its author went nuts…
Plus of course:
Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Kingdome Come, Year One…
Moonshadow by J.M. DeMatteis and Jon J. Muth.
Whimsical, yet emotionally deep and moving. Very well written and wonderfully illustrated.
My favorite of all time.
And Moonshadow’s dad looked like this: 
From Hell by Alan Moore. The movie sucked but the comic was brilliant.
Neil Gaiman’s use of mythology, legend, and imagination in SANDMAN is enough in and of itself to defend the intellectual merit of comic books. My favorite moment: the goddess Ishtar working in a strip club giving dances to the most pathetic and desperate men there, because they’re the ones who literally worship her.