Now I was massively into DC comics (and a few Marvels) for most of my life up to my mid-30s when I just could not justify the cost anymore.
There are creators that I love, and there are stories that have become the fabric of my personal lore in many ways.
It would be very hard to answer “X is the greatest comic story of all-time” but honestly, if I was truly forced to pick just 1 issue of something, it would have to be “Who is Donna Troy?” from The New Teen Titans #38 (Jan 4, 1984).
Geez. I was 13!
Marv Wolfman and George Pérez crafted a truly beautiful story, using the device of Dick Grayson’s detective skills to finally give Donna Troy (then Wonder Girl) a real history.
If you don’t know, Wonder Girl’s actual inclusion in the first team-up of the kid sidekicks back in the The Brave and the Bold #54 in 1964 was a huge mistake.
Writer Bob Haney saw “Wonder Girl” in the Wonder Woman book and assumed she was a sidekick, when in fact Wonder Girl was actually Wonder Woman as a teen and appeared in several imaginary stories and such. She was not a real character per se.
So Wonder Girl gets plopped down with Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad but was not an actual real character.
It would be years before she was made Wonder Woman’s adopted sister, and then even more years before a true history for her would be created in The New Teen Titans #38, her true history uncovered by Dick Grayson as a wedding gift to Donna Troy who would soon marry.
This is indeed a special piece of comics history.