Wall of text incoming! I am very slowly getting into comic books, so which comic characters stand out to you? My experience almost exclusively DC as very few Marvel concepts interest me; I felt like personally weighing up characters I have come across so far in this thread, to determine what I will buy in the distant future.
 
I enjoy my limited reading of: Guy Gardner, Larfleeze , Etrigan the Demon, Harley Quinn, Uncle Sam, Human Bomb, Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond), Zoom, Captain Cold, Hawkman (Carter Hall), Batman (Tim Drake) (Bruce Wayne) & Blue Beetle (Ted Kord).
 
There are others that make my list but my impressions are from animation; I may read about them in the future: Batman (Terry Mcginnis), Miss Martian, Red Hood, Plastic Man, Aqualad (Kaldur'ahm), Arsenal, Captain Atom, Despero, Booster Gold, Power Girl, Lobo, Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, Dr Fate, Amazo, Red Tornado, Mongul, Metal Men, Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes), Reverse FLash (Eobard Thawne), Question (Vic Sage), Felix Faust, Captain Marvel (Billy Batson), Deathstroke, Huntress (Helena Bertinelli) and Icon.
 
Story arc that I have interest in/started/finished: Infinite Crisis, Brghtest Day, Blackest Night, Injustice, DC Universe Online: Legends & Young Justice.
 
With the above choices as a reference, could those who are knowledgeable help me decide which characters below are worth reading in the long term? Money is a big issue for me so my criteria to narrow down my list are: strongly written stories, relevant to DC's Rebirth event or future so there will be plenty of content that I can choose to buy and action or emotional scenes that are presented well through good illustration. These are the characters that I am unsure about: Vixen, Mr Freeze, Grifter, Atrocitus, Black Adam, Black Lightning, Mr Miracle, Killer Frost, Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Bat Woman, Wonder Girl (Donna Troy) (Cassandra Sandsmark), Fire, Ice, Jenny Quantum, Deadman, Green Lantern (Alan Scott) (Kyle Rayner), Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, Two-Face , Steel (John Henry Irons) (Natasha Irons), Circe, Animal Man and Flash (Jesse Quick) (Wally West) (Bart Allen) (Jay Garrick). I will most likely pick one Flash to focus on and drop the rest which is disheartening but that will most likely occur.

Chrome-M-Dragon

This.
 
I actually found an old comic when moving last year. It's the one where he killed off the fantastic 4.

I also want to ask, are the novelizations of Star Wars largely superior to the Dark Horse Comics? I would choose one over the other.

jasonedokpa
Wolverine and Spiderman are the best! 

Out of every popular Marvel character, I would only consider buying X-23. Should I make that investment if I only want to read her solo stories? 

Athena
I know Marvel ha old comic subscription service so you can catch up on your reading at a low price.  I am not sure but DC may have that as well.  I collected comics for years back in the 80's and 90's and sadly I do not have much in value.  I did for awhile but I also had a baby sister find my stash.  tens of thousands of dollars destroyed.  ^_^

Yeah, DC currently does not have any subscription service; but that could change when they launch their future streaming service. If they do combine comic books with the Netflix inspired subscription then I will temporarily subscribe.