Creators: Larry Hama (writer), Chris Mooneyham (artist), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer).
Story: As the G.I. Joe Ninja Force and Dreadnoks wait outside a building, Destro makes his way in, intent on facing Cobra Commander, who sits behind an armoured door, protected by H.E.A.T. (High Explosive Anti-Tank) and Alley Vipers. Destro tosses smoke grenades, reduces his body heat and takes out the Vipers, all the while Cobra Commander looks on and dons his new battle armour. Destro then blows the door off and he and Cobra Commander duke it out, with Destro eventually getting the upper hand and dragging the Commander out to the Joe team.
Writing: This story serves one purpose and that's to remind us how awesome Destro is. Not only does he have the cool gadgets (smoke grenades, refrigerated suit, etc.), he can get his hands dirty as well and duke it out one on one when needed. The overarching plot doesn't move forward a whole lot here but we get a cool issue that spotlights how cool Destro can be. While it would have been nice to see what else is going on, I feel that it would have taken away from Destro's spotlight if they did so. Hama does include a bit of humor here with the Dreadnoks and Joe team just waiting for Destro to finish his job.
Art: Mooneyham continues to do very well with his art. Not only have we gotten a new outfit for Cobra Commander within the series, now we get a new battle armour as well. We get some great panels of Destro just standing in the smoke and taking out Vipers or Destro and Cobra Commander just walloping each other. A few of the fight panels just have plain white backgrounds and it would have been nice if details for those would have been filled out as well.
Overall: The focus of this issue is on Destro and how great of a character he can be. And it does it well. We get a few bits and pieces of other things, but the main focus is Destro. We are also finishing up the Battle of Springfield arc with Cobra Commander down and most of the other forces down for the count. Hopefully Hama can follow-up his next arc with something just as grand.
