Destro #1 - Image Comics

DESTRO No. 1, June 2024

Apparently presenting “the next chapter of the Cobra threat”, Dan Watters’ script for Issue One of “Destro” must surely have thoroughly entertained any fans of the “Real American Hero” media franchise with its incredibly engrossing opening featuring an insurgency in the Republic of Darklonia, and subsequent side-plots involving various shady armament dealers. Indeed, considering the sheer scope of some of this mini-series’ numerous storylines, such as the rising power struggle behind M.A.R.S. Industries’ owner and Cobra Commander, some readers will doubtless be disappointed that the title will be limited to just five instalments; “I hope I see you in Hell, Laird Destro.”

Leading this assault upon the audience’s senses is arguably the British author’s excellent handling of James McCullen Destro XXIV, who is initially depicted as the chilling saviour of a population already squeezed dry by the corruption of a greedy Prime Minister. This redemption genuinely appears to be little more than the ‘backwater nation’ exchanging one blood-thirsty ruler for another. But is soon revealed to have also been partly prompted by the weapons manufacturer’s infatuation with both “the emergence of Energon”, as well as the desire to field test his Battle Android Trooper project – something which ultimately fails when it becomes evident the robotic killing machines’ “volatile” programming means “they shoot anything with a face in that face, until they’re switched off.”

Equally as engrossing though are this comic’s action sequences, which hint at just how truly vicious a world the likes of a “blood-soaked” Artyom Darklon dwell in. It takes quite a bit of penmanship to make “the Scottish leader of the Iron Grenadiers” appear to be this book’s heroic saviour – at least to begin with. Yet that is precisely what the writer initially achieves when Destro is compared to a Prime Minister willing to have his soldiers gleefully “gut shot” a few protestors just to show the others how they ‘drowned in their own intestines.’

Likewise, artist Andrei Bressan and colorist Adriano Lucas provide the publication with some marvellously crafted visual pieces, most notably the emergence of a B.A.T. advanced prototype from amidst the insurrectionists, and the Crimson Twins’ massacre of a military infirmary in Sierra Gordo, South America. Packing a far portion of gratuitous violence and physical mutilation, the layouts make it very clear that even the tiniest mistake, whether on the battlefield or inside a politically-charged boardroom, will have atrocious consequences for those making them.

The regular cover art of "DESTRO" #1 by Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas