It's a great time to be a Marvel fan. "Guardians of the Galaxy" continues to succeed at the box office, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" broke cinema records earlier in the year and the comics themselves are going strong. As part of Marvel Comics' 75th anniversary, the company is releasing what just might be one of the most impressive box sets in the history of comics, and it's the perfect way to get familiar with the origins of some of Marvel's biggest heroes.
Dubbed the "Marvel Famous Firsts: 75th Anniversary Masterworks Slipcase set," the collection comes with 10 volumes of Marvel Masterworks hardcovers, collecting issues that tell the original origin stories for Marvel universe heroes such as Captain America, The X-Men and Spider-Man, as well as The Avengers and The Fantastic Four. The set will also introduce the all new Masterworks Hardcover for "Not Brand Echh."
Now 10 Masterworks hardcovers means a lot of comics (3,016 pages of comics to be exact) and that is cool in its own right. Marvel doesn't stop there, however. The set will also be coming with a Marvel 75th Anniversary poster by legendary artist Alex Ross, and will come signed by Stan "The Man" Lee, who helped to create a number of the characters featured in the set.
The graphics for each book cover have been redone to have interlocking art along the spine, but what really puts this collection over the top is the slipcase itself. All of your massive Marvel hardcovers can sit perfectly at home in a slipcase that looks exactly like the Avengers Mansion. Now you can put the Avengers Mansion on your shelf, if you can only find a spot big enough for it.
"This is one of the most epic collections Marvel has ever compiled," David Gabriel, Marvel's senior vice president of sales and marketing, said in a press release. "Not only do these Masterworks retell the origins of Marvel's iconic heroes, but they are collected and presented in a gorgeous slipcase built to resemble the historic Avengers Mansion. If that wasn't enough, this collection is coupled with a beautiful poster signed by Stan Lee. It doesn't get grander then this!"
Of course all of that grandness doesn't come cheap. Amazon is currently listing this 33-pound boxset collection at $450. If you are interested and are willing to throw down cash for that sweet mansion, the boxset will be available online or at a comic book retailer near you starting Sept. 3.
