The epiphone is good, but I would never go back to it after having Gibson.
If your going for an epiphone les paul go for one of the more expensive models, they have a thicker body and better tone, but in all honesty apart from the name on the headstock and the pickups theres not alot different between epiphone and gibson les pauls, well that warrants all that extra money ontop anyway.
Gibson les pauls are also alot heavier so make sure you get a decent strap along with it, atleast 2 inches wide. Im going for a Gibson les paul next, purely because I dont play the epiphone anymore but I love the shape of the les paul, much more than the SG.