Fantastic Four #567 - DC

I'm not sure who's going to follow up Mark Millar's run on this book, but . . whomever it is, they are going to have some pretty big shoes to fill. These issues have been brilliant. This issue begins immediately where the last left off . . with Doom burning at the feet of the Marquis of Death, his master. It appears that is was Doom himself who first track this guy down. He wanted him to teach him everything he knew. But now, this Marquis of Death, doesn't feel like he's lived up to his potential. "How eager he was when he first tracked us down. How full of cruelty and ambition. Let's dump him in the Pliocene Age. His corpse will make a fine meal for the Megalodons." And he's quickly swallowed by a dinosaur sized shark. But I'm getting ahead of myself, in the beginning of the issue Doom rises up and confronts his would be master. The battle he then engaged in lasted six weeks. "Others joined in this terrible fight, but it was Doom who created the Omega Box and Doom alone who defeated his master." With the Marquis dead, and the FF torn apart, Doom mourned. He then, "Married and rehabilitated, his only interests were scientific progress and the well-being of all mankind." We see in the 5 years that follow that the Earth becomes a Utopia. Until one day, in the Omega Box, Doom and his wife, Susan, are talking about the future of their unborn child when it's revealed that this was all a hoax by the Marquis. "You haven't been gone five seconds. You're still lying burned in the dirt. You haven't even blinked yet. There was no Omega Box, no ultimate battle, no wife or heir apparent. We were just having fun." And then he uses his powers to wipe out Latveria, and all the people in it. "This is real. This isn't a battle we came here to wage . . this is punishment." Then after he dumps Doom's body in the past he decides he's going to forgo the Slaughter. Instead he dons the mask of Doom . . "Honor will be restored by rectifying his failures . . starting with the Fantastic Four. Let us see how they fare against the new Doctor Doom." I have a feeling that things are about to get a whole lot worse before they get better. This is a fantastic story-line and I can't wait to see how this one is resolved. You just never know with Mark. It could go in so many different directions, and the only thing you can know for sure is that it won't go in the direction you expect. Mark is definitely a 'road less traveled' type of person. Fan-frikkin-tastic!! Oh yeah, by the way Bryan Hitch's pencils are just as stellar.