A bit of hyperbole, no?

as for the argument between swamp thing and justice league, it's ridiculous how much people are undervaluing the anatomy lesson. first of all, how many issues in comic history does the average fan instantly know the story title of? the anatomy lesson, days of future past, oh wait, i can't think of anymore.

but really, this is THE single issue that launched virtually everything good about comics in the last 25 years. british writers? it started here (no gaiman, morrison, or ennis without this issue). vertigo and mature reader comics in general? it started here (sandman wouldn't have been given a chance without the success of hellblazer first. hellblazer spun out of moore's swamp thing). writing being more important, or at least as important, as characters, art, and action? it started here (really, this is the first issue in comics history that became valuable and sought after solely because of who wrote it. that's kind of important, don't you think?)

but even if all of that didn't matter, and this was just another issue that came and went, i mean, read the damn thing! it's a truly amazing story! it's in a 2-way tie with daredevil 181 as my favorite issue ever.

if modern comic history were compared to rock n roll history, then watchmen, dark knight, and sandman would undoubtedly be the beatles, stones, and dylan. but swamp thing is still the elvis that started it all, and "the anatomy lesson" is "that's all right mama"--the opening salvo of a whole new thing.

In the light of history, the JLA/JSA crossover, while still epic for the time, still didn't do anything that had not already happened in Flash, when the Golden Age and Silver Age versions met. It was carrying on a precedent set forth in Flash #123, not starting up a new era for comics in it's own right.

I'm sorry..what's the name of the series that DC is banking being the great golden egg...Final..something?
How many times has that cover been done?

As for the Spider marriage. Let's see...there's something called Brand New Day which is still all about the marriage. There's a book, Spider-Girl, that's sprung from the marriage. Despite Joe Q's protestations, Peter's marriage to Mary Jane and it's demonic dissolution is going to hang over the title and the character until it's undone.

Respectfully, I think you're giving that particular issue, ST #21, a little too much credit. It was essentially a reboot issue in a long run of stories that eventually helped inspire the Vertigo line and more mature storytelling in general (Sandman is an important channel here too, as well as a "Watrchmen" and "DK", etc.), but I think it's a stretch to imply that none of that would have occurred without this particular issue. Not so much the first domino — I think it's more a prelude to greater things.

And while "Flash of Two Worlds" first introduced a Golden Age DC hero into Silver Age continuity, JLA #21 took that idea and multiplied it by 10 and then squared it. It set the ground rules for the burgeoning DC universe. It provided the conceptual conduit for integrating major characters from DC's past and from several other publishers (Fawcett, etc.). It introduced the annual summer-event "Crisis" storylines that ranged across dimensions and almost certainly would add characters and worlds to the DC universe.

Of course, Brian's feature is just as much about "the issue you remember first" as much as "significance," so there's a lot of room for nostalgia in the equation. I grew up in the Bronze age, so JLA #21 to me was the Rosetta Stone and Magna Carta of DC comics.

Well, CIgars is considered part of the early books in the series, when Hergé still didn't much research or worried about avoiding the stereotypes that still plagued his work.

Blue Lotus, on the other hand, is the first Tintin masterpiece and marks the turning point of the series. From then on, Hergé's research would be much more careful and the series ceased to be the simple "gag of the week" comic it was and got far more ambitious.

Other acclaimed books on the series are Tintin in Tibet (which shares with Castafiore Emerald the status of best reviewed album) and The Calculus Affair, the best straight adventure on the series (and Benoît Peeters personal favorite).

The public, on the other hand, tends to prefer the treasure hunt in the Unicorn/Red Rackham books and the Moon books, the big sellers of the series.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

Not a chance. The JSA/JLA's significance pales beside A Flash of Two Worlds and the annual isn't even in continuity any more.

Swamp Thing, on the other hand, is the snowflake that started the avalanche of mainstream mature comics. It's very likely DC's Vertigo imprint wouldn't exist without it. It set off the "British invasion" that lead to so many great titles I think its silly to list them. So which is more important: a comic that started a tradition that has long since fallen by the wayside, a comic that changed a character's status in a way that has since been undone, or the comic that was the first domino in movements that changed the face of comic book publishing?

Interesting, Pedro, that that particular story is the best reviewed. For me, the best Tintin stories would Cigars of the Pharoah and the Blue Lotus. I loved the story from the first carried into the second, and tied up some of the loose ends.

Easily the funniest book on the series, it's also considered the best by most critics (myself included). Lots of "all-time best comic stories" lists worldwide have it in a high placement. However, it's a low-selling album for the series standards, probably due to the lack of action.

Famous belgian comic writer/critic Benoît Peeters wrote a whole book analysing the album, Lire Tintin - Les Bijoux Ravis, a rare honor for any comics.

The album was first published in 1963, after serialization on the Tintin magazine.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

The onslaught of bug based Arcane creations and the mossier Swamp Thing start there.