Wednesday, May 30, 2007

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.

2 comments:

David A. Zuzelo said...

Great stuff DT, I think you'll love it. I have to get that trade myself. I have the new novel ready to go as soon as I clear a few other things off the pile.
The Gold Eagle books I read were a mixed bag, but there are some good ones in there. If you get hooked and want to read one really strange one I'll pass along a couple. First...read the trade. I sense MUCH late night reading in your house my friend.

Dan said...

LOL... late night reading indeed! Between the stuff you've sent down and a couple things I've picked up myself the reading stack grows and grows. Tried ordering NIGHTMARE USA today but Amazon still has it on pre-order. Definitely going to pick up the Destroyer omnibus, though. I think I just like saying "omnibus."