Marvel to release really snappy 75th Anniversary Masterworks Slipcase Set

For those wondering why Marvel doesn’t keep it’s core Masterworks in print — they are bringing them back as a limited edition in a snazzy new design, above, and also two volumes a month starting in 2015. The collectors edition will include 10 volumes, as seen in the schedule below, and a bonus 11th book, reprinting Not Brand Echh, the humorous Marvel series which featured artwork by Marie Severin among others. Collected Editions interviewed Marvel’s David Gabriel and Jeff Youngquist about the project which will have a special spine treatment in a boxed set, as seen above. The price wasn’t given—11 x 50, you do the math — but you can pre-order the set for $280 from Tales of Wonder. Which is, a pretty good deal.

Gabriel also dropped a bit of knowledge about the overall Masterworks sales:

DAVID: We’ve had a surge recently in Masterworks sales, with many editions making their way overseas into international territories, as well as a bit of an upsurge within the direct market. And to be clear, we’ll ONLY be doing new printings of the regular editions — the silver-and-black-jacketed versions, not the limited marble editions (those sought-after versions are long gone). But keep in mind the NEW Not Brand Echh edition will have both silver-and-black AND marble editions like any other new Masterworks HC! •

I am not one of the loremasters who keeps track of all of Marvel’s various reprint series—from Omnibii to Masterworks to Essentials and so on. But this seems like a fine way to spotlight those early seminal Stan and (often) Jack productions that spawned the whole Marvel U.