Age of Heroes #1

The opening chapter of this 2010 Marvel limited series arrives with a cover by Greg Tocchini that captures the optimism of the Heroic Age beautifully — a massive street-level gathering of heroes including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, and a crowd of Marvel's finest assembled on a New York City corner as bystanders photograph the spectacle below. It's a warm, celebratory image that feels genuinely earned, with the sheer density of costumed figures conveying a sense of a Marvel Universe finally breathing easier. Kurt Busiek's "Thumb on the Pulse" promises exactly the kind of human-scale storytelling that makes these transitional moments in superhero history so compelling.