A review by alyssalizarraga
Victor Lavalle's Destroyer, Volume 1 by Victor LaValle

4.0

While the summary of this book describes it as a modern re-telling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, I would argue that LaValle takes it one meta step further. Destroyer is set in a world where Frankenstein’s monster is fact rather than fiction, and the consequences of both the creature himself and the consciousness behind his creation are just as real. The book follows a grieving scientist as she grapples with the losses in her life and uses her genius to fight the prejudices, physical and mental decay, and brutality that conspire to take everything away from her.

This book had one of the most captivating opening sequences that I’ve ever read (seen? I don’t know the language of graphic novels). There was something so unsettling about the visual combination of human gore and mechanical destruction that gave LaValle’s story a deep sense of gruesomeness. This book took me more than one read to really grasp, and I’m still not sure I understood all of the relationships and the timeline of the intertwining storylines. Another few chapters or volumes of this story would be greatly welcome. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes they could have seen Frankenstein’s monster learn about the iPhone and battle a sentient Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot.