Well, what an unsatisfying package.

The first 50+ pages feature a teaser story introducing a company wide thematic event. It's okay, but it is just set-up with no payoff in this volume.

Then there are like 100+ pages of three-page secret origin recaps for dozens and dozens of Marvel superheroes. They aren't bad per se, but the sheer volume and repetitive nature of the story structure wears one down, and frankly I've read most of these origins many times in much better form elsewhere.

The last stretch reprints a 40-page Marvel marketing magazine full of generic PR stories and interviews about upcoming titles and such. I must admit that the histories of the Marvel bullpen and its editors-in-chief and the Flo Steinberg tribute stood out a bit for this longtime Marvel reader, but of course they suffer from a corporate spin that mostly glosses over internecine struggles and any of the really negative stuff that occurred between the Marvel staffers, editors and artists.

It took me nearly twelve days to slog through the whole thing.

I checked it out from a library. I cannot imagine paying $30 for what amounts to a giant advertisement. ( )