Arguably, the best-written stories and best creative runs came soon after in the Eighties (for me, the early part of the Eighties as there isn't much for the latter half that I have any use for), but the foundation for those days was laid for me earlier on. I'd have loved JB's run on the Fantastic Four anyway, I think, but seeing the series in reprints at its inception and then what was done with it later greatly enhanced the notion that here it was again, finally being done better than it had been in years! Heady stuff to be sure, but only possible for me through the lens of my intense albeit scattershot involvement with the history of the book up to that point, and all of that took place in the 70's.

The 70's were great for me because both companies tried so many interesting things--we had the classics still looking like the classics, and we had new characters and concepts being explored.  I'm cheating a little bit here though since Marvel was doing so many reprints, my "70's" included the best of the 60's too!

The early 80's with Miller, Byrne, Simonson, etc. really getting rolling seemed like the great culmination of where books like DAREDEVIL, THOR, X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR, and some others should go.  And then...everything fell apart.  I drifted away, though there were a number of independents that grabbed me and kept my love for comics alive.

Looking back on it, a lot of my preferences were based on the writer / artist combinations that were in place at DC and Marvel during that decade. It was a fabulous time to dive into comic books. Consider...

John Byrne (our superb host) and his 80s work on:

ACTION COMICS

SUPERMAN

MAN OF STEEL

LEGENDS

THE UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN

THE AVENGERS

WEST COAST AVENGERS

ALPHA FLIGHT

X-MEN (the tail end of the Byrne/Claremont run)

CAPTAIN AMERICA (the all too brief Stern/Byrne combo)

FANTASTIC FOUR 

THE INCREDIBLE HULK (again, a short but great run)

The debut of Frank Miller and his 80s output:

DAREDEVIL

RONIN

WOLVERINE (the first four issue mini-series)

The 80s British invasion of Alan Moore with...

V FOR VENDETTA (loved David Lloyd's pencils)

WATCHMEN (ditto for Dave Gibbons)

My introduction to the talents of George Perez:

THE AVENGERS

WONDER WOMAN

NEW TEEN TITANS

IRON MAN with art by John Romita Jr.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK with Sal Buscema 

CONAN THE BARBARIAN with John Buscema / Roy Thomas

KING CONAN with Buscema & THomas at the helm

THOR with art by Keith Pollard and written by Mark Gruenwald

POWER MAN & IRON FIST with art by Kerry Gammill

GREEN ARROW - The Longbow Hunters by Mike Grell

Yes, I certainly read some great comics during the 90s and the 00s, but nothing compares to discovering those DC / Marvel characters while they are in the capable hands of the talented writers and artists that blossomed during the Eighties. They made a tremendous impression on me as a teenager and made reading comics a part of my life that I cherished for more than thirty years.