Yeah, I loved some of the earlier trades. (I wasn't trying to call you out on your quote! Just realized the two components of my post could be construed that way but that's not the case.)

Oh, no worries. Didn't think that at all. Besides, even if I did, everyone's entitled to an opinion. That's what I love about some of these comic threads. Without multiple voices giving opinions, we'd all be Marvel and DC drones.

^And I would have never tried "Love as a Foreign Language" or several other stories that I liked and several I didn't.

My top 5
 

Watchmen by Alan Moore (Best graphic novel of all time)
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis (Politics and over the top/outrageous behavior, but with a point!)
Blankets by Craig Thompson (a beautiful indy read)
Superman For All Seasons - Jeph Loeb (My favorite Superman story of all time)
Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek (My 2nd favorite Superman story of all time)

That's my top 5! Lots of great suggestions all through this thread, so ya really can't go wrong with any of 'em.

I have nothing to add since I've only read Sandman (which is excellent) and the Walking Dead (plus Watchmen on order) recently, but I want to thank everyone for the ideas in this thread. I've ended up ordering a couple (Invincibles Ultimate HC1 and the first couple of issues of Fable) and probably will get more (like Y and the Preacher) in the future.

I was bagging books last night and came across my collection of Astro City comics. I would give the TPB a shot. I really thought those were done well.