REVIEW: DESTRO #1
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CREATIVE TEAM:
(W) Dan Watters (A) Andrei Bressan (C) Adriano Lucas (L) Rus Wooton (Pub) Image / Skybound
SOLICITATION:
James McCullen Destro XXIV is the man behind M.A.R.S. Industries, the undisputed leader in providing high-tech weapons to world powers…for the right price.
But the emergence of Energon has changed everything.
As Destro’s ambitions grow, the “Crimson Twins” Tomax and Xamot Paoli emerge to destroy their competition, and Cobra Commander realizes his current ally could be his future greatest enemy.
FIRST THOUGHT:
We’ve already seen Destro in the pages of DUKE and COBRA COMMANDER, but we’ve seen him through their lens – what is Destro like away from these tinted lenses? I think we’re discovering it, quickly, in the pages of this first issue and it’s fascinating.
THE STORY:
The first question new readers may have with this book is in regards to the previously mentioned books, DUKE and COBRA COMMANDER – “Do I need to read them before reading DESTRO #1?” The answer is ‘no’, but why wouldn’t you? The GI Joe and Cobra side of the Energon Universe is slowly developing and to get the larger picture of what’s happening, reading all of the miniseries is the way to go, but Skybound is doing a good job of putting creative teams on these books that craft a story within the miniseries that nod at what’s happening in the world around them without shackling the character’s story to that overarching story and forcing new readers to read them all.
Dan Watters points out in his letter to readers at the end of this issue that he did not grow up a GI Joe fan in the United Kingdom. He comes into this world of characters with a somewhat fresh pair of eyes and creative mindset. Destro has certain familiarities long time fans have learned over the years, but Watters’ Destro is different. That’s the goal for all of the creative teams on these miniseries – create something familiar, but unique to this world. Watters does a good job with that in this first issue. Readers are seeing a lot of what Destro is doing with, and without, Cobra Commander’s knowledge or agreement to. Destro reminds the Commander that he works with him, not under him, and with that statement the familiar conflict starts anew.
Rus Wooton, the veteran letterer of this series, is earning his paycheck every page with the amount of dialogue Watters is putting on the page. Every book Wooton works on needs its own style, and he delivers time and time again. Sometimes it’s hard to put into words, ironic as that is, the impact a skilled letterer has on a comic. Wooton impacts DESTRO #1 like readers come to appreciate.
THE ART:
Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas, and Rus Wooton are a strong artistic team and show that in this first issue. Bressan and Lucas have collaborated with one another in the past with the Skybound published series BIRTHRIGHT and DARK RIDE, so their chemistry hits from the first panel and runs strong throughout the entire issue.
Bressan’s line work gives some breathing room to Lucas’s coloring and allows it to become more involved in the storytelling aspect of the art than just being something that amplifies the lines on the page. There are a number of panels that if the color wasn’t there the scene still tells the story, but with the colors it tells so much more. An example of this teamwork is a panel where one of the B.A.T.s is shooting at a group of armed gunmen and they are returning fire. The line work on these panels is just the B.A.T. shooting toward them, but the colors add the return fire and the impact that has on the unit. That color brings a lot of intensity to that scene and then opens up to a wider shock for the next page reveal.
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
Overall, this is a good issue that stands on its own in the larger universe that’s being built in the other miniseries, but plays well with the larger story and adding to it. Destro is a fan favorite character and seeing him being treated the way Watter, Bressan, Lucas, and Wooton are doing in this issue builds to the excitement of what’s the come with the rest of the miniseries.
