He Who Destroys!

Book: The Invaders

Issue No.: 34

Published: August 15, 1978

Title: “He Who Destroys!”

Cover Price: 35¢

Format: Original paper copy

I like The Invaders. It’s a 1970s book set in the 1940s, so it was retro when it originally came out, and I guess that makes it double-retro now. Since the book is set during World War II, the good guys punch a lot of Nazis, always a good time. And, characters and stories aside, it’s usually easy to find Invaders back issues cheap. As compared to, say, the always x-pensive old X-Men books.

This issue of The Invaders set me back four bucks, which is about as cheap as these old books get outside of dollar bins. So I was a bit surprised to find Invaders honcho Roy Thomas’ signature at the bottom of page one. I initially assumed someone forged Thomas’ name as a goof. Like, if the real Thomas signed the book, wouldn’t he have signed the cover? But I looked up the real Thomas’ autograph online, and it certainly looks a lot like the autograph in my book.

Then I checked the credits and saw that Roy Thomas didn’t even write this issue. The writing here was handled by guest scribe Don Glut. As I understand it, Thomas was steering this book, even the issues he didn’t personally write. But if someone wanted Thomas’ autograph, wouldn’t it make more sense to get him to sign something he actually wrote? In case it isn’t obvious, I am not an autographed collectibles guy, so I don’t know what the norms are here.

Story-wise, this is a meat-and-potatoes Invaders story. It looks for a minute like the Destroyer, a superhero ally of the Invaders, has turned evil. But actually it’s just that Nazi super-villain Master Man (admittedly a good name for a Nazi super-villain) captured Destroyer and stole his costume.

There is a big-ish reveal in this story — Union Jack, who is one of the Invaders, now has some electrical powers. Those powers were apparently activated during the Invaders’ recent encounter with Thor.

Despite the Invaders’ best efforts, Master Man escapes them in the end. But they are able to restore Destroyer’s good name.

Next time — Devil Dinosaur versus the Dino-Riders!