Parents and their Children
The basis of the story is simple. What if the Summers boys had been raised by their parents instead of becoming orphans? However, while the premise is simple, this universe spins off into a radical tangent than one would think.
In the regular Marvel Universe, their parents were abducted by a Shi'ar spaceship, and the boys were split up and sent to different orphanages after the resulting plane crash. In this universe, Christopher Summers managed to steer the plane away from the ship and evaded being abducted. From this point, Scott and Alex are able to enjoy life with their parents in Alaska. The similarities in this universe consist of Alex Summers' jealousy of his older brother's so-called perfection. While Alex cares for Scott, he's silently resentful of being forced into his brother's shadow. And of course, Scott has the power to fire laser blasts form his eyes, and Alex can let out energy blasts (though this isn't revealed until the end of the issue).
The universe breaks off in Scott's personality, the reveal of his powers, and what follows. Alex notices that Scott is becoming a little paranoid and on edge, and the reason why is revealed to both Alex and their parents when Scott accidentally fires a hole in his wall after a bad nightmare. His parents don't react in horror to Scott's mutation, and they try to be supportive of him, first by helping him hone his power, and second by telling him he doesn't have to use it if he doesn't want to. In the regular Marvel Universe, Scott lost the ability to shut his power off due to a childhood head injury. Of course, since he still lived with his parents, the accident never happened.
Now Alex has something else to be jealous of in regards to his brother, but he never really voices his resentment to anyone. At first. Alex's jealousy and insecurity leaves him open for a very poisonous "friend"... Dark Beast. A stranger who makes a home for himself in the barn on the Summers property, Alex begins spilling his guts to this new "friend", Hank, as he calls himself, and Hank tells Alex that he needs to "watch out" for Scott. Watch out for anyone who might have an interest in Scott's powers. Someone like that does show up, of course. Professor Xavier of the Xavier Institute shows up at the Summers home one day and has a conversation with Scott. When Xavier mentions Scott's power, Scott freaks and runs off. Dark Beast takes this as the opportunity to have Alex bring Scott to him. When Scott meets Dark Beast, he's scared out of his mind, and Alex, seeing his brother cornered, actually steps up to his role as "protector" when HIS mutant power manifests. After attacking Dark Beast, Alex pretty much sells his soul to him. In exchange for staying away from Scott, Alex becomes his servant, and finally realizes what his "friend" really is. Scott, however, is stuck despairing the loss of his younger brother and has his eyes bandaged closed.
The inclusion of Dark Beast is actually very random. Dark Beast was, in fact, an alternate version of Hank McCoy that resided in the Age of Apocalypse universe. The "main" Dark Beast migrated to the center Marvel Universe, Earth-616, and still resides there. The fact that a version of Dark Beast exists in this world is never explained or hinted at. He just is. He exists to add a layer of darkness and tragedy to this story, the devil, but that's it. He puts on an air of friendship only to be secretly manipulating Alex to make him malleable to his will. He's not very fitting a choice for a "devil" character. Mister Sinister would've been a more appropriate choice.
Alex's dynamic with his older brother is interesting if a little standard. He keeps his resentment bottled up and only relates them to Dark Beast. He doesn't act as a stereotypical jealous little brother. But he has something of a martyr complex which Dark Beast seeded and fueled. He's led to believe that he needs to protect Scott, and when he finally has a reason to he pretty much trades his life for the life of a living weapon.
Scott's paranoia is very understandable if you stop to think about it. It's easier to assume that he's on edge because, of course, he's worried about being branded a freak. But Scott has more to lose in this universe. He's supposed to be "the perfect one". His teachers think so, his friends think so, his parents have unintentionally supported this, and Alex resents him for it. And now he finds out he's a mutant. So he's basically letting all these people down if it ever got out. His parents don't love him any less, and his power gives Alex something else to resent him for, but if anyone else found out his family would be collectively branded as a bunch of freaks, and Scott would be the one responsible for it. Or rather, he would think so.
The parents don't really add much to the lives of their children. Sure they love their kids and have tried to be supportive, but Christopher and Anne have just helped make Scott neurotic and Alex resentful. Unintentionally, but still.
The artwork isn't very spectacular but it isn't outright horrible. Overall, this is a very sad story.