Following on from Fantastic Four #587, I had a hankering for reading some of my old Fantastic Four stuff. But not any of 616 stuff, I wanted to read an alternate take.
This is from
Unstable Molecules, a take on the Four as early 60s suburbanites. The novel
Peyton Place is important both thematically and to the plot as they both deal with what's behind the facade of happy suburbia and the problems within and between families.
Apparently it won the 2004 Eisner for Best Finite/Limited Series (putting it up there with Marvels, 300, The New Frontier, Watchmen and Whiteout: Melt), but I've heard surprisingly little chat about it.
It's written by indie creator and cartoonist
James Sturm.
In the 1970s, James saw an interview with Stan Lee on Wonderama, a show on WPIX-TV, and the next day he went out and bought a Fantastic Four Marvel comic book. In 2003, James got the chance to write Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules, a four-issue series (later released as a trade paperback) featuring characters based on the Fantastic Four and published by Marvel Comics. Unstable Molecules went on to win an Eisner Award for “Best Limited Series.”He describes it as being based on the inspiration behind the Fantastic Four and the authors notes paint a story of the "real-life" astronauts, which is all bolos.
I might post more later on in the week, but here's two pages from the beginning of Part 1.
Sue is a housewife, Johnny is a kid.
( bedtime reading )