Comic Book Review: Fantastic Four #566

I am part of the group of readers who don’t mind the concept of Doom having a master. So, obviously, I am looking forward to Fantastic Four #566 as Millar is going to finally unveil Doom’s master. Hopefully, this issue is just as entertaining as the previous issues that Millar has given us on this title. Let’s go ahead and hit this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Mark Millar
Pencils: Bryan Hitch
Inks: Bryan Hitch, Cam Smith and Andrew Currie

Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Reed Richards and a team of police on a beach in Thailand. We see Uatu the Watcher’s body on the beach. Uatu has been disemboweled and is dead. We see that it is snowing out. One of the agents comments on the strange weather patterns and now this death of an immortal. The agent wonders what is going on. The agent asks Reed if he knows who could have killed the Watcher. Reed responds that the agent does not want to know.

We cut to Latveria where Doom is standing in front of his adoring people. They are having a huge celebration to mark the return of Doom. Doom is soaking in all the clapping and cheering from the crowd. Doom tells his assistant that he wants the clapping to continue for one more hour and for the first person who stops clapping to be taken out and shot.

Doom comments about the strange weather pattern. Doom says that it is just the Earth’s eco-system in flux. That the Earth senses the approach of Doom’s master and the strange weather is just planetary anxiety. Doom says that his master will be here in four hours. Doom then walks over to a bunch of children who are throwing flowers at Doom’s feet.

Doom says that he is feeling generous and that the children can ask him any question they would like. One child asks Doom what his master taught him. Doom responds “Everything.”

We cut to Jason, Debbie’s ex-fiancé, on a television talk show called NY TV. Jason talks about how Debbie doesn’t love the Thing and that she is just infatuated with the super hero lifestyle. That Debbie wanted to date any super hero. Suddenly, the Thing busts into the set and yells for Jason to stop talking bad about Deb. The Thing grabs Jason and threatens to punch him.

We see Deb in the studio audience. Deb stands up and tells Ben to stop. Deb says that she does not like what Jason is doing, either, but that Ben is acting like a child. Deb says that Jason is just a normal person and not one of the super villains that Ben fights.

Deb says that Ben is scaring the hell out of Jason and that Ben is also scaring the hell out of Deb. Deb tells Ben to go home and act like a normal person. The Thing is embarrassed and slinks off. We see that the entire episode was caught by the television cameras and broadcast live.

We slide over to the Baxter Building where Reed is performing an autopsy on the Watcher. Reed tells Sue that this is not the Uatu from their reality. That this is a Uatu from another dimension. Reed says that Uatu was killed by an off the scale power surge and the residue inside is extra-terrestrial.

Reed says that they know so little about the man who trained Doom. Reed wonders if Doom’s master could be capable of killing Uatu. Reed wonders why the Watcher would have been killed and how he ties into everything else. Sue responds that maybe the Watcher saw something that he shouldn’t have.

We zip back over to Latveria. Doom cannot believe that his master is almost here after all of these years. Doom’s assistant asks if Doom is nervous. Doom replies that he is not nervous. That he is exhilarated. Suddenly, the wind howls and lightning crashes down. Doom then kneels and welcomes the Marquis of Death and his new apprentice to his humble dimension.

Doom’s master tells Doom that he may rise. Doom’s master then says that Doom may now ask his question. Doom is confused and asks what question his master is referring to. The Marquis responds “Am I happy with your progress? Does it please me that your name reverberates around this world as the greatest villain who ever lived?” Doom responds “And does it?”

The Marquis answers “No.” The Marquis then destroys part of the ornate arch that is outside of Doom’s castle. Doom’s master says that all he sees is wealth and happiness. That he sees the enemies who have beaten Doom time and time again. The Marquis says that he smells defeat on Doom’s flesh. That Doom’s promise has amounted to nothing. That Doom’s failure disgusts him.

Doom indignantly says how dare anyone talk that way to him. Doom’s master continues that Doom rules a tiny kingdom that he has never heard of. The Marquis says “After twenty years, your foes deserve a new menace, Victor.” Doom’s master then sets Doom afire. End of issue.

Commentary
The Good: Fantastic Four #566 was not up to the standard that I expect from Millar on this title. Still, this issue was a better than average read. And Millar pulled off several neat plot tricks with this issue. I loved the plotline involving the dead Uatu from another dimension. First, Millar kills Galactus and now he kills the Watcher. Millar has certainly made an effort to blow the reader’s mind with plenty of over the top moments during his run.

Millar smartly smacks the reader in the face with an attention getting scene with Uatu’s corpse. Millar then follows it up with the reveal that it is a Uatu from an alternate dimension. This plotline was an excellent way to build up Doom’s master as a truly monster villain.

By having Doom’s master powerful enough to kill the Watcher, Millar is able to impress upon the reader the scale of power that the Marquis of Death possesses. This plotline also sets the tone for the story and creates plenty of excitement and tension in the reader prior to the Marquis of Death’s arrival.

While I was largely unimpressed with the Marquis of Death, I did like the fact that Doom’s master is summarily unimpressed with what Doom has accomplished. And the fact is that the Marquis of Death he is pretty much correct in his assessment of Doom’s accomplishments. Despite being one of Marvel’s biggest villains ever, Doom is pretty much a failure.

Millar uses the final scene to harshly and quickly deconstruct the reader’s image of Doom as one of the most imposing villains in the Marvel Universe. The fact is that Doom always gets beaten by the heroes that populate the 616 Universe. And all Doom has really accomplished is to rule a tiny and irrelevant kingdom. Despite all the bluster and ego, Doom’s accomplishments in the 616 universe are surprisingly small.

I dig that Millar went this route. It is important to build up the Marquis of Death and to show the wide gap in between what the Marquis has accomplished and what Doom has managed to achieve during his lifetime. For the reader to buy into the concept of Doom having a master it is incumbent that Millar show that Doom’s master is truly superior. And it is also important to do that in a manner that does not totally diminish Doom’s character to the point where he looks like a joke.

Fantastic Four #566 boasts plenty of fantastic artwork from Bryan Hitch. I love Hitch’s cinematic style of art. We get treated to plenty one and two page splash scenes. While I may have issue with the pacing, the fact remains that Hitch gives Fantastic Four #566 an impressive look. Hitch sets Millar’s story on a grand scale. The reader gets the impression that this story is a big deal due to Hitch’s artwork.

The Bad: Fantastic Four #566 was a slow issue. Not much happens in this issue. Millar performs nothing but set-up in this issue and does so with absolutely no sense of urgency. All in all, Fantastic Four #566 was a thin read and does not require or warrant a second reading. The lack of substance to this issue leaves the reader with a slightly unsatisfied after they have finished the issue.

The scenes in Latveria were incredibly decompressed. Millar wastes entire pages on Doom simply striking a pose or walking into his castle. The thirteen pages that we spend in Latveria could have easily been condensed into just six or seven pages. And that would have made the scenes in Latveria much more interesting and effective.

I have enjoyed how Millar has handled Doom’s character in the previous issues. However, Millar writes Doom in this issue too over the top. The hammy lines, like Doom ordering the first person who stops clapping to be taken out and shot, added nothing to the story. Those types of lines made Doom come across too cheesy and more of a punch line than a truly frightening villain. It also took the reader out of the story. I half expected Doom to remove his faceplate and twirl a giant handlebar moustache.

Even though I liked the idea of Doom having a master, I was not that impressed with the Marquis of Death. The name itself was uninspiring. It is a generic name that fails to pique the reader’s interest. And Doom’s master also has a common “death” look to his character. Both the name and the look of this character signaled a lack of creativity or effort on Millar’s part. The reader comes away with the feeling that the Marquis of Death is just a standard issue villain that we have seen numerous times before.

The “big” reveal of Doom’s master also had little impact since the reader has no idea who this character is. I was hoping that Doom’s master was going to be a character that we have seen before. At this point, I have no interest in this character. Millar is going to have to get more creative with the next issue in order to get me to care about the Marquis of Death.

The scene with Jason, Ben and Deb bored me. Millar could have easily taken this scene out of this issue completely or reduced it by a page or two. I am not too sure where Millar is going with this plotline. However, what I do know is that at this moment Millar has failed to get me to be even remotely interested in this plotline. Maybe Millar has something wildly interesting in store for us with this plotline because I am just not seeing it at the moment.

Overall: Fantastic Four #566 was way too slow and simply did not have enough substance to it. That combination made this issue just an average read for me. Still, Millar has done such a good job during his run on this title that he has earned my patience and trust while he gets this new story arc in place. So, I still remain positive that the next issue will be a much better read.