Startling Stories: Fantastic Four—Unstable Molecules

(Marvel, 2003)
™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Before Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm were the Fantastic Four, they were just four individuals with fairly normal lives, complete with the kind of problems all people face. Reed’s subatomic research is sidetracked by a top-secret military request. Susan struggles to have her own life while being both a girlfriend to Reed and mother to younger brother Johnny, who is bullied at school. Ben lives a blue-collar life in a world of easy women and rough boxers. What are the events that will conspire to bring together Marvel’s legendary team?

Purporting to tell the “true history” of Marvel’s first family and the real-life individuals who became comics’ Fantastic Four, this thoughtful and clever tale is written by James Sturm and drawn in a throwback, ‘60s style by Guy Davis.

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