Fantastic Four #568 - Marvel

Well . . that didn't take to long. We find out this issue just who this Marquis of Death really is. " . . Clyde Wyncham. The world's most dangerous super-villain. He came from an alternate dimension, where he was their one and only mutant." When confronted with his image, Reed remembers exactly who he is. But he, the Marquis, also wants to tell his own tale . . "His reality-altering powers subdued by brain damage and this cybernetic helmet of your design, which provides him with an eternity of pleasant dreams. Until the day not many years hence when your adversaries join forces. Many dreams died that day. The day Clyde Wyncham was woken from his slumber. His mind restored . . his appetite for slaughter awakened. Clyde Wyncham conquered time and space and became their master. He dedicated a billion years to crisscrossing the whole of reality, becoming at last . . the Marquis of Death. And my final voyage began, I cut a path through millions of worlds and millions of Reed Richards to give you this one chance to save them all." So, while this guy is considered to be Doom's master . . really, this whole time he's only been after Reed. Boy, if Doom heard that this is what he'd been used for . . I'm thinking that he'd be pretty pissed that he was manipulated this way. And, that means that Reed was actually more important to him that Doom . . his own protege. A protege that was picked, I'm sure, for the express purpose of causing Reed and his family grief. No . . I don't think Victor would be to happy with that piece of knowledge. To bad he's sitting in the belly of a dinosaur shark right now. The Marquis has taken Reed on a tour of his past. He's offered to spare his reality, if he but makes a different decision during a key moment in their history. But Reed refuses to sacrifice anyone but himself. So he's returned. But he finds that the present has been altered also. It appears that the Fantastic Four consider him the enemy, and he's attacked by Sue, Ben and Johnny . . hundreds and hundreds of them. Wow! Mark Millar has really done an incredible job with this series. And Bryan Hitch has been simply superb with the art. But, right now, I'm a little concerned that we may be seeing Mark and Bryan on their way out. This issue Mark is helped by Joe Ahearne on scripts, and Bryan is assisted by Neil Edwards on the art. Is this the beginning of the end . . or do these guys just need a little break on their fantastic run? I hope it's the latter, but . . I'm afraid it's the former. Ok . . I stepped away for a second to check the postings. Next issue is listed as Mark's last issue, and Stuart Immonen is doing the art. After that Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham take over the creative chores. We'll have to talk about this some more next issue.