I'm a complete Manga novice, and was hoping some of you serious Manga fans could suggest some titles to get me started.

Thanks!

i'm not a huge manga reader, but you should definitely pick up "akira"... SO much better than the anime.
possibly look into "fullmetal alchemist" as well.

Uzumaki by Junji Ito and Nausicaa by Hayao Miyazaki are two of my favorites.

ORA ORA ORA!
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure start with part 1 and then go from there. The side stories are just as good as the main

Anything by Go Nagai

if your looking for Shonen Naruto, One Piece, the first 3 arcs of Bleach, and Bakuman, about 2 Mangaka's.

If Adult is more your speed, Berserk. Super Violent, horrible things happen, but it's a great story.

Katsuhiro Otomo is my all time favourite artist, the Akira manga has so much more depth then the film, needs to be read. I also read a lot of Hino horror and some other cruder horror mangas. One thing I can't get in to though is reading manga online, I never get in to it, much prefer a book.

I agree with Gabe - the Akira manga is a must read and I also love Hino.
I recently discovered Chaosic Rune and so far I really dig it.

if you are a parent (or want to learn the indescribable joys of being a parent), i recommend yotsubato! (or yotsuba&!). it's amazing how simple, day-to-day activities are often the most engaging stories. the accompanying soundtracks, if you can track them down, are quirky and perfect, too.

Not a parent and don't like kids, but if I ever met a kid like Yotsuba, I would kidnap it and keep it forever.

^ "it" that's exactly why you aren't and shouldn't be a parent. ever.

Almost anything by Rumiko Takahashi.
Maison Ikkoku or the Mermaid Saga are great starters.

I don't know if you can find Jirō Taniguchi's in english. He's got very strong stories.

+ you can't got wrong with Yûichi Yokoyama

For horror, anything by hideshi hino. Junji ito, uzimaki or gyo.
Junko mizuno is fun.
Skullman by shotaro ishinomori
Lone wolf and cub

^^ This!

The Shonen stuff got a little tired for me, I still watch One Piece but just cant keep up with the manga.

Vagabond is something i've been trying to find time to read which has been recommended to me by pretty much everyone else I know who reads manga.

Junji Ito's Cat Diary is amazing too.

It's almost shameful how often I do that.

Anyways, I would feel bad without recommending another Manga. You could always check out the original Dragonball?

Uzumaki and Gyo by Junji Ito. Stomach-turning horror.
Akira is a must read. I couldn't put it down.
Berserk is easily my favorite anime series, and a fantastic manga.
Hellsing is good.
The original Devilman by Go Nagai is one of my all time favorites.

I really like GANTZ as a way to fill the void left by AKIRA (at least in terms of all the exploding heads.) It's the only current manga publication I collect, and it is positively insane.

I'm a big fan of manga and an avid collector. It really depends on what genre you are interested in but I'll throw a few out there that I think are classics or just currently enjoying that haven't been mentioned yet.

20th Century Boys - Thriller spanning many decades
Bakuman - Comedy explaining manga creation
Battle Angel Alita - Classic greatness
Eden: its an endless world - Story driven Scifi
Drifting Life - Autobio of mangaka
Flowers of Evil - Pervy kid and crazy Girl and shitbugs
Lychee Light Club - weird schoolkids horror
MPD Psycho - Thriller with incredible linework
I''s - Romance comedy cutesy stuff
GTO - Comedy about a teacher
Dorohedoro - not quite sure yet but the art is grimey

...I could go on for awhile and will probably edit this to breakdown the genres later. All of these are available in physical format in English.

I read Oldboy a while ago, I hadnt read any manga in a few years. It was a lot of fun, worth a read. Berserk was a lot of fun for me and then it dragged on like crazy, but I love the style of that thing.

You should have The Moog invite you over to his place. He has good taste in Manga.

i wish i had more pictures of my manga collection, but here is just some horror stuff

id like to add anything by Taiyo Matsumoto (tekkon kinkreet, no.5, blue spring)

and to repeat everyone else:
anything by junji ito
anything by hideshi hino
AKIRA
Nausicaa
Barefoot Gen
20th century boys
Astro boy

Thanks dude . . . i like to think so

My all time favorite translated Manga are (in no particular order) :

Oldboy
Akira
Domu
Nausicaa
Lone Wolf & Cub
Samurai Executioner
Dead End
Anything by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Anything by Jiro Taniguchi
Anything by Hideshi Hino
Doing Time
Children of the Sea
Biomega
Ode to Kirihito (Osamu Tezuka)
Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths
Crying Freeman

I could go on . . . . there's certainly no shortage of excellent manga translations out there . . . especially in recent years!

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will be doing some major Manga shopping this weekend!

just placed all 7 nausicaa volumes on hold at my library!
can't wait to pick it up and get started (loved the movie!)

Can we change the title to official Manga topic or something? I'm loving all these suggestions. Plus if anyone wants to discuss whats going on in any weekly or monthly series, that would be great.

hit up manga panda and just wade on thru, awsome titles that have yet to be mentioned are Change 1 2 3, New grappler Baki/Baki son of ogre. Battle Royale, Lone wolf and cub, Speed racer, anything by Clamp and alot of the gundam manga series are pretty good

Done!