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Once again, this is why it’s called “the world's greatest comic magazine”
Fantastic Four #567 is the second of the four part “Doom's Master” arc where we witness a surprising twist in the Doctor Doom mythos: apparently Victor Von Doom was seemingly trained by an extra-dimensional monster bent on genocide, who has now returned to Earth to check up on his pupil. But to the Latverian monarch's amazement, his master is none too happy.
Writer Mark Millar uses a fabulous device in this tale. We're transported into a future where Reed is dead, Doom has reformed (curing cancer and AIDS no less) and married Susan Storm. The reader is perplexed, thinking that this cannot be, but can't imagine how this impossible future will be resolved. Millar then yanks us back to the present with a clever twist that also manages to create major emotional impact and accelerate the story. It's the kind of storytelling that reminds me of why I started reading comics in the first place.
Artist Bryan Hitch is a genius at rendering realistic and dynamic characters in awe-inspiring landscapes of beauty and magnificence. He scores not one, two, or three but FOUR absolutely lavish layouts in this issue: a New York 2014 cityscape, Doctor Doom's Omega Box, ground zero in Latveria and yawning Megalodon jaws in the Pliocene age. These scenes make the eyes widen and the imagination open up. Hitch is a gift to comic lovers, and his work reminds us that comics can be a true art form, not just a juvenile diversion.
Millar and Hitch are masters at their prime. They instinctively understand what makes the Fantastic Four exhilarating and exciting. Their work on Marvel's first family is reminiscent of the classic Lee/Kirby years, in that there's an out-of-this-world and wide-eyed wonderment that's so essential to the title. I'm already dreading the day these two will leave to work on new titles, but at least we get two more issues from them, including a double-sized #569!
9/10
Adam P.
Review Co-Editor
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