We wont know what The Fantastic Four: First Steps is really about until it hits theaters this July. Or wont we? Im Polygons resident comic book expert, and Im ready to place some bets.I may not know the plot of Marvel Studios big swing on Marvels First Family, but I bet I can predict which comics its based on, just from the characters in the movie and the vibe of the trailer. If youre a screenwriter, director, production designer, or actor looking for inspiration for your period piece Fantastic Four movie featuring Galactus, the Silver Surfer, and whoever John Malkovich turns out to be playing these are the books youre most likely to be looking at.If Im wrong, Ill see you in July with an update and an apology. Even in the worst-case scenario, Ill still have recommended some very good comics. So, heres my bet: If you want to read anything to get up to speed before Fantastic Four: First Steps comes out, read these books, and in this order.If you read 1 comicRead Fantastic Four: Life Story by writer Mark Russell and artists Sean Izaakse, Francesco Manna, Carlos Magno, Z Carlos, and Angel Unzueta.This self-contained alternate universe miniseries isnt the biggest star in the Fantastic Four fundament, but its got a period piece hook that I cant imagine went unnoticed by the crew of First Steps. Life Story discards the traditional notion that long-running superhero comics exist in a Perpetual Now where Reed Richards has been roughly 40-ish for 60 years and places the Fantastic Fours origin story in the same decade that Fantastic Four #1 came out. Its characters grow and change in real time, so to speak, playing out the full life story of the superhero team alongside the actual historical events of the 20th and 21st centuries.Even more pertinently, Life Story features a version of the Fantastic Fours origin story in which Reed Richards and Galactus become psychically linked from the moment the Four got their powers. Reed comes back to Earth obsessed with preparing for a world-eating deadline that no one else believes in. Thats a plot hook that would be very useful for a screenwriter looking to reintroduce the Four and Galactus simultaneously, as First Steps appears to be.The best way to read Fantastic Four: Life Story is by picking up a hard or digital copy. But your cheapest option and this holds true for everything in this post is going to be to drop $9.99 on a month of Marvel Unlimited.If you read 2 comicsRead Fantastic Four #570-572 by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Dale Eaglesham.Jonathan Hickmans 2009-2012 run on the Fantastic Four (across the series Dark Reign: Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four, and FF) is the defining Four story of the modern age, without competition. It plays with ideas that have already started to percolate out into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it eventually concludes in the same place the MCU is racing toward Secret Wars.For our purposes, and your enjoyment, Ive whittled it down to a three-issue arc thats satisfying to read on its own, introduces a major world-building element I would not be at all surprised to see in the MCU, and serves as a distillation of Reed Richards character down to its most basic and compelling elements. To describe the plot would be to spoil the whole thing, but suffice to say: It would be unbelievable if the folks behind Fantastic Four: First Steps had not looked to this comic for inspiration for Reed specifically, if not the plot of the movie overall.This spread of comics is included in the first volumes of Marvels Hickman/Fantastic Four collections and omnibuses (often under the title Fantastic Four: Solve Everything), but those havent been reprinted in a while and currently retail for large amounts of cash. Theres a new collection coming out in June (you can preorder through your local comic shop, Amazon, or Bookshop, etc.), but for now your best bet is to read these issues on Marvel Unlimited.If you read 3 comicsRead Fantastic Four #48-50 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.It might seem odd to drop in 48 issues into the original Fantastic Four series, rather than with their origin. But Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were reinventing superheroes as they went, and it took them a little while to refine what they were doing to get to the Fantastic Four that most resembles what weve got today. By issue 48, Kirby has settled into his character designs, Lee has settled into his character dynamics, and theyre putting together a story thats got a direct line to Fantastic Four: First Steps: The first appearances of Galactus and the Silver Surfer.This three-part story is a showcase of what was so electrifying and masterful about Kirby and Lees work together. Its got strong examples of Kirbys outside-the-box cosmic illustration, and the pillars of Marvels comics revolution in narrative: strange enemies, unpredictable adventures, and soap opera romantic twists. No, really, despite being about the Fantastic Fours first encounter with Galactus, there are still two different breakups and a whole meet-cute-to-romance arc in just these three issues.This arc also delivers a contained story the Surfer and Galactus while giving a good sense of the unique narrative structure of these old comics. Lee and Kirbys issues begin with conclusions, resolving whatever was set up in last months comic. Then they introduce a new challenge, weave in asides to various subplots, and finally ramp the tension up and end on another open-ended and tantalizing cliffhanger. Its very easy to see how these two masters of pulp adventure kept the reader engaged and salivating over the next installment, even though the broadness of their storytelling is no longer in style.Marvel has a collection with these issues thats not hard to find from retailers (Amazon, Bookshop, your LCS), but itll still set you back more than a single month of Marvel Unlimited.If you read 4 comicsRead Secret Wars by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribi.Its hard to talk about Secret Wars without sounding like hyperbole. Whether or not Marvel Studios manages to make its upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars movie into a hit, the 2015 miniseries will still be one of the best if not the best crossover event comics ever done.The actual plot of Secret Wars the multiverse undergoing a final collapse, Doctor Doom scrapping leftover bits of different worlds together and installing himself as god-king may not see many references in Fantastic Four: First Steps. But it also seems implausible that the movie would have been made without an eye to this comic. Not with First Steps teeing up Avengers: Doomsday, which will tee up Avengers: Secret Wars, with precious few movies between them.There are paperback editions of the series available for reasonable prices (Amazon, Bookshop, or buy it local!), but if you dont mind reading digitally its (say it with me) still more cost-effective to read them on Marvel Unlimited.