'The Marvels' project unveiled

Marvel Comics has announced a special limited series to celebrate its 70th anniversary as a publisher.

The Marvels Project, created by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, will pay homage to the firm's first ever issue, which featured the debuts of The Human Torch, The Sub-Mariner and The Angel.

"It's this giant espionage story that really tells the story of the origin of Marvel," said Brubaker. "It's a story that has been touched upon here and there, especially in the first issue of Marvels, which showed things from an outsider's perspective.

"But this is an insider's point of view of how superheroes began in the Marvel world. I hesitate to use the term 'universe' too much because, as yet, there hasn't been anything extra-terrestrial involved in it, but who's to say?"

Epting added: "We know the early days of this world, but we've never seen it retold in the modern language of comics. We've never gone back and told this whole story. There was The Invaders and Marvels, but we've never really taken any time and just sort of gone through and told this story in one long epic."

The Marvels Project will debut on August 12.