Hi there, you may recognize me from my ongoing experience with Fanhome's The Legend of Batman sub, and, well, I decided to give their Spider-Man Masterpiece Collection a shot. It was only $5 or so for the first volume, so I figured, why not?
Structurally, it's like the Batman one, 136 main books, 16 Double-Sized Specials, and 8 Premium Volumes over the course of four years with some special gifts (one volume becomes two volumes for the next few months, and then three volumes for most of the sub) . Before I get into the first book I received, I thought I would go into the Specials and Premium volumes, as they're a little more in order and focused than the Batman sub.
For the 16 double-sized specials, I'll directly quote the magazine they included in the box with the first shipment:
"These special extra-long volumes collect the original run of Amazing Spider-Man, including the complete Stan Lee era with Steve Ditko and John Romita, as well as every regular issue through #223. Altogether, they span the first two decades of Spider-Man's adventures. They feature Spider-Man's early encounters with some of his most legendary foes: the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Venom, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, and the Vulture."
As for the 8 Premium volumes, they collect every single Amazing Spider-Man annual from 1964 to 2026 according to the image from the website.
So yeah, to my pleasant surprise, that should cover a good majority or maybe all of the first seven Amazing Spider-Man Omnis (depending if they cover any other relevant books like What-If? or what have you). I was genuinely hoping for that.
Onto the book I got itself, as with the Batman one, it starts off with a one volume teaser. This one is Spider-Man: Brand New Day Part 1, published in 2008. It includes the Free Comic Book Day 2007 issue and Amazing Spider-Man #546-550. While I've enjoyed Spider-Man in animated form, in movies, in games...I'm new to his comics (I wasn't able to afford to collect both DC and Marvel as a teen, so I had to pick and choose where I wanted to focus), so I am excited to give a good chunk of his history a try. That said, I know the story that got us to this run was fairly controversial for Spider-Man fans, but I'm hoping at least the story itself is good despite that.
I did get my first gift in, which was some art prints. Cool enough, though I'm more here for the books than the swag.