Fantastic Four #563

Overall- I was kind of torn about how I felt towards this issue, but after I give it a proper review, maybe I'll have decided exactly what I thought about this comic. The Thing has proposed to a school teacher named Debbie Green, and she has accepted. So, the wedding is set for 6 weeks, and the paparazzi is practically salivating at the thought of snapping some pics of Ben and his fiancee. Apparently, Debbie has a crazy, stalker(?), ex-boyfriend, who has been following her around the past few issues, and now wants to tell the press all about her. Meanwhile, Sue warns Debbie that her life is about to change in nearly incomprehensible ways, and that she'll almost definitely have to leave her old life behind. Sue tells her to be 100% sure she wants to go through with such a life changing decision... Jeez Sue, what a killjoy!

Reed decides he is going to take the family out to Scotland on a vacation to decompress from all of the recent excitement, and invites Ben and Debbie to come along, to which Ben readily agrees. Why did I add this? Who knows. I guess something will happen on the vacation next issue.

Meanwhile, in an alternate dimension, two veiled beings have destroyed the entire planet, and apparently every living being on it. These two characters seem to be the masters Dr. Doom was referring to last issue. After decimating the alternate Earth, the two characters decide to pay a visit to our Earth, and their favorite pupil, Doom.

On one hand, I really have been enjoying Mark Millar's job on this series. A team like the FF can get stagnant at times(it's the same 4 people for over 40 years now)but Mark has really been pumping out some interesting stories. Now, I'm going to contradict some of what I just said. Some characters don't need to be changed up(even after 40 years)and Dr. Doom is one of those characters. I really dislike the idea that Dr. Doom has ANY masters, no matter how powerful they are. I can't tell you how many times I've read about Doom proclaiming that he has NO master. Doom is the only master of Doom. Dr. Doom has been a favorite villain of mine since I first began reading comics all those years ago, and I really won't be pleased if Mark decides to alter Doom's history dramatically. I know Doom's life story inside and out, and changing up the history of one of my favorite characters is going to raise my ire.

I was also kind of bothered by how the entire FF acted like Ben has never been in love before... Um, does the name Alicia Masters ring a bell? It should, she was Ben's girl for like 30 years! I'm also a little annoyed by Ben's sudden ability to settle down with a woman. His problem has always been the fact that he felt a woman deserved better than a pile of rocks like him. Ben has always been a pretty self-deprecating character, and the fact that he suddenly is willing to marry a woman is just a little weird to me.

Overall, I liked this issue, but the next few issues are really going to make or break this storyline for me. If Mark has Doom playing a subservient role to some other villain, I'm going to be mighty annoyed. If Doom is revealed to be the main threat, and his "masters" wind up obeying him, then I'll forgive the way Mark is overlooking much of Ben's personality flaws. For a score, I'll give this issue a 7 1/2 out of 10. This issue was mainly a set-up issue, and the next issue should really begin the fireworks.