Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 1: The Curse (Starter Set)
Edward Elric changed the night he trapped his younger brother's spirit in the unfeeling steel of an ancient suit of armor. That night, Edward and Alphonse exploited the clandestine science of Alchemy to attempt the unthinkable- resurrect their dead mother. They failed, unleashing an alchemic reaction that ripped their bodies apart.  Four years later, an expanding evil lurks behind the false face of freedom.  With rebellion crushed, the State turns its eye to increasing its grip on the people by seizing a legendary artifact that would ensure complete domination and plunge the land into State controlled darkness.  Now a lone State Alchemist combs the country for a single stone that could amplify his Alchemy.  If successful he would control a power permitting him to restore the precious things that were lost.  But it would also allow the State Military to senselessly obliterate countless more.  The Alchemist is soon faced with the harsh truth that the power to create is but a breath away from the power to destroy, and that with each birth, death must follow.  It is this burden that the young Alchemist bears.  His name is Edward Elric.  And he seeks the Philosopher's Stone.