Re: Planetary Influences
Planetary.
It has a very interesting take on Marvel's Fantastic Four, and the entire series struck me as being written by the only intelligent people working for that comics company.
Seriously. There's a depth of thought there that's completely missing from the rest of the titles set in the same universe, such as The Authority, which is a basic adolescent power fantasy.
I particularily like the way the writer weaves a "secret history" of the planet under what appear to be the day to day activities of the normal world. In Planetary, most of the time you get the feeling that most people have heard about superheros, but have never met one personally. There are mysteries that haven't been solved.
"Kaiju Island", where all the giant monsters are dead and have been for years... except that one flies over at the very end of the comic. "The Gun Club", with Jules Verne as one of the astronauts. Little things like that.