I’m probably an oddity among the readers of the first issue of Destroyer in that I read neither The Walking Dead or Invincible (nor have I read anything remotely Marvel Zombies related for that matter). The peculiarity probably doesn’t end there, as I am familiar with and Golden Age comics beyond learning names and titles when necessary to throw a reference out in a modern review. Note that Destroyer is a contemporary book, Kirkman is not doing a reimagining via a period piece, but instead is practicing a (time) leap in imagination. There are obviously many differences between comics of that era and those of today, but there is something about the Golden Age books correlates more with modern sensibility than the ages that separate them. We can look at two principal characters from the Big II – Captain America and Batman. These are characters that in the Golden Age did a lot of ass kicking, and used whatever means they had to do so– both Bucky Barnes and Bruce Wayne might’ve just bust a cap in you. The whatever the means is an element that pervades comic book sensibility now, though admittedly written with much more tact – even if less gusto – than it was in the early ‘90’s. If one wants to compare, I recommend looking to a modern Silver Age homage/examination, Alan Moore’s brilliant 1963, and see the stark oddity in an era that resides in-between then and now. Between gold and grim. There is a reason why I think these Golden Age character are often the choice of the retooling or where inspiration is drawn from. They strike to the very heart of American, sequential creative expression – pulps. There is just something to clean, self-righteous, violence. Many Golden Age comics are direct descendants of that form, and though deconstruction seems to be the perpetual (and often times phantom) next step, there is something about going back to when our building blocks were monuments. With Destroyer, Kirkman offers the story of the last days of one.
The Destroyer’s pre-Kirkman heritage is a rich one in hindsight. An early product of the mind that would be one half of the team that would propel the Silver Age, he is the creation of Stan Lee, and made his debut in a collector’s favorite title Mystic. Kirkman has stated that he has treated this mini as essentially writing as if an original Destroyer series had continued to this day:
“but I’m operating on the assumption that there’s a 700-issue run of this book that doesn’t really exist, and so I’m writing #701 to #705.”
The story of a veteran, elderly, and apparent storied super hero who finds out he is living his last days is not one that will be defined as high concept. It’s a prosaic premise, yet it’s not quite just a ‘romp’. Depth is measured in the forms of questions asked, and you only have to ask one if it is the right one. Kirkman asks us – we ask ourselves – what has become the classic (perhaps the original) question the super hero medium poses. One that we always go for even if a second later we can be found on message boards saying we don’t: What would you do? The difference in Destroyer is that Kirkman offers the question at last chapter, not as an origin.
Golden Age Destroyer Appearance
It may be my unfamiliarity of the Max line in general, but what actually drew my attention were the characters around Keen Marlow (the Destroyer); specifically the unusual apparatus on both Marlow’s wife, Harriet, and his doctor. It strikes me as a possible cost-by-association levied on Marlow due to superhero career. If that is the case, it reinforces the motivation of his decision to settle debts now, so that his loved ones won’t have to (any more) after he’s gone. I’m unsure if he will go that route, but Kirkman has the room to examine the morality of Marlow’s decision, a choice by a man that the reader is very much put in a position to like in this first issue. The art is functional. Cory Walker offers the violence that a Marvel Max allows, but still emanates a softer, cartoony, atmosphere that isn’t going for that hyper-violent ‘realism’. Make no mistake, Destroyer is a violent book, but it’s not graphically so. On a personal level, I have to admit that most Golden Age collectors collect for covers, and when I think Destroyer, I have stamped in my head visions of Schomberg covers, and there is an energy and place to those images that’s very hard to move far away from. That said, I think Walker’s tone is the correct one, and I rather enjoy and appreciate the patchwork costume design of the Destroyer.
I’m not sure if the ceiling with such a series is to elicit fan love. Instead, I think the aim is akin to the momentary rush of a passing smile, and the value of a punch in the face. The absolute belief in what we fight for, and the means to do it.
That’s truly golden.
- Jay Tomio
Jan-ken-pon is the time traveling, force-walking, multiverse crossing column of Jay Tomio, owner of 1/3 of everything you see currently on screen, and the editor of Heliotrope. Official since the Golden Age. Some call him the Bodhisattva.
