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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Above is the illustration from the cover of MARVEL's 1994 hardback volume, FANTASTIC FIRSTS (below). A strictly limited edition, it wasn't available to the general public, though a softcover edition (with an added WOLVERINE tale) was released some years later. Unfortunately, I can't show the contents because it's too tightly bound to scan, but it contains the origins of all the main Marvel superheroes, though sadly not from particularly good proofs.
The thing that makes the book worthwhile however, is the introductions to the tales by creators mainly associated with the characters; thus The HULK has an intro by HERB TRIMPE (rhymes with 'shrimpy'), Sgt. FURY is introduced by DICK AYERS, and The SILVER SURFER by Big JOHN BUSCEMA, etc. These personal intros have interesting reminiscences from the contributors' point of view, and make for informative reading. The book comes in a slip-case and is quite a handsome-looking item.
My first copy of this book had trouble with the spine splitting when I opened it (a defect of the binding, not as a result of any rough handling on my part), so I obtained a 2nd copy, as imperfection irks me. (Being perfect myself you see.) As the first one was falling apart, I removed the cover pages (which I intend to frame at some point), and disposed of the rest, though I kept the slipcase, which now houses the first two Hulk MARVEL MASTERWORKS.
Anyway, thought you might like to see this striking illustration. Would look good as a poster, I'd say.
And below is the book to go for if you want a collected edition of Marvel origin stories - MARVEL FIRSTS. It doesn't have the personal intros of the above volume, but the stories are, in the main, reproduced from more accurate and archival sources.
