The Marquis of Death is an alternate reality version of Clyde Wyncham from the far-distant future. He is the one and only Mutant to have existed in his reality (as is recounted in the mini-series “1985″, I think…) and has spent countless centuries terrorizing and tearing apart The Multiverse.

The whole issue is about the ‘torture’ that the Marquis puts the Fantastic Four through. I have admit that I was expecting more, but then, this is Mark Millar’s story… not mine.

The physical battle was really short… and too gracious on the part of the Marquis. We will see the conclusion next month

Fantastic Four #567 is part two of “Doom’s Master”, a 4 part series done by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. Excellent duo, telling another excellent tale. Apparently, Victor Von Doom’s masters have come to ‘visit’ him and ends up conveying their displeasure in Doom’s failures. The result is as follows:

The last page of the issue shows the Marquis of Death donning Doom’s face armour, declaring himself as the ‘New Doctor Doom’. Chilling!

Probably a better read once the trade comes out

I once started a crazy collection of Savage Dragon 2 years back… it just snapped in my head when I began to track down Erik Larsen’s old Spider-man issues (where he wrote and draw). I like his ‘enthusiasm’ which he articulates through his artwork and plots. It is (almost always) over the top and ’shocking’. He tries to ‘wow’ the readers by pulling out new tricks from his hat (or rather head). Look at his de facto character of 15 over years (more if you include the fact that he created Dragon from his childhood years): he’s a cop, a team leader, married, fighting with gods (& God, apparently), trapped in another universe, had children, burnt into crisp, etc. etc. 

It gets a bit ‘too much’ after a while… and coupled with his taking over the Editor in Chief position of Image Comics, the title just got ’snagged’… and suffered. Fan base dwindled (me included), as issues came out sporadically. 

But things changed. He’s no longer busy, except on the Dragon. And surprise, surprise… after that awful Solar Man chapter (I really detested that)… here we have an issue that tells the highlights of Dragon and his newly requainted family’s (Angel and Malcom) day, as it unfolds, day after day. According to Erik (whose signature I plagiarise as my own – his “E” and “N”), the whole issue follows 120+ days in Dragon’s universe timeline. 

Guess what… it works. It is nice to see how each day corresponds to the same day of another week. Recurring issues are dealt and expanded. The nicest moments (to me) revolves around his children’s settling down to their new status quo, after being lost for a long while in Dimension X (ala ‘the Negative Zone’). Dragon’s own battle with a heavy financial burden grounds the whole setting with reality; here is a superhero who is struggling to make ends meet, and has a family to manage. Some things have to be sacrificed (relationships and security). But towards the end, you get glimpses of progress in the life of Dragon and family. 

It makes one go “Awwwwww….”

Welcome back, Erik Larsen!

Things I liked:

• Malcom and Angel are back!

• Jokes abound (not forced)

• The lengthy letter’s column!

Overall Fun Factor: 8.5/10 

That’s it… I give up. It is confusing… and I think I finally understand what is wrong with the whole Crisis series: It’s not in the writing (because All-Star Superman had the same ‘crammed’ style to it, which worked excellently well), it’s the whole need for the background infopedia of the DC universe and the mismatch art. The art (especially by JG Jones) was above average, but somehow it lacks the pacing and storytelling needed to execute Morrison’s plot and script nicely. I believe Quitely (Frank) would have aced this, but we know that probably would have taken a few years to finish the series. 

I think the artist (J.H. Williams III) who worked with Morrison in his Batman run (The Island of Mister Mayhew) is another who catches the storytelling approach needed to make Morrison’s compressed plots come to life without forcing too much out of the reader. I really like Morrison’s work when it really is executed well (Seaguy, JLA Classified, Batman, All-Star Superman), but Final Crisis is really way too complicated and convulated for my liking. 

Definitely not friendly to the person who wants to just jump on a new series for the fun of it. 

Parts I liked:

• Black Superman and Wonder Woman. Really interesting. 

• Silhouette of Bruce Wayne.

• The Title page for this issue. Really appropriate (even though I have no idea how it got there).

Fun Factor: 4.5/10 

The last page of Final Crisis #6. The aftermath of a showdown between Darkseid and the Dark Knight. I have to say that the whole series has been extremely confusing. I really tried giving some effort and showing some tolerance for what Morisson and folks were trying to do with the DC universe. But in the end, I cannot be bothered. It assumes way too much knowledge and background information. People like me (casual DC readers) are lost in transition. 

The art is good. I love Carlos’ work (as always). 

The ending for this issue was done well… Superman being ‘emo’ over his best friend’s death. He was preoccupied elsewhere (as usual). 

Anyway, my speculation is that NightWing (aka Dick Grayson) would take up the mantle of the bat. I really dislike Damien (Bruce Wayne’s supposed son). 

For great sagas, give me Marvel anytime. At least it is coherent and structured. This Final Crisis (actually all the crisis except the one that started them all, ‘Identity Crisis’, was confusing.