DESTRO #3 – New Comic Review

DESTRO #3, by Image Comics & Skybound on 8/21/24, finds Destro fighting for his life against an assassin before making a risky choice to survive. Meanwhile, Destro’s underlings make a startling discovery.

Credits:

• Writer: Dan Watters
• Artist: Andrea Milana
• Colorist: Adriano Lucas
• Letterer: Rus Wooton
• Cover Artist: Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas (cover A)
• Publisher: Image Comics
• Release Date: August 21, 2024
• Comic Rating: Teen
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Page Count: 32
• Format: Single Issue

Covers:

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Analysis of DESTRO #3:

First Impressions:

Let’s cut right to the chase. Destro #3 is a mixed bag. There are several cool elements in this issue, primarily through the action, but when you think about how certain scenes played out, you realize Destro’s plot armor is too thick to believe. Plus, the art is serviceable at best.

Plot Analysis:

When last we left the world’s greatest arms dealer in Destro #2, Destro made it his mission to destroy the factories and troops of Xamot and Tomax Paoli, the heads of Extensive Enterprises, after the surprise attack on the Darklonian Arms Fair. The twins responded in kind, leading to a back-and-forth series of attacks. Eventually, the heads of MARS and Extensive Enterprises met privately to settle on a truce where the only fighting would be a quest to kill each other. The winner gets the other’s company.

In Destro #3, we catch up with Destro as he visits his ancestral tomb in Scotland to commune with the spirits of his long-dead relatives. When he exits the tomb, he’s attacked by a sniper, codenamed Chameleon, who wears advanced tech to short our Destro’s weapons. After a harrowing fight, Destro loses but gets away on foot.

Dan Watters starts the issue off on an energetic note with a fight that shows just how formidable Destro can be when he’s outgunned and outmatched. That said, Destro’s escape doesn’t make sense when the sniper and her partner have drones and long-range tactical visibility.

Meanwhile, Scrap-Iron and Mercer pour over the tech from the drones that attacked the Arms Conference in issue #1 and conclude the technology is too advanced for the Paoli twins and Extensive Enterprises. Mercer concludes a third party is responsible for the attack, which means someone is trying to get MARS and Extensive Enterprises to wipe each other out.

And there we have it. Watters drops a bomb (heh) that a secret party is manipulating the corporate conflict behind the scenes. The twist is a good one, but the timing is off because the analysis of the drones should have been the first thing Destro did before attacking the twins. Destro is too calculating not to have considered a new player may be stirring up trouble, so Watters fumbles the reveal.

Later, Destro walks all the way to an American military base in Scotland and turns himself in. During questioning, Destro gives his captor a brief recounting of the history of the Destro mask. We conclude the issue with the family business, a punishment turned into a badge of honor, and a familiar face.

Overall, Dan Watters’s script delivers a multitude of cool moments, mostly via action, to elevate Destro’s reputation for survival under the worst conditions and odds. That said, several of the plot developments come off as forced for the sake of moving the plot forward.

Artwork and Presentation:

Andrea Milana’s art is good to great in the layouts and visual concept but awful in some of the details. There are moments in the wider shots (see preview page 1 below) where the figure work verges on incomplete sketches, and there are other moments where the detail and composition are downright cool (see preview page 3 below). Art quality is a chronic problem with all the Skybound/Hasbro titles, and this issue underscores that problem in a big way.

Art Samples:

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The Bigger Picture:

Series Continuity:

Destro is part of Skybound’s interconnected Energon universe, but the only mention of Energon or anything related to the Transformers is in a brief throwaway comment during the tech analysis at MARS headquarters. In other words, Energon is mentioned in passing, but that’s all.

Final Thoughts:

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DESTRO #3 is a mixed bag of cool action moments and interesting conversations, but Destro’s journey only works if you accept a few forced developments that require you to turn your brain off. Plus, the art waffles between pretty good and poor.

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