If Destruction Be Our Lot #2 // Review
Lincoln can’t remember much after the whole incident at the theatre. Maybe that’s because he isn’t Lincoln. He’s actually an android programmed to have his memories. And he’s having a particularly bad day. The latest adventure involves c;imbing out of a writhing pile of robots that have all been crammed into a police vehicle. It’s only going to get worse from there in If Destruction Be Our Lot #2. THe writing team of Matthew and Mark Elijah Rosenberg continue their exploration into a world dominated by robots that is brought to page and panel by artist Andy MacDonald and colorist Francesco Segala.
Lincoln feels as though he may have been arested for claiming to have seen people. Actualy people. He’s looking to find some sort of path to justice. Maybe if he could talk to someone’s manager and simply explain the situation to them. Her really DID see people. He’s not going to lie about something like that. None of the rest of the androids seem all that interested in letting him explain it, though. They’re simply going to try to reprogram him to behave the way a robot should. When that fails, they ARE going to try to get rid of him, though....
The Rosenbergs have cleared throguh enough of the initial world-building to be able to venture off into a story that is essentially Abraham Lincoln in a techno-dystopia. The fact that the Lincoln simulacra is artificial becomes less significant as the story progresses. The fact of the matter is that he BEHAVES like Lincoln might behave when presented with a world almost entirely populated by robots. The adventure feels a bit lighter with the second issue as the satire seems to have receded further into the background of the second issue. It’s more of an adventure as Lincoln looks to survive a facility that seems dead set on deleting him in one way or another.
The series gets a lot of mileage out of the visual appearance of Lincoln in a cyberpunk dystopia dominated by classical-looking metal robots. One might expect the visual joke of that premise to get pretty dull by the end of hte second issue, but it really doesn’t. There’s a real commitment to showing the historical icon of Lincoln contrasted against a dark and sinister sci-fi future. Much of the success of the second isssue’s visuals lies in the immensity of the scope of the techno-hell city that Lincoln finds himself lost in. MacDonlad makes it all feel so very, very overhwhelming as the issue progresses.
The series begins to look a little bit more interesting as the android nature of the Abraham Lincoln in the question fade into the background. And it just becomes a fish out of water science fiction horror story. There are a lot of different ways that the story could be taken, depending on which end of Lincoln's Legacy. They are going to be focusing on with respect to his relationship to this world. So it will be interesting to see what they do with it.
