La Mano del Destino #1 is a comic created by J. Gonzo. A luchador is on the path of revenge after being unmasked in the ring. This is a lucha libre story with supernatural elements and plenty of combat. The leading luchador for this story is La Mano del Destino, a wrestler who went by a different name before he was betrayed. Some of the other personalities here are Mirlo, Genaro Gonzalez, and Chango. This story begins in the ring with a match before launching into a flashback on how La Mano del Destino was before. This takes place in what seems to be our modern world with a bit of the mystic. There are the classic wrestling themes of revenge, betrayal, and the taking down of evil organizations. The violence is hard-hitting but not bloody or gory. The pacing is steady and the tone is wrestling-level serious. There are some intense moments throughout. The dialogue has that wrestling bravado but most of what we hear from La Mano del Destino are his thoughts. Now word-heavy pages here. This is an exciting debut issue for a lucha libre series focused on a luchador who is out for revenge.

            The art here has a pulpy look to it and is well-shaded with the paper it is printed on looking like something from the 50’s/60’s. The color palette here is mainly purple, green, yellow, and blue with most of them being slightly oversaturated which gives it an older feel. The scenery is mainly distant crowd-filled stands and stadium lights. The most frequently used location is the squared circle but we do visit some backstage areas along with La Mano del Destino’s home. More often than not the backgrounds show parts of the area they are in, other times it is just stacked and solid colors. The expression level is average as most of these of characters are masked so we don’t get to see much emotion. The main look we’ll see is that of anger but a lot of these people rock a stoic look. The faces are nicely detailed with wrinkles and all and the different have their own style and uniqueness. The violence is wrestling-based with hard hits and slams. The action scenes flow well with good panel breakdown for each moment.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like pro wrestling, specifically lucha libre starring a disgraced luchador and having backstage drama and fighting with some supernatural elements then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

PG-13. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Now, this man without mercy begs for mine.”

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 19

Violent Pages: 11, for 52% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 1

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 1

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”