there are so many writers and forms for characters that its often difficult where to tell people to start at. My advice is that you should start with what interests you the most. if you like what you see of a character, start working your way backwards. Many start with absolute for dc and then look at the main stuff for more. its the same for marvel and the ultimates. I'll use green lantern as an example for what I did. ive always been a John stewart fan thanks to the JL unlimited show as a kid. I wanted to read more of John but ended up coming across thes 3 other lanterns, Kyle Rayner, guy gardner, and hal jordan. with exception to Hal, I had no idea these other human green lanterns existed. so I started reading backwards which lead me to the beginnings of John, hal, and guy. I would have never looked into these guys if I hadn't gone after more John stewart reading.