Advance Review — ‘If Destruction Be Our Lot’ #3 Questions What It Means To Be Human

It turns out that humans aren’t quite as extinct as they were believed to be.

The premise of If Destruction be Our Lot is that the human race died out — though we don’t know why yet — and robots took over the world. Yet our robotic hero, a simulacrum of Abraham Lincoln, swears we saw a real human, which is why he was carted off the be reprogrammed.

The young human girl (who curses like a sailor and that he found at the end of the last issue) proved he was right. Abe spends most of this chapter trying to catch up to the girl while avoiding the pursuing robots that now want to destroy him.

The story, written by Matthew and Mark Elijah Rosenberg, keeps readers questioning the nature of reality and what it means to be human. All the machines in the story have human personalities. There are robot prostitutes; some of the automatons are druggies (they get high on AC power); others like to relax with their coffee mugs.

The Rosenbergs make Abe the robot the most human of the lot. He feels, questions, and doubts throughout the series to date.

And thanks to artist Andy MacDonald, he’s instantly recognizable. Granted that Lincoln is the most easily recognizable president, but he still imbues him with a sense of humanity. And McDonald continues his career-defining work in this issue, with plenty of eye candy for readers to feast on.

Perhaps what is most exciting about this series is that it’s not following a templated storyline. With so many storytellers, you know exactly where things are going. If Destruction be Our Lot keeps you guessing. And that’s worth picking up each month’s issue.

If Destruction be Our Lot #3 — written by Matthew and Mark Elijah Rosenberg, illustrated by Andy MacDonald, colored by Francesco Segala, and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou — will be available Wednesday in local comic book stories and on digital platforms from Image Comics.