Marvels

Edition excerpt from Marvels (Graphitti Designs Limited Hardcover Edition, Number 47) (1994): Welcome to New York City. Here, burning figures roam the streets, men in brightly colored costumes scale the glass and concrete walls, and creatures from space threaten to devour the planet. Witness the birth of the Marvel Universe through the eyes of the proverbial man in the street – Daily Bugle photographer Phil Sheldon – in this lush limited edition hardcover collection by Graphitti Designs. One of the comic-book industry’s all-time best-selling, critically acclaimed and fan-favorite titles.Marvelswas the breakthrough work for both of its creators: a worm's-eye view of the spectacle of Marvel comics history—35 years of glorious superheroes and terrifying super-disasters, told from the perspective of Phil Sheldon, a newspaper photographer who's experienced "the marvels" from ground level. Renowned artist Ross's rich, lush, nearly photorealistic style (he painted all the major characters from photographs of models) made his reputation—and the book—a landmark. The story, too, suggests a sort of grandeur that had largely slipped away from superhero comics by the early '90s, even as it describes the helplessness that normal people might feel in the presence of angel-winged mutants and rapacious gods from outer space.Signed by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross & limited to 8500. Features Alex Ross's photorealistic painted artwork which literally introduced him to the general comic book public and made him an over-night sensation.