Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules
Encyclopedia
Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules is a four-issue comic book
limited series
published by Marvel Comics
. The series imagines that the creators of the Fantastic Four
were inspired by people encountered in their own lives during the late 1950s and provides a backstory for those analogues
.
, 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 a cocktail 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 discusses Peyton 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 about hot 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 throughout Unstable Molecules) is based in large part on his own sister. Johnny feels stifled by Glen Cove and is eventually inspired to leave by a beatnik
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 by Ben 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.
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Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. The series imagines that the creators of the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
were inspired by people encountered in their own lives during the late 1950s and provides a backstory for those analogues
Analogue (literature)
The term analogue is used in literary history in two related senses:* a work which resembles another in terms of one or more motifs, characters, scenes, phrases or events....
.
Plot
Dr. Reed Richards lives in the small town of Glen Cove and works at Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, 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 a cocktail 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 discusses Peyton Place
Peyton Place (novel)
Peyton Place is a 1956 novel by Grace Metalious. It sold 60,000 copies within the first ten days of its release and remained on the New York Times best seller list for 59 weeks. It was adapted as both a 1957 film and a 1964–69 television series....
. 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 about hot 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 throughout Unstable Molecules) is based in large part on his own sister. Johnny feels stifled by Glen Cove and is eventually inspired to leave by a beatnik
Beatnik
Beatnik was a media stereotype of the 1950s and early 1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s and violent film images, along with a cartoonish depiction of the real-life people and the spiritual quest in Jack Kerouac's autobiographical...
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 by Ben 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.
Collected editions
The series was collected into a trade paperbackTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
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- Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules (2003, ISBN 0-7851-1112-3)