Here is a list of comics that were influential to me as a kid. There have been better comics before and since, but these are the ones that got me going. In no particular ranking order....
1. X-Men 1. A simply beautiful comic. To this day, Jim Lee is still my favorite artist. This got me started reading.
2. X-Men 25/Wolverine 75. Holo-card cover. Seeing Magneto rip Wolverine's metal out. Ouch. I actually own the entire Fatal Attractions collection, but these are the two that stick out. These got me started collecting.
3. Spiderman 1. Todd MacFarlane. Enough said.
4. Gen13 1-20ish. I loved this series, but it simply didn't come out consistently. I eventually stopped reading. In any case, a comic with kid heroes. Cool.
5. Superman 75. He dies!
6. Sandman 50. The entire series and spin-offs are great. This is the first one I read.
7. Marvels. Who knew a comic could look so beautiful?
8. Kingdom Come. DC's version of Marvels.
9. Wild CATS 1. This wasn't really a good comic series, but it pushed me to read Image and Wildstorm. Yes, I read WildCats before Spawn.
10. Frank Miller's Dark Knight. People rave about Nolan's Batman movies, but they are late to the party.
11. JLA 1. This was the first time I had the chance to see all the DC heroes together. This is the first series that I bought monthly.
12. Kabuki Reflections 1. There used to be a bad girl trend in the industry. This is the first one I got into.
13. Hellblazer 1. For you new school kids, it's Constantine. Along with Sandman, this really got me reading non-DC and non-Marvel stuff. I really appreciate these comics for helping me branch out my reading.
14. Thunderbolts. A twist ending in a comic book! This was Sixth Sense to me as a kid. Plot twists are common these days, but this was a big one back in the day.
15. Green Lantern 50. A hero that actually went bad guy crazy? People hate Kyle, but my journey with GL started with Kyle.
I am leaving out a ton, but these are just a sample of what got me started. Maybe I'll make another thread about my favorite story arcs and comic books. For example, Scott Pilgrim, Preacher, Sin City, etc. Those are really good comics, but I read those after I was already an active reader.