| Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules | |
|---|---|
 Cover ofThe Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules (March 2003). Art byCraig Thompson. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Publication date | March – June 2003 |
| No. of issues | 4 |
| Main character | Fantastic Four |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | James Sturm |
| Artist(s) | Guy Davis Robert Sikoryak James Sturm |
| Letterer | Paul Tutrone |
| Colorist | Michel Vrana |
| Editor(s) | Tom Brevoort Andy Schmidt Marc Sumerak |
| Collected editions | |
| The Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules | ISBN 0-7851-1112-3 |
The Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules is a four-issuecomic booklimited series published byMarvel Comics. The series imagines that the creators of theFantastic Four were inspired by people encountered in their own lives during the late 1950s and provides a backstory for thoseanalogues.
Dr.Reed Richards lives in the small town of Glen Cove and works atColumbia University, attempting to discover a practical use for the sub-atomic particles that he has discovered. He is so absorbed in his work that he forgets that he is due to host acocktail party for his faculty colleagues and only informs his girlfriend,Susan Sturm on the day of the party itself. To compound this oversight he is unexpectedly called away on government business and fails to inform Susan of the situation.
Susan struggles to cope with her domestic duties (including preparing for the party) and providing some guiding discipline for her listless and frustrated younger brother,Johnny - both of their parents having died in a car accident some time previously. In addition, Susan hosts a women's circle made up of some acquaintances of her late mother and some other, younger women. The circle discussesPeyton Place. The discussion turns into a heated debate between the conservative older women and the younger, more liberal women, at least one of whom feels strong echoes between the small town repression of the book and her own life in Glen Cove.
Johnny Sturm spends much time fantasizing abouthot rods and the comic book superheroine, Vapor Girl. Johnny is unaware that the character of Vapor Girl (who appears in a comic-within-a-comic throughoutUnstable Molecules) is based in large part on his own sister. Johnny feels stifled by Glen Cove and is eventually inspired to leave by abeatnik drifter called Joey King, who used to date Susan in high school.
The climax of the story takes place at the cocktail party. Not only are the faculty members from Columbia University present, but also a group of comic book creative staff. This unlikely mix of people is joined byBen Grimm, Reed Richards' old college roommate who is now a boxing trainer. Following an excess of alcohol, Susan and Ben are on the verge of having sex in Susan's bedroom only to be interrupted by Reed. Reed, who had been planning to propose, begins to storm out of the house but is met by a crowd of beatniks who have arrived with Johnny. In an ensuing scuffle Ben is knocked unconscious. Johnny and Reed then catch a lift out of Glen Cove from Joey.
The series was collected into atrade paperback:
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