I’m Getting My Brother into Comics – Help Me

I recently went to Hastings to buy my younger brother some comics in order to find common ground and start a tradition for him.

I like Spider-Man, Scarlet Spider, Punisher, Deadpool, Superman, and Batman.

He likes Iron Man, Deadpool, Thor, and Spider-Man.

I bought him some single issue magazines of Deadpool Corps and Batman and Robin, the story-line that puts original Robin, Dick Grayson, into the Batsuit.

But, I was most pleased to find a complete graphic novel Amazing Spider-Man: Death of the Stacys. As a Spider-Man fan, I feel he needs to know the significance of Gwen Stacy and her death, to not only Spider-Man, but to the whole comic world. Before Mary Jane, there was Gwen Stacy.

Never had a hero failed so catastrophically, never had a loved one died without warning. To most experts, this story-line ended the Silver Age of Comics.

I need your help finding good heroes, and good story-line archs. The essential stories. I'm talking Knightfall, where Bane breaks Batman's back, Death of Superman, Batman: Year One.  What comics does my brother need to know?