I loved comic book characters since I was a kids but, I never really got in to collecting comics. I've watched and loved many shows and movies about comics but I'd like to experience them in print also. I'm mostly partial to Marvel but I'll take any recommendations. I have DC vs. Marvel, The Age of Apocalypse, Watchmen, The Killing Joke, and the Dark Phoenix Saga. What are some other things that I should own?

P.S. - I guess I should also include that my favorite characters are Spider-Man, Batman, and the X-Men so any of their greatest stories would be appreciated.

I would highly recommend Batman The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. Those are probably my favorite Batman stories ever.

While it doesn't fit any of your background, I can not recommend Sandman enough.

In no particular order:

Batman: Hush - One of my favorite Batman stories, plus great artwork by Jim Lee
X-Men: Messiah Complex
Astonishing X-Men Vol 1-4 - The first four volumes of this are amazing
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

I just finished up with this series. I blind bought the first Absolute Edition mostly out of curiousity, although I had read some other Gaiman stuff. I recommend it as well. It is highly addictive, especially if you are a literature person and/or like mythology/folklore.

Also, I am a big Batman fan as well, so I might be able to help you out alittle with those. The Batman books I have found most satisfying are:

Long Halloween
Dark Victory
Hush
Dark Knight Returns
The Neil Adams Collections
No Man's Land

Thanks for the suggestions, I ordered The Long Halloween and Messiah Complex and plan on getting the Astonishing X-Men Omnibus that's coming out later this year. Anyway, just seen the Wolverine movie this week, is there a trade that contains what that was based on? Is Wolverine Weapon X by Barry Windsor-Smith about the entire Weapon X project and various characters or just Wolverine?

I've collected comic books for 25 years; I've primarily stuck with Marvel for most of that time. Up until three weeks ago I'd say grab Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men as it was the best thing out in years. Now I'd tell you to go pick up The Walking Dead over at Image. It's not superheros, it's not even in color... but in all honesty it might just make you never buy a cape book again. Stellar stuff in the horror/zombie market. Y: The Last Man also sits in the great non-cape books.

Rising Stars might be a good fit (Image series), I've yet to read Invincible, can anyone say if that's a good fit?

I'm in total agreement with Navinbob, I have recently been getting into Walking Dead as well and it is fantastic.

My wife and I read Jeff Smith's Bone last year and both of us became completely addicted. You can read it in nine TPB's, or there's a One Volume Edition.

Frank Miller's Sin City is good fun, and I would even recommend it even if you weren't interested in the movie version. I thought the comics read more lighthearted than the movie played.

This year, I started reading Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise. I've got the first two TPB's of that series and they're enjoyable. Classic 90s indie stuff.

If you're into Star Wars at all, I recommend Star Wars: Dark Empire. There are contrived plot devices, yes, but it's the mini-series that resurrected the franchise's comic book life and it's actually pretty fun. It's up there with Timothy Zahn's first novel trilogy as essential Expanded Universe material.

Batman, I also suggest Jeff Loeb & Tim Sale's run (Haunted Knight, The Long Halloween, Dark Victory and Catwoman: When in Rome), especially Long Halloween. A Death in the Family, A Lonely Place of Dying and Robin: A Hero Reborn make a nice trilogy, too. And, of course, no comic library is complete with Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

No recommendations for Fables yet? I haven't read many comics in the past 10 years, but I've loved Fables.

I also recommend the Sandman stuff. That was an amazing series.

Perhaps you've heard of The Watchmen.

As a matter of fact, not only is this a TPB obligation, but DC Comics has recently compiled a list of their TPBs/graphic novels that they feel readers of Watchmen will enjoy. Granted, the whole point of their list is to promote their own products, but I have to say it actually is a pretty good list of their titles. I got the list via an e-mail from them a few weeks ago, but if you Google "After Watchmen" and "DC Comics" together, you should find the mini-site with the .pdf guide.

If you want of whole lot of recommendations with some short write ups on each one, you might want to check out this month's Wizard magazine, which contains a list of Wizard's Top 100 Graphic Novels in the magazines lifetime. It was an interesting read and contained alot of great choices, several of have been mentioned here already. Of course like all list of this nature, there is alot I disagree with, but is the nature of these kinds of list, to spark debate.

Looks like Fables is going to be collected in big hardcovers now (not big as in absolute, but seems like they'll collect a few trades each)

He says he has it already.

Someone mentioned Invincible, which is also done by Kirkman (who does Walking Dead). It's more Superman than Batman, but it does have the "young hero" thing similar to early Spiderman, and is just a blast to read. I've been re-reading them in Ultimate Collection form, which is the way to go.

Also been going through James Robinson's incredible Starman run, via the new Omnibus coming out. It's a different take on the superhero genre, without as much spandex and with the son of a golden age hero reluctantly taking up the mantle.

And as a diehard DC fan, even though they have nothing to do with Batman, I have to recommend any of the modern day Geoff Johns JSA collections, as well as Johns' work on Green Lantern. And if you're a Bat-fan, he's got a good role in Morrison's JLA run from a few years ago.

Sorry I can't really wholeheartedly recommend anything in the X-Universe recently, besides Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run. Same with Spider-man, which is a shame, considering those were two of my favorite franchises as a kid. My favorite Spidey title of recent years has been the niche title "Spider-man Loves Mary Jane," which I'm not sure you'll like, given your tastes.

Gonna recommend some of the more mature books out there. The Preacher (Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon) series in impossibly amazing. Also Ennis' The Boys is a raunchy send up of superheroes. Also Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan is a classic series. Imagine Hunter S Thompson in the future and there you go. Any Frank Miller Daredevil runs are fantastic. I highly recommend Born Again (one of my personal favorite comic stories). Someone mentioned Loeb/Sale earlier. They did a Superman story, Superman For All Seasons, that is also a captivating read. Y The Last Man by Brian K Vaughn is also a very good series.

I was shocked to see this with the other titles you mentioned. Then I remembered a good friend, who would be the last person I'd expect to read a book with that title, also loved it. Tell me more. Is it over now, and all collected in TPBs?
Second this. Born Again was amazing, one of my top ten books of all time. All of Miller's Daredevil work is excellent, although I don't think I ever read his last run/mini on the title.

Absolutely love these trades, and have read them multiple times.

STORMWATCH:
-Force of Nature
-Lightning Strikes
-Change or Die
-A Finer World
-Final Orbit

THE AUTHORITY:
-Relentless
-Under New Management
-Earth Inferno and Other Stories
-Transfer of Power

^ Those are good recommendations, since the OP has a super-hero foundation and may not be ready for some of the really good stuff.

I read the first Authority TPB and loved it.

I'll second the recs of Sandman, Transmetropolitan and Preacher.

Anyone mentioned V For Vendetta yet?

I also really enjoyed the Batman "Cataclysm" / "Aftershock" / "No Man's Land" storyline.

I wonder, is Wildstorm or DC ever going to reissue the Stormwatch trades? As the precursor to the Authority, you'd think they'd have done it some time ago. I have the original issues in longboxes somewhere, and have been contemplating just getting the trades.

Spiderman loves Mary Jane is still ongoing, I think, but the original run by McKeever is collected in two oversized hardcovers. Basically, it plays around with the Spidey mythos by having it centered around a teenaged Mary Jane and her friends Liz Allen, Flash Thompson, and Harry Osbourne, with Peter Parker and Spider-man thrown in the mix. It's light on action, and it doesn't really fall into normal Marvel continuity (for instance, Spidey faces modern incarnations of villains), but I liked it, if only for the fact that Spidey doesn't really have these guys as a supporting cast anymore.

Just checked with my retailer buddy and he said that Stormwatch is still availiable to order from Diamond. He thinks one of the Ellis ones is not on there, but the rest are.

For Spider-man, I would recommend Death of the Stacys and Kraven's Last Hunt. In addition, they are HC's that are very reasonably priced. Although not mentioned very much, I recommend Mark Millar's run on Spider-Man. It's a darker take on Spidey, but refrains from being cynical. There is an oversized HC of this, but I'm not sure it's still in print.

While the "ending" of the series really sucks... hard... almost as bad as OMD... I would highly recommend the early trades of "Ultimate Spider-Man". Very good stuff.

While not exactly a super hero comic (more of a "Lord of the Rings" meets "Pogo" in general style, although that's a really simplistic description and unfair to the whole) I would have to 2nd "Bone". The Scholastic versions of the trades (PB and HC) have been colored (very well) with the blessing of the creator, Jeff Smith. The one volume edition is in the original B/W and is the lowest cost way to obtain the title (currently ~$26 @ amazon).

And a 3rd to "Y: The Last Man". Also not super hero stuff but still an excellent read.

For super hero with a twist give "Ex Machina" a try (also by Brian K. Vaughan). Both it and "Y" are in PB and HC editions. While "Ex" hasn't finished yet, it should soon.

I pretty much hate anything written by Jeph Loeb, so no Long Halloween or Hush recommendations from me.

I found these to be very good though:

Batman: Face the Face
World's Finest (by Dave Gibbons & Steve Rude)
Batman & the Monster Men (Matt Wagner)
Batman & the Mad Monk (Matt Wagner)

I've been a big fan of Ultimate Spider-Man and would recommend those highly.