I want to get into the Vertigo verse...

[Steel Spider]

What Vertigo books do you recommend for starting off with?

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

What Vertigo books do you recommend for starting off with?

What sorts of things do you like?

Crime, horror, intellectual works, fantasy etc.

[shawnh]

Vertigo really isn't a verse. Some of the characters interact, but not all of them. There's quite a bit of variety in tone and plotlines in many of the books, although you might notice an undeniable angsty, black clothes wearing, "I really like The Cure" vibe in a good portion of it.

The best thing to do, in my opinion, is reach back a little before Vertigo to the books that formed the early core of it. Look for books that were edited by Karen Berger, basically. If you are interested in taking it all in I'd suggest you start with Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, then move on to Hellblazer:Original Sins, Grant Morrion's runs Doom Patrol and on Animal Man, Sandman and the original Books of Magic miniseries. I also consider Preacher essential, and would recommend Invisibles and anything else by Morrison, including WE3 and Seaguy.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Vertigo really isn't a verse. Some of the characters interact, but not all of them. There's quite a bit of variety in tone and plotlines in many of the books, although you might notice an undeniable angsty, black clothes wearing, "I really like The Cure" vibe in a good portion of it.

I'd say that's mostly gone from the current books they are putting out - Vertigo when it first started was like that, or just before with the books you reccomend, but not really any more.

[Eddie Lee]

I'm relatively new to Vertigo, having only started when the new Swampy series debuted a few years back. I haven't given many of the older titles a try, but am really diggin' on many of the new ones they have.

I love Swampy, natch, but you might be interested in:

American Virgin
Loveless
Testament
DMZ
Exterminators

All of these series, minus Swampy, have started within the past few months. Great time to get in on the bottom floor of Vertigo's "next wave".

[onenatv]

Preacher!
Alan Moore's Swamp is on par with Watchmen.
Fables.
you can't go wrong with those.

[Jack Destruct]

And don't forget 'Y the Last Man.'

[innocentboy]

100 Bullets

[stealthwise]

Sandman is excellent.

[Cactusakic]

Its not often that I suggest trades rather than single issues, however for a Vertigo newbie I would suggest picking up the following titles in trade:

Preacher Vol#1-9
Sandman Vol #1-10
100 Bullets Vol#1-8
Y: The Lst Man Vol#1-?

As I said, normally I would'nt recommend trades but in the case of the first two on the list it will be so much easier and cheaper for you to get them that way.
The 2nd two on the list I suggest getting in trades purely because both runs are ending within the next year or two. Y:The Last Man is only going to #60 and 100 Bullets is only going to #100.
So buy those four titles in trade form and then get these in single issues:
The Exterminators
DMZ
Testament
Loveless
American Virgin
As someone has already commented above, these titles have all started within the last few months, so you should be able to track the first few issues of each and get in on the ground floor of Verigo's new wave.
Enjoy!