This year, the team will bring those sensibilities to full light with Destroyer MAX, a five-issue miniseries under Marvel's MAX imprint which features content for mature readers. Destroyer, an often-overlooked character from Marvel's Golden Age co-created by Stan Lee, isn't quite the name that jumps to mind when one thinks "mature readers superhero." Luckily, Kirkman was on hand to tell Wizard Universe why a 90-something Destroyer is the perfect fit for some violent content, what it's like to work with Walker again full time and why this series will be different than any other he's ever done.
So Robert, what was the reason for reteaming you and Cory, not just at Marvel and not just on a Marvel superhero comic, but on a Marvel mature readers superhero comic?
Well, I guess it all started with [Marvel editor] Aubrey Sitterson. He's got some emotional problems, and so he was wanting us to do something really violent and graphic to appease that, so he requested we do something on edge like Destroyer.
What is the pitch behind this specific series? Sometimes we get a book launched from Marvel that's 'Oh, here's a much beloved character who carried a book in the '70's,' but Destroyer is a bit less recognizable to say the least.
I have no clue. [Laughs] No. The pitch is the end of the life of a superhero. And it's him trying to scramble around and pick up the pieces of the mess he's made of his life and get his house in order in time for him to die. That's the main story. And I guess the character could be considered a bit obscure, but I think he's technically the first character that Stan Lee ever created. So that's kind of cool. He definitely has some of his fans. I know Dan Slott is a huge fan of the character, and there are people who definitely remember the guy and are excited to see he's coming back. But what we're doing is very much a new take on the guy and not very dependent on people knowing anything about the character. We're really just digging the guy up and trying to do something cool with him.
Do you just take the general concept and powers without researching a lot of the stories of his past?
Actually, I'm kind of operating on the—and this is very odd to explain—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. And I'm just assuming that the comics that happened in the '40s actually existed and continued from that point until now. And so you'd have your retcons and continuity fixes and little bits and changes here and there and different side characters added in along the way. I'm just assuming that all that stuff took place and writing the last five issues of this imaginary series. That's where I'm taking it, and because of that I'm excited that we'll have a series that in four or five issues you'll be getting little pieces of this guy's vast history and all the different things that have gone on and all the different things that have happened. It's not until the end of issue #5 that you'll have a full understanding of everything that's been happening. I think it'll be kind of neat.
So are you going to be throwing in little fake text elements like "*See issue #538 for So-and-so's last battle"?
No. I'm trying to stay away from anything that could be viewed as retro in this series or lighthearted and fun. I have a bit of a reputation for doing lighthearted and fun, semi-retro comics. Since this is a MAX book, I really wanted to do something—I don't know if it's necessarily overly dark, but it's something that is very mature and modern. Something like what we do in The Walking Dead. There's nothing retro about that, but I just haven't done anything like that at Marvel yet. We're trying to do something new here. So there won't be any captions or anything, as much as I really want to. I'm fighting my own instincts on that kind of stuff. I want to do at least one book that is fairly serious.
What can you tell me about the rest of the Destroyer cast? Since there's an entire unseen history there, I'm assuming he's accumulated a few other characters to be around at the end.
Well, he's got a lot of villains out there. The main thrust of the series is him realizing that his heart's about to give out and deciding to hunt down and kill all of his villains so they can't cause any trouble after he's dead. And so we'll get to see a lot of his villains that he's fought over the years. The main supporting cast is his wife Harriet and his daughter whose name escapes me at this point. It's a new series for me, so I haven't memorized everybody's name yet. [Laughs] But it's basically his family. He's got a daughter who's married and they have a kid, and so he's got a grandchild. He's a fairly old person at this point, and so his family is the main supporting cast. His brother makes an appearance, and he's got quite a long list of arch enemies to deal with. They'll all be showing up in this book.
I know some people think that Cory just did the initial issues of Invincible, but he's remained quite involved there in terms of character designs and other elements. Was getting back on a monthly much of a change for how you guys work and interact?
Not really. Cory and I have been working together non-stop since before we did Invincible. I know he did some things here or there for DC and some things at Marvel I wasn't involved with, but we did two issues of Marvel Team-Up together and two issues of Ant-Man. And still from time to time, Ryan [Ottley] and I will get him to do character designs on Invincible. He's very much involved with that book even to this day. So that's cool. But this is the first thing we've done that's a long term, real project. The other stuff he's done with me was just fill-in stuff, so I'm pretty excited to work with him again and get to have another Kirkman/Walker trade paperback eventually. It's pretty exciting.
Because this is a MAX book, has there been anything he's been specifically requesting in terms of violence and over-the-topness that he wants to draw in Destroyer?
He was asking for a lot of penises early on, but I believe he was told that we couldn't cross that line. [Laughs] No. As far as the violence goes, he's not requesting anything specific. That's all coming from me because I am a big fan of graphic violence. He hasn't refused to draw anything yet, and we've done some pretty heavy stuff already. So that should be pretty cool.
This is one of those tricky situations where you're relaunching a franchise and a character to hopefully catch on with the readers, but you're also sending him on a storyline where he's sure he's going to die. At this point, what's your non-spoilery reaction to the idea that the series is a hit and warrants a sequel?
I think if this book does well, we wouldn't have any trouble at all doing a sequel. He may or may not die in the last issue—I'm not going to come out and say it—but despite the premise of the book being that he's dying, who knows how long he's going to last? He's, I'm sure, lived through a lot of things already being that he's over 80 years old. He's probably got some life left in him. But if this ends up being fairly successful, I'd love to come back and do some more with the guy...even if he's dead. We do have that 700-issue gap that we could fill in at any point.
