Best of THE DESTROYER Omnibus

When I was a kid I used to love going with my Mom to the Moorestown Mall. Sure, the Cherry Hill Mall was nicer, bigger and had better stores. But I loved the cheaper feel of Moorestown, plus it had a generic, and what I believe was independent, bookstore that had an entire row of men's adventure novels featuring Mack Bolan (aka The Executioner) and The Destroyer, the inspiration for the underrated and fun REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS starring Fred Ward.

Unfortunately, my mother never let me indulge myself in any of these (probably had something to do with the scantily-clad babes that graced the covers) so I had to settle for the Ian Fleming books passed down from my brother-in-law.

So imagine my surprise when I was scanning the book and magazine shelves at the grocery store the other day and saw that The Destroyer series has been re-launched with Warren Murphy and James Mullaney back at the helm. (From what I've been reading I guess old school fans were not happy with the character's recent stay at another publishing house, but whatever.)

Not only has the series been re-launched, but for novices like myself, there's even a Best of The Destroyer omnibus featuring three tales of Remo and Chiun by Murphy and Richard Sapir. Since I keep telling myself that I'm going to use this summer to make a concerted effort to get back to reading – a pursuit I once enjoyed with passion – I might have to add both old and new takes on this once-forbidden character to me reading list.