Destroyer #4

Previously in Destroyer #3 

Boy, did I have it wrong.

Intermixed with flashbacks to when Josephine met her husband (nicknamed “Pliers” due to his mechanical hand) The Monster arrives at Josephine’s Montana lab in the present day. While he is set on destroying, well, everything, Akai still hesitates to take a life. Through the flashbacks, we see why Josephine’s attitude is kill first and ask questions never.

Years before, the Director shared her vision with Josephine: to harness the power of the Monster in order to achieve immortality. They could be gods. But when Josephine announces her pregnancy, the Director swiftly dismisses her. Pliers makes a deal with the Director: Josephine and their child won’t be harmed as long as he remains with the program. Josephine, unaware of the deal, sees this as a betrayal.

Back in present day, The Bride finally arrives and it’s not the Monster as I’d previously thought. It’s Pliers in a giant suit (think Pacific Rim), sent to retrieve his wife and their son. Since the Monster can’t be stopped, Josephine and Akai escape in a shuttle headed for the Director’s HQ. What the Director has waiting for her is something no one could have seen coming: Josephine’s ancestor, Victor Frankenstein, alive and well.

Dr. Josephine Baker is currently one of my favorite characters in a comic book. She was devoted to her work, and didn’t make time for much else. When Pliers asks to sit at her lunch table, it begins years of a friendship/courtship that blossomed into love. Josephine was forced to choose — as many women are — between a career and having a family, but on a much more brutal level.

The Monster and his motivations confuse me. Is he there simply to stop Josephine from continuing the work that created him? It’s interesting that Akai has such an aversion to violence while the Monster has been relentless in killing anyone who gets in his way. Is this difference between them due to Akai’s age when he was made, and is this a glimpse of what he can become after centuries of immortality? Also, what is motivating Pliers? I wondered if he’s in a suit or if he IS the suit now.

With the next issue being the penultimate, here’s to hoping we get a few answers.