Even before the first issue was solicited to comics retailers, Marvel Comics pulled the plug on Destroyers, a miniseries by writer Fred Van Lente and artist Kyle Hotz. Announced at FanExpo Canada in August, the project was to revive the World War II-era team name with a new crew of Marvel heroes including the Thing, She-Hulk, A-Bomb, Devil Dinosaur and the Beast, who would defend mankind from all sorts of horrible monsters doing the bidding of an unnamed Marvel villain, and in the course receive the cure for their own unusual appearances. The project was met enthusiasm by fans of Marvel and Van Lente in particular, on account of his beloved runs on such action-packed but very character-based titles as Incredible Hercules.The news of Destroyers' cancelation came not from Marvel itself, but from Van Lente in the form of a Tweet. "Sorry, dude, [Destroyers] got the axe weeks ago," wrote Van Lente in response to a fan who referenced the similarly cancelled Victor Von Doom and hoped that Van Lente's series wouldn't suffer the same fate. In a later Tweet, the writer said, "There was no announcement [of the cancelation]. The book hadn't been solicited yet, and just wouldn't have."

According to Van Lente, Hotz had completed penciling the first two issues, which was in the writer's words "the biggest bummer" about the situation. "It looked grrrrreat. Ah, well. That's showbiz for you," he said.

The Destroyers cancelation follows that of Victor Von Doom, a similarly anticipated, particularly fan-friendly project by writer Nick Spencer and artist Becky Cloonan. Known as "Teen Doom" to its eager would-be readers, the first issue was to go on sale at the end of November and follow the teenage Doctor Doom on an infernal road trip of sorts to save his mother's soul. Its cancelation was confirmed last week.

No official explanation has been offered for either book's cancelation, but industry insiders speculate that smaller projects like miniseries are at a risk as a consequence of Marvel's recent cuts in editorial, production and digital staff.

Van Lente and Hotz were paid for their unpublished work on Destroyers, and the writer reports via Twitter that he's presently at work on an unannounced Marvel series with an artist he's always wanted to work with.

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