Destro #2 - Image Comics

DESTRO No. 2, July 2024

Essentially comprising of a series of ‘tit-for-tat’ military operations against one another, Dan Watter’s narrative for Issue Two of “Destro” should certainly leave none within the mini-series’ audience in any doubt that the founder of M.A.R.S. Industries and the Corsican Crimson Twins really don’t get along. In fact, the two world-leading weapons manufacturers appear to go to some quite extraordinary lengths to ensure the total destruction of one another'' armament facilities; “Just look at how those beautiful, educated minds splatter on the ground.”

For those readers who enjoy such senseless slaughter, these high octane action sequences are certainly well-presented, most notably Xamot and Tomax Paoli’s attack upon Destro’s primary store of Energon in South Carolina – which results in the chrome-headed despot activating all of the merciless Battle Android Troopers (B.A.T.s) garrisoned there against the encroaching, scarlet-uniformed mercenaries. But after a while, some bibliophiles might find themselves needing to take something of a break from so much unrelenting, mutual death and destruction.

Impressively however, that is precisely what the British writer subsequently offers by suddenly spotlighting a very private meeting between the two warring factions’ leaders at an undisclosed location in the Pacific Ocean. The subsequent tense, somewhat haughty dialogue, threats and interactions on show are easily as captivating as all the mayhem depicted in this twenty-page periodical’s first half, and also establishes just how far Laird James McCullen Destro XXIV is willing to go with his secret stash of retrieved American nuclear warheads to win the day. Furthermore, the conversation definitely suggests that the ever-manipulative Cobra Commander may well have had a hand in causing the entire conflict in the first place.

Perhaps though it is this comic’s final scene showing “the Scottish leader of the Iron Grenadiers” single-handedly traipsing across the snow-covered Highlands to his family’s secret tomb, which is the highlight of this publication. Extremely well pencilled by Andrei Bressan and coloured by Adriano Lucas, any onlookers will feel the biting cold tearing through the titular character as he makes his arduous mountain trek, as well as gain a valuable insight into both the man’s strong superstitiousness and surprising hubris when it comes to outfoxing anyone thinking of following him.

The regular cover art of "DESTRO" #2 by Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas