The Marvels Project #1 (of 8)

As part of the celebration of Marvel's 70th Anniversary, the company has been issuing a series of special issues devoted to its Golden Age characters, such as the Human Torch, Captain America and the Sub-Mariner.

Those have led up to this mini-series, The Marvels Project, which will apparently unveil the "true" history of the Marvel Universe, beginning with the first appearance of super-powered characters.

The idea is to show how it's all connected - presumably in ways we never thought about before.

I'm tempted to gripe that series like this always try to tie everything together in a neat bow of convergence and coincidence, and often strain credulity to manage it (we see the Ultimate Origins series bowing its head in shame over there).

I don't really think it's necessary - the stories are already interesting without trying to link everything together - but I suppose there's no resisting the impulse to make things "make sense."

Thankfully, Marvel was smart enough to put some of its best creative talent on this issue, including writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting. They take us back to the late 1930s, linking the beginning of the Marvel Age to the heroes of the Wild West in a clever way.

This series covers some familiar ground, but also sets up some interesting subplots along the way that (thankfully) make sense without really changing anything about Marvel's history as we know it.

It's not always easy to make history fun, but so far, this series is off to a great start.

Grade: A-