Batman: Arkham Asylum: written by Grant Morrison, art by Dave McKean. The art is unrealistic, which is fitting to this scary, nigh-hallucinogenic story. Not McKean at his best, though. A good beginning by Grant quickly devolves into Diehard In An Asylum. Poor Finish, although the 'psychological profiles' of the inmates of Arkham included at the end are quite interesting.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: by Frank Miller. Original, but depressing. I especially didn't enjoy the fate of Selina Kyle. I've always thought this story was a bit overrated.
Batman: The Killing Joke: written by Alan Moore. Much less enjoyable than Dark Knight Returns. Alan is good, but Denny O'Neil has forgotten more about the emotional relationship between Batman and the Joker than Alan will ever understand. This issue is famous for the sick way in which the Joker brutalizes Barbara Gordon, a.k.a. Batgirl, leaving her crippled. She has yet to overcome this injury, even though when Bane broke Bruce's spine, he was back to his old self in roughly a year (though I admit it felt like a lot longer).
Batman: Knightfall: Speaking of Bane and Batman, let's not.
Batman: Year One: by Frank Miller. THIS is what Batfans should be impressed with the man for. It's a bit violent, but I'd say it deserves to be on this list.
The Big Book of Urban Legends: Oh brother. And besides, it's only a collection of urban legends, not of comic book issues. Pretty semantic advertising...
The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman: deserves to be on the list.
Camelot 3000: I read issue 1 and wasn't impressed, but based on the way everyone treats it so reverently, I suppose I'd better not judge it until I've read them all.
Death: The High Cost of Living: Not a great story...the finish seems weak...but it's so much better than its sequel (Time of Your Life), I'll leave it alone since Neil wrote it (one just wishes he hadn't written Time of Your Life).
The Death of Superman: what a rip-off.
JLA: New World Order (Hyperclan): I find the art to be terrible, though based on Porter's other work, I suspect we should blame the inker... and besides, Grant's not near as witty and clever a scripter as he used to be.
Kingdom Come: I refuse to comment on Kingdom Come at this time. Ask me about it next millennium, when we can all attain some emotional distance (might take until mid-millennium).
The Man of Steel: by John Byrne: A mediocre, melodramatic reworking of the legend to gloss over the effects of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Preacher: Gone To Texas: The Bill Hicks of comic books. Garth would be honored by my saying so. But what I actually mean is this: it's hardly for everyone. But then I suppose that people who feel like running out and buying 25 graphic novels because they are collectors will be out of high school at the very least... or will they? Anyway, ignoring these concerns, it was all done better by Garth in Hellblazer.
The Return of Superman: The reason why the death was a gyp. I heard a story about how they asked Neil if Death could appear in the story. "Is he really dead?" Neil reportedly asked. The answer was no. "Then we shouldn't see her there."
Ronin: I haven't read it.
The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes: The beginning of Sandman... but Neil's craft is not yet perfected at that point.
The Sandman: Dream Country: A mixed bag, but the stories are certainly "award-winning." Neil Gaiman is the reason they started excluding comic books from annual fantasy short story contests.
Star Trek: Debt of Honor by Chris Claremont: I haven't read it, so no comment.
Stuck Rubber Baby: Haven't read it. But if you'd buy the death and rebirth of Superman, are you really that interested in ANYTHING from Paradox Press? And besides, how is this a collection?
The System: This is sequential art, but is it a comic book story? This takes about three minutes to "read", but you'll be rereading it and contemplating its messages and nuances for maybe... ten.
V for Vendetta: deserves to be on the list.
Watchmen: deserves to be on the list.
World Without A Superman: The mourning period of the rip-off.
Okay, having said that, what might be some more worthy alternatives?
Starman: Sins of the Father: the beginning of it all for Jack Knight.
The Golden Age by James Robinson: a retelling of it all for everybody (but with a JSA flavor).
World's Finest: Batman and Supes team up to handle Luthor and the Joker when they trade cities. Modern Age storytelling with a Pre-Crisis feel.
Ray: In a Blaze of Power: Light-hearted origin of a cool, powerful hero. Cool, non-Porter art by Joe Quesada, whom I hardly ever hear about anymore.
Enemy Ace: War Idyll: no one ever talks about this great trade paperback. As I recall, John J. Muth does the art... I can't recall if he wrote it too or not. I don't think so.
Flash: Return of Barry Allen: Why wasn't this on the list???
Flash: Terminal Velocity: Tons of action, and a great love story between Wally and Linda. Lois and Clark should take romance lessons from these two. As I recall, this has the (first) origin of Impulse in it too, right?
Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told Volume 1: the Batman collection for those who don't want to pay 50 bucks a pop for the Archive hardbacks.
Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told Volume 2: could have been called "The Greatest Catwoman and Penguin Stories Ever Told." The Penguin stories are decent, I suppose, but golly, lookit that Selina. Mee-yow.
Robin: A Hero Reborn: Tim Drake proves himself officially. Starring the Scarecrow, Lady Shiva and the first appearances of King Snake and Lynx.
Animal Man: The first Animal Man issues, by Grant Morrison: It took a bit for Grant to really catch his stride, but this is still better than most of the 25 suggested at the top of this page.
Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage: Hey Kids-- Remember when Grant Morrison was... well, Grant Morrison? Buy this trade paperback and you too can sneer at the new JLA like us old fogeys (or, well, like me. I guess I'm the only one now that I think about it).
Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits: Just like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Garth was better back before everybody in the world discovered him.
Invisibles: Say You Want A Revolution: It's paranoid like Preacher. It's got blood and guts and bullets and anal humor like Preacher. It's twisted and cool and free of the trappings of superhero comics like Preacher. But brother, it ain't Preacher. Read a comic that actually gets its message across when it wants to (which is fairly often), plus lots of mystery and government conspiracies.
Mr. Punch: Too mature for superhero comics OR gritty guns and blood stories? Here's a little more Neil Gaiman for ya. Not as good as early Sandman, but what is?
Sandman: Brief Lives: his best storyline in my opinion, plus Jill Thompson is so ginchy.
Sandman: Fables and Reflections: You really get a lot more for your money with this than with Dream Country.
Sandman: Season of Mists: Have some more Neil Gaiman.
Swamp Thing: Love And Death: Alan Moore at his best, except for "Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow?" and some unpublished work.
Crossover Classics: DC/Marvel Collections: Okay, it's not a purely DC production, but once again, it's better than most of the list they suggest at the top of the page, and MUCH MUCH MUCH better than the more recent DC vs. Marvel.
Not counting the Crossover Classics, that makes 19.... round out my list of 25 with any 6 Archive Editions.
So! If we take the ones from the first list that I think might, I say MIGHT deserve to be there:
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Year One
The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman
Camelot 3000
Death: The High Cost of Living
Kingdom Come
Preacher: Gone To Texas
Ronin
The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes
The Sandman: Dream Country
Star Trek: Debt of Honor by Chris Claremont
Stuck Rubber Baby
V for Vendetta
Watchmen
We have 14, with a gap of 11. Might I suggest, then, the substitution of:
Starman: Sins of the Father
The Golden Age by James Robinson
World's Finest
Enemy Ace: War Idyll
Flash: Return of Barry Allen
Flash: Terminal Velocity
Robin: A Hero Reborn
Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage
Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits
Invisibles: Say You Want A Revolution
Swamp Thing: Love And Death
That's more like it! Now, go get about 450 bucks out of the bank, and start or enhance your collection, kids! Go on! Have fun!