Unstable Molecules by James Sturm and Guy Davis
Unstable Molecules by James Sturm (writer) and Guy Davis (artist) (2003). Marvel, 2005. 128p, color, $13.99.
I don’t read a lot of superhero comics. Sure, I started out on them as a kid, but now only the rare one appeals. In this case, I’d heard enough good things about James Sturm’s take on the Fantastic Four that I wanted to check it out. Sturm is better known for his historical comics (Golem’s Mighty Swing, Above & Below (both from D+Q) ) and for starting the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont.
The conceit of this book (originally a four issue mini-series) is that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby originally based the FF on a real group of people. The book’s apparatus in support of this fiction includes an introduction from Sturm (where we talks about writing the real biography of the FF), a fictional bibliography, fictional report on two of the minor characters in the book, fictional notes and references to different parts of the story (though they peter out after the first issue), and even a blurb on the back by the author of one of the books cited in the bibliography. It’s all a little too gimmicky for me. It’s something I might expect in literary fiction from a few decades ago, and here it is a bit of an overkill.
The comic itself is an interesting read. The whole story takes place on one day in 1958. We meet: Reed Richards, a scientist with an extremely detached disposition; Susan Sturm, Reed’s fiancée who lives at home alone with her younger brother, whom she takes care of; Johnny Sturm, a teen who reads comics and hates the town he lives in; and Ben Grimm, a former college athletic star, friend of Reed and Sue, who’s never happy with his girlfriends, always picking on tiny stupid things. The only superhero here is “Vapor GIrl”, who appears in a comic Johnny reads (whose panels are drawn by the master pastiche artist R Sikoryak), usually for metaphorical purposes to the surrounding “real” story.
Through the course of the one day, Sturm manages to undo the whole group, though their bonds are already tenuous at the beginning of the story. He makes it hard to be sympathetic to any of the characters except Sue. Her life as an unmarried young woman, raising her brother, feeling “invisible,” trapped, and scared, was the most interesting and moving part of the book. This story is trying to be more about the psychology of the characters, but it doesn’t quite get there with the three male leads. They seem too distant and unexplained and completely ignorant of anyone else’s feelings. Reed is mostly an observer, a tool to set-up the climax and to close it off. He hardly seems to appear at all, more invisible than Sue even.
Guy Davis’ art is appropriately non-superhero-y. His characters have a certain oddity to them that make them seem more realistic, imperfect. His backgrounds have a sketchy look. MIchel Vrana’s coloring really gives the book a unique look with its palette of dull pastels put on flatly.
This is an interesting book, but I think most of its power comes from its relation to the source text, from its contrast to superhero comics. Instead of idealized powerhouses we have a bunch of normal people struggling with their lives and making a mess of it. It’s refreshing in that sense, but also a bit disappointing with its retreading of many common tropes (particularly for a story set in the fifties): intolerant neighbor wives, beatniks, bullies in letter jackets, etc. If you normally read superhero books I think this book will be a great enjoyment, otherwise, perhaps not so much.
Tags: Comics, superheroes
1 Comment
Jump to comment form | comments rss [?]