Recommendations for a noob

[Oxymoron]

Hey guys, I'm really new to comics and to this forum for that matter. I was hoping you guys could recommend me some comics to read so that I can at least cut down the amount of trial and error buys I'm going to make. I just went to the comic book store and bought a couple comics at random, well 2 out of 3. I picked up Black Science, The Royal, and Futurama. Other comics the I was interested in but didn't pick up were Fatale and Uber. I hope this gives a good idea of my taste. Thanks in advance.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Well, I don't know "The Royal", or enough about Futurama to make recommendations based off of that. However, if you liked Black Science (just picked up the trade the day before yesterday, haven't started yet), Rick Remender's other pulp sci-fi title was "Fear Agent", and he's done work for Marvel on X-Force (a black-ops team performing the dirty deeds the already hated traditional X-Men can't be associated with), Captain America and Uncanny Avengers (an Avengers/X-Men team up book, with some references to the events of X-Force).

What sort of material would you be interested in? Non-superhero work--itself a broad category, to say the least? If superheroes, what kind of stuff? Street level gritty, bombastic sci-fi, retro, deconstructionist? Whatever the case, a general recommendation would be Planetary, which is both phenomenal and gives a broad overview of what makes a whole bunch of different genres work, and may give you a path to go down in regards to that.

[Spike-X]

Atomic Robo is a lot of fun.

Saga is a great scifi-ish action adventure comic.

[Oxymoron]

Well, I don't know "The Royal", or enough about Futurama to make recommendations based off of that. However, if you liked Black Science (just picked up the trade the day before yesterday, haven't started yet), Rick Remender's other pulp sci-fi title was "Fear Agent", and he's done work for Marvel on X-Force (a black-ops team performing the dirty deeds the already hated traditional X-Men can't be associated with), Captain America and Uncanny Avengers (an Avengers/X-Men team up book, with some references to the events of X-Force).

What sort of material would you be interested in? Non-superhero work--itself a broad category, to say the least? If superheroes, what kind of stuff? Street level gritty, bombastic sci-fi, retro, deconstructionist? Whatever the case, a general recommendation would be Planetary, which is both phenomenal and gives a broad overview of what makes a whole bunch of different genres work, and may give you a path to go down in regards to that.

The full name is The Royals: Masters of War by Vertigo. I definitely don't really like superheros. If "Street level gritty" is like DMZ then yes, I like that kinda stuff. What an example of deconstructionist? While I like fun stuff like Futurama and will be checking out Atomic Robo I also want to read a deep gritty and dark story.

[Billy Batson]

For edgy...I mean dark and gritty I'd recommend these:
100 Bullets
A History of Violence
Akira
Baltimore
Battlefields
The Bulletproof Coffin
Berserk
Criminal by Brubaker
Elephantmen
Enemy Ace: War in Heaven
Fell
Fury Max: My War Gone By
Global Frequency
Grandville by Talbot
Grendel
Grimjack by Ostrander
Hellblazer
Hellboy/B.P.R.D.
Hitman by Ennis
The Incal
It Was the War of the Trenches
Jonah Hex by Gray and Palmiotti
Kabuki
The Killer
Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shoot
Lone Wolf & Cub
The Losers by Diggle
Marshal Law
Preacher
Prophet by Graham
Punisher Max by Ennis
The Other Side by Aaron
The Question by O'Neil
Road to Perdition
The Sandman
Sandman Mystery Theatre
Scalped
Scene of the Crime
Sin City
The Sixth Gun by Bunn
Skreemer
Sleeper by Brubaker
Stray Bullets
The End of the Fucking World by Forsman
Torpedo
Transmetropolitan
Unknown Soldier by Ennis
Unknown Soldier by Dysart
Vagabond
Vinland Saga
War Stories by Ennis
West Coast Blues
Wildcats by Casey
Yossel by Kubert
Young Liars

[Oxymoron]

Wow, that's a lot. Thanks. Hitman, Transmetropolitan, Elephantmen, Skreemer specifically interest me.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Try to track down Black Heart Billy.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Heart-Bi.../dp/1932051023