‘Fantastic Four: Life Story” Shows The First Family Through Sixty Years

After the success of Spider-Man: Life Story by Chip Zdarsky and Mark Bagley which saw the wall-crawler’s story told in real time throughout six decades, Marvel is doing it again with the Fantastic Four. Sue, Reed, Johnny, and Ben star in Fantastic Four: Life Story from writer Mark Russell and artist Sean Izaakse, looking at the entire history of Marvel’s First Family from beginning to end, set against the key events of history.

The first issue is set in the “Swinging Sixties” when the team takes their journey into space that changed their lives forever. Set against the backdrop of the Cold War and the Space Race, an accident gives them great powers and a secret, wrapping them in Earth’s history forever as they transform into the world’s first super hero team.

“What I’ve always loved about the Fantastic Four is how it reduces the cosmic struggle of human survival to the scale of a family squabble while treating personal relationships as a matter of truly galactic importance,” Russell said. “Weaving their story and their world into our story and what’s happened in our world over the last sixty years was an important reminder to me of how smart it is to approach life like that.”

“Working on a story about Marvel’s First Family is not only an honor in itself, but what makes it even more so, is being part of the team that gets to tell such a moving and heartfelt story about these iconic characters, their struggles and triumphs in a new way that draws on what has come before,” Izaakse said. “If I do my job right, this story will be one that Fantastic Four fans will remember for a long, long time.”

Spider-Man: Life Story was one of the best Spider-Man stories I read in years so I’m excited to see this idea shared with other characters in the Marvel Universe. Fantastic Four: Life Story #1 features a cover by Daniel Acuña. It’s set for release in May.