I have been out of the scene for a good little while and am interested in picking up some trades of things i missed. I'm not even sure where to start.

Here are some things i liked:

Sandman - I love the mythology and the writing. It was the first of the storylines that really hooked me.

Ed Brubaker's Catwoman - I was buying single issues of this when it first came out. I still have 1/2 a shortbox of unread single issues that i may just give away if i can buy trades of the series to read now.

Anything by Jim Mahfood. I first read Grrl Scouts and then his One Page Adventure Man. I think the man can do no wrong.

Others i have casually read and enjoyed: Powers, Bast, Runaways, the Hush storyline of Batman, Hellboy, Hell Blazer, and Preacher.

So, based on all of that, can someone turn me on to something new (to me at least)?

Both HC collections of The Ultimates are tough to beat, and make a great saga if read back-to-back (as I'm currently doing for the second time).

A few thoughts:

Rex Mundi -- A really well done story that plumbs the Knights Templar/Grail/Rennes-Les-Chateaux conspiracies that showed up in The Da Vinci Code, only this book is set in 1930s France in a world where the Protestant Reformation never happened.

Anything by Alan Moore -- Including but not limited to Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Top Ten, Swamp Thing, and Supreme. There's also a trade paperback collecting all of the stories set in the DC Universe (except for his run on Swamp Thing) that has some can't miss comics in it -- For the Man Who Has Everything, The Killing Joke, and some great Green Lantern stuff.

Batman: The Long Halloween -- Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale did a number of projects together for both DC and Marvel, all of which are great, but this is my favorite. Set in the early days of Batman's career, it's filled with mobsters and costumed criminals.

The Escapists -- A recent miniseries spinning out of Michael Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Chabon's book was about two golden age comic book creators who came up with a superhero called the Escapist; the comic details the story of some comic book creators who revive the character in modern times.

Rex Mundi sounds very good, i will have to hunt it down.

Oddly enough the other recommendations you mentioned i have read. I don't own any of those (and was why i forgot them) but have gotten them from the local library. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale did do an incredible job. Were they the ones who also did Superman: A Man for All Seasons? I loved the art in that book.

Loeb and Sale did do Superman: A Man For All Seasons. Their other collaborations:

Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: Dark Victory
They did a few Batman short stories that are collected in a volume whose name escapes me
Chazllengers of the Unknown Must Die (they did this back in the early 90s, before anyone knew who they were)
Daredevil: Yellow
Spider-Man: Blue
Hulk: Grey

Since you seem to like Ed Brubaker, may I recommend his Captain America:




And I'll second the Escapists recommendation - best book I've read this decade.

I have a question about Runaways, since someone recommended it, I saw the hard cover VOl 1 and 2 today, I will be going into them completely blind and I have heard great things about the current series, but I was completely unaware there was a previous series. Do you guys recommend one over the other, or should I start with Vol one and go on to vol 2 and so forth...

Start with Volume 1 of Runaways. In the first place, I think it's much better than Volume 2 (not that Volume 2 is bad, but Volume 1 is absolutely great and Volume 2 is just good). In the second place, Volume 2 contains significant spoilers for Volume 1.