[Zero]

OK - Return's Watchmen thread has had me thinking about the moments in comics history that really got to me. . .so here is my top 5 list(which is obviously heavily drawn from the titles I read like X-Men):

5) Colossus Fails - Generation Next
In the generally disappointing Age of Apocalypse cross-over, the one title I really liked was Generation Next, which was a variation of Generation X (another title I really liked). In this cross-over series Colossus leads a group of young and untried x-men into the lair of the Sugarman to free his sister in order to return the universe to normal. As his young charges fight for their lives, Colossus chooses to rescue his sister and then, in typical heroic fashion, goes racing back to rescue his young students. . . but the massive door slams shut . . . he is too late and they all die. How many times do you see a hero fail so utterly undercut by his own personal biases. . . i was really devastated by this ending to that mini-series.

4) Wolverine- "Now its my turn"
Perhaps the second single greatest panel in comics history. The X-Men have all been beaten handily by the Hellfire Club, who have also seduced Phoenix into becoming Dark Phoenix. The only X-man not piled into cages is Wolverine who has crushed through the floor and into the sewers below, presumably dead. But in the final panel of the comic, Wolverine pops up from the sewer, covered in muck and claws gleaming says "now its my turn" - this is the real reason that Wolverine became such an icon!

3) Death of Dark Phoenix
Dark Phoenix was probably the greatest arc in any regular series and her suicide at the end brought this epic tale to its only logical conclusion (pity marvel couldn't let it alone and had to find a way to bring her back - proving the rule, only Bucky stays dead)

2) Batman beats Super-ass!
But, despite my unrepentant Marvel love, the top two are both DC alternative universe titles. Dark Knight Returns was the second greatest series in regular comics history - behind only Watchmen. But the ending of DKR, where the Batman proves once and for all that he is the world's biggest ass-kicker almost pushes it to the top!

1) Ending of Watchmen - "i've already done it"
Wow - for an epic that literally changed the nature of comics in the same way that Ulysses changed the nature of the novel this ending did not disappoint. The final overwhelming twist on the comic genre devastates everything we thought about heroism and the whole "truth, justice and the american way' stuff would never be the same!

Others?