Ah, The Dark Knight was something my brothers got me to read many years after I gave up comics because they knew I'd love it.
But before that, there were the series of Batman comics drawn by Neal Adams, inked by Dick Giordano, and stories by Denny O'Neil and they were truly among the highest quality of comics. The same team also did Green Lantern/Green Arrow and was, probably, even better than their Batman.
Of course, there was Jack Kirby upon his arrival at DC launching The New Gods, Mister Miracle, The Forever People, and believe it or not, the "fourth" of this "trilogy" was Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Pal, all tied into the cosmic struggle between New Genesis and Apokolips, ruled by Darkseid. Truly monumental books.
Marvel had something similar though my brothers and I thought it was more a knockoff, after Jim Starlin took over Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell of the Kree Empire), which, while more New Agey, was still a cosmic struggle, between Mar-Vell and his thin band of allies versus Thanos, the mad Titan and his hordes.
Oh, to me those were the REAL golden days of comics; again, truly monumental comic entertainment.