I always recommend reading the major crossover events, as they give you a feel for various writers and artists, as well as a decent introduction to the enormous cast of Marvel (and/or DC). Then you can choose who to follow from there in their own titles, what artists/writers do them best, etc etc etc.

Exactly where to start is really hard to say. Comics are not new user friendly at all. No matter where you start (unless it is issue #1, which ... no, just don't) you're going to be jumping in ahead of a whole lot of character development and stories. I'm ... really bad at suggesting a starting point, sorry.

If you want to give the events a go, I'd suggest starting with Avengers Disassembled ... if only because that's what everybody always seems to suggest for. Then, after that: House of M, followed by Annihilation, follow by Civil War... by that point you'll probably be able to figure out where to go, whether continuing with the events or jumping into a title.

Honestly, the best advice I was given when I first got into comics was: Get into the current issue. Comics are like soap operas. They're endless, they've been around for a ridiculous amount of time. No matter where you start, you're in the middle. Hopping onto a series right now will get you an introduction into them, set you up to adjust to the long waiting period between issues, and then you can spend that waiting period exploring old stories at your leisure.

/most unhelpful post ever

Sorry. I hope someone better at this shows up, but honestly it's not an easy thing. As I said, comics are really hard to just jump into as a new reader. It's one of the reasons they're struggling to maintain an audience. It's not because they're not good (they're mostly quite amazing, universally, imho) -- it's that nobody ever knows where to jump in.