Marvel Age #1000 explores the breadth and depth of the Marvel universe. Stories touch upon every era to ponder the company's strengths and why its heroes endure. Read Full Review

A fun little story that showcases some of the great creators of the Marvel universe. Read Full Review

There's nothing particularly game-changing in Marvel Age#1000, but that is hardly a fair critique. The book is not attempting to rewrite the history of Marvel Comics. Instead, it serves as an adequate and enjoyable dive into Marvel's earliest years. The book is a charming glance into a distant past, and it's fun to take another look at Marvel before these characters went through hell. Read Full Review

Marvel Age #1000 is just the sort of thing youd expect from Marvel. Stacked with some amazing talent, a veritable whos who, but what we got was some decent to amazing, with the majority being just good. Which is all a fan could have asked for really. Read Full Review

It's always tough to judge, but even with the issue's high points, it doesn't quite feel like ten dollars worth of comic book. Read Full Review

Ok, here's my ratings and brief thoughts on each of these one-shots.

Human Torch (Waid/Cappuccio): Loved it. Started this collection off with a well-written, gorgeously illustrated, and emotionally powerful issue. Just about everything you'd want in a short one-shot like this. 9.5/10

Spider-Man (Stegman): Boy can Ryan Stegman ever draw the hell out of a Spider-Man comic...but I knew he was a good artist, so what impressed me even more was his writing chops! He wrote Peter perfectly here, and the story was such a neat way to showcase everything there is to love about Spider-Man while also cramming in a number of characters in a way that didn't make it feel too stuffed. A perfectly executed one-shot that deserves nothing less than a 10/10.

X-Men (Rowell/Sauvage): This started out seeming like a cool concept, focusing on how lonely it must've been for teenage Jean Grey to be the only girl on a team of young X-Men, some of whom viewed her as little more than a pretty face. Unfortunately, this was not very well written, and the art wasn't really my taste. The story also had a kind of nothingburger of an ending and didn't hit anywhere near the same emotional notes as the first two stories. 6.5/10

Captain Marvel (Slott/Allred): Fun to see the creative team behind the delightful Silver Surfer run back together again! Allred's art is always great to look at, although Slott's script wasn't all that compelling. I also don't particularly care too much about the Walter Lawson Capt. Marvel, so it was hard to connect with on any meaningful level. The ending was also a little hokey, with Lawson just listening to the Beatles and Elvis and others and all of a sudden he realizes how beautiful Earth is? A little too corny for me. 7/10

Daredevil (Iannucci/Kubert): Daredevil is my favourite Marvel hero, so I was excited that he got a one-shot in this collection, but I'm sad they didn't get a more accomplished writer to handle it. Kubert's art is fantastic, but the writing is simply not good. Dialogue feels soulless, and the story isn't all that interesting and doesn't really make sense in some parts. I also don't really see how this issue captures the spirit of Marvel comics. 6/10 for me, sadly.

Silver Surfer (McNiven): I really enjoyed this one. I'm a huge fan of the Surfer, and McNiven's art here is absolutely STUNNING. The writing wasn't anything particularly special, but it certainly wasn't bad either by any stretch. A conversation between Mephisto and the Silver Surfer is just a really cool scene, and this one was very enjoyable to read. 8.5/10

Girl-who-hates-heroes/Thor (Aaron/Larraz): First of all, I truly think Pepe Larraz is slowly becoming my favourite artist of all time. Every time I see something new of his, I'm more and more convinced that his art is just the most incredible stuff I could ever see on a page. Truly an otherworldly talent. Jason Aaron is a great writer too, so I was really looking forward to this one, and it did not disappoint. Really, really good little story with a powerful message. 9.5/10

Stan, Jack, and Steve (Straczynski/Andrews): I started reading this and thought it was kind 'meh' initially, but once it was revealed who these three boys were, I started over from the beginning and read it again with that in mind, and boy did it change my outlook. Really cool concept well-executed. A heartfelt love letter to comic creators and the timeless power of the comic medium. Really enjoyed it. 9/10

Overall rating: 8.5

A few duds (as there are in collections like this), but also a few absolute gems that make it well worth the read. more

I have no idea what excuse Marvel is using to justify this giant-numbered anthology. And it doesn't really matter; the strips inside are strong enough to justify themselves.

They're all at least decent, and mostly pretty saccharine, but genuine creator enthusiasm makes them engaging. The art in particular is top-tier across the board.

My favorites are the Jean/Scott strip (I'll read anything that gets 14 pages of Marguerite Sauvage art, and it being a Rainbow Rowell romance is a big bonus), the Daredevil strip (It's a solid execution of a clever idea about how Matt's powers developed), and of course the sappiest of all, the final strip with Stan and Jack and Steve. Sappy it may be, but it knows exactly where my heartstrings are.
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It's not bad. Some stories are better than others.

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