Almost thought I wouldn't see this mentioned, but at least one other person suggested it:

Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume

Not a bad deal for what you're getting. If you find out you really like it, go back and buy the color volumes. They're great.

edit: delicious quiche?

Yeah, at that Amazon price you're getting approximately 59.23 pages per dollar--absolutely wonderful pages, at that. As expensive a hobby as comics are, that's probably the best one can hope for.

One that I forgot to mention:

Batwoman: Elegy--another Batman spinoff book that doesn't depend on familiarity with the latest Batman goings-on. Kate Kane's one of DC's best new characters in a good while. The whole matter of her homosexuality could easily have just been a gimmick, but this book treats the subject and the character in a mature, thoughtful way. Plus, J.H. Williams III's art is gorgeous. He's also doing the art for the new Batwoman series, which picks up where this book leaves off, and as far as I'm concerned, that's reason enough to check it out. (Greg Rucka isn't writing the new series, but it's still solid.)

I Am Legend is nice and depressing.

Some less common recommendations that are definitely worth looking into:

- Rising Stars by J. Michael Straczynski
- It's kind of a similar concept to the tv show Heroes but with a much better delivery.

- Surrogates by Robert Venditti
- Forget the Bruce Willis movie they made of this. This book is a thoughtful and dark view of technology that should be much more widely read then it is.