The Origins of Evil, Part Two: A Game of Chess
| |||||||||||||
| "The Origins of Evil Part Two: A Game of Chess" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| Published in | First Strike #2 | ||||||||||||
| First published | August 23, 2017 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | August 2017 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | John Barber | ||||||||||||
| Pencils by | Netho Diaz | ||||||||||||
| Inks by | Walden Wong | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | David García Cruz | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Tom B. Long | ||||||||||||
| Editor | David Hedgecock | ||||||||||||
| Assistant editor | David Mariotte | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | 2005 IDW continuity | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | Current era | ||||||||||||
Joe Colton faces some resistance when he tries to invite Destro to join his villainous cabal.
Synopsis
[edit]In his ancestral home in Scotland, Destro receives a communication from Doctor X informing him to expect a visit from Baron Ironblood. Destro has been providing the Doctor and the Baron use of his M.A.S.S. Device teleportation technology for use in their plans, but has otherwise not been involved, so he does not take kindly to the idea that the Baron will be dropping in when he feels like it... and takes it even less kindly when an even more unwelcome guest, Joe Colton, is the one to step through the M.A.S.S., rather than Ironblood. Destro immediately orders his B.A.T. robots to kill Colton, who tries to fight them off while explaining that he is Baron Ironblood, and that he adopted the identity because he knew criminals like Destro would not want to deal with the founder of G.I. Joe. Regardless, Destro does not call his robots off, instead manipulating a chess board populated by game pieces sculpted in the likenesses of the world's heroes and villains as he listens to Colton plead his case. As he fights the B.A.T.s, Colton offers to provide Destro with access to Cybertronian tech; Destro is initially not interested, as there is plenty of such tech littering the planet already, but Colton explains that he can provide him access to the best, most cutting-edge stuff kept on Cybertron, not the "garbage" the Transformers are willing to abandon on Earth. Still, Destro is not convinced, believing they have no way to reach the Transformers' homeworld... until Colton reveals that he has access to a space bridge they can link the M.A.S.S. Device to. Suitably intrigued, Destro orders the B.A.T.s to stand down, and agrees to Colton's plans, with one caveat: he will go with him to Cybertron. Colton agrees, and a deal is made... even as Destro slowly moves two final chess pieces, cast in the image of himself and his longtime lady love the Baroness, closer together...
Featured characters
[edit](Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Humans | Others |
|---|---|
|
|
Notes
[edit]This four-page story is the second in a series of back-up strips published in the First Strike mini-series.
IDW continuity notes
[edit]- The Baron's alliance was revealed to be using Destro's M.A.S.S. Device in Revolutionaries #2; this story reveals that they actively "licensed" it from Destro, via Doctor X, but that Destro has otherwise been uninvolved in the Baron's plan until now. Destro's M.A.S.S. was the central plot device of the original IDW G.I. Joe comic book that ran from 2009 to 2011, but the version he kept in his castle was imperfect; evidently, he has used the successful advancements Cobra made to the device after taking possession of it to get his original in proper working order.
- Destro notes that his current tastes in technology run "more exotic" than leftover Cybertronian tech; a footnote explains he is referring to the alien techno-virus that infected Astrotrain's remains, which he raced both G.I. Joe and M.A.S.K. to obtain in the 2017 M.A.S.K. annual.
- Destro remarks that the range of the M.A.S.S. Device extends only as far as lunar orbit; we knew that already, as it was how Cobra established their "Section Sabine" moonbase on the lunar surface in 2010's G.I. Joe vol. 1 #16.
G.I. Joe references
[edit]- Destro having a chessboard with figures of the universe's various heroes and villains has been a recurring piece of imagery in G.I. Joe fiction, but originated in the famous issue 21 of the classic Marvel G.I. Joe series, "Silent Interlude".
Errors
[edit]- It's most obvious on the last page (and accentuated by the figure of Destro's classic design that he's holding), but Destro clearly has the metal mask and bare chest of his 80s design. This doesn't really line up with his IDW history, where he has metal skin, an attribute he acquired in 2011's G.I. Joe vol. 2 #8 when he was fused with the metal containment suit he had been wearing since an accident with the M.A.S.S. device in 2009's G.I. Joe vol. 1 #6.
