Marvel Comics #1000 artgerm exclusive

Just on general concept, I really wanted to dislike this book. Right off the bat how did we come up with the numbering system? 1000 issues of what? 80 years in the business doesn't add up to 1000? I'm confused as to the thinking here. But the truth is that overall this is an amazing work. One page bits of story each done by a different creative team but each giving clues to a larger story encompassing the history of the Marvel Universe comes off without a hitch. Appealing to old and new Marvel fans, this has all sorts of easter eggs that will take weeks to gather. (My favorite was that Marvel's Golden Age detective character The Ferret was in fact the Operative from Marvel's mini series the Mystery Men from 2011! Simply amazing. And is was very high class to devote a page to all the Marvel creators that are no longer with us. Say what you will about Marvel, this book is a tribute to the fans of Marvel.