REVIEW :: Destroyer

So, who’s reading the new Robert Kirkman comic Destroyer?

I get the feeling this is a book that — because it doesn’t star an A-list character and because it’s a coming from the sometimes overlooked Max mature readers line — folks can and will easily pass up. But, really, you should pick it up. It’s an entertaining read, and if you like Kirkman you’ll really dig it.

Two issues into the five-issue limited series, Destroyer tells what appears to be an out-of-continuity tale about the old Timely Comics hero called Destroyer who, now a senior citizen, is dying from some kind of heart problem. But on his way to the grave, he plans to take some bad guys with him. Simple story, eh? Well, that simple story works perfectly with Kirkman’s easy-going writing style. The scribe is no Alan Moore but, with minimal captions or thought balloons for exposition, his approach to writing is ultra-economical; he basically gets out of his story’s way and lets it tell itself. Other writers could learn a lot from Kirkman’s skill.

The script’s simplicity is outdone only by the art’s simplicity. Artist Cory Walker is from that “clean” school of drawing, only leaving the most necessary marks on the page to illustrate a panel. And the lines Walker does decide to put down are some of the most confident strokes in the business.

Take my word for it. Buy this book.