I would recommend starting with one of the many available drum mic "prepacks" usually containing ~4-7 mics geared toward recording drums. Some of these sets are very good, depending on price of course. As you gain experience you can add more specialty mics like getting Sennheisers for the toms when you find a good deal or a pair of SDC's for overheads if you see a nice price , etc.
I like both the Shure an Audix drum mic kits, though admittedly I am using more mics and more expensive mics at this time.
As for recording drums before or after , I tend to meet in the middle most times, but also do record them after. I think for me the only time recording before would make sense if I was recording band-at-once style, or if the drummer was good enough an arranger that they worked best when given some basic rhythm and melody tracks, a general outline of the sections and a free hand to change it up.
Usually, I do one or two rhythm guitar elements (either acoustic and/or electric), a scratch bass track and possibly a rudimentary melody or vocal before recording drums. Then when I am satisfied with the drums I can finish the rest. Getting the right drum sound for a specific track is the number one reason I like to do it this way so I don't end up with some metal sounding drums on my heartfelt ballad or what have you. Plus it makes it easier for me to tune the drums to the track