Luck Be A Lady: Domino Appreciation...

[Sea Hound]

(Okay, I do mark out for any acknowledgement of Dom being randomly horny)

(Yay fighty time! It only took 4 issues for 1 good page!) (Also if killing is a problem, you'd think they would've spent a little budget on non-lethal firearms for Dom...)

Anyway, next scans are from issues 34 and 35. Lopez isn't drawing them (aww!) but Domino actually gets to be useful as she and Psylocke infiltrate a cruise ship cult. Highlight of the run by far.

Hiya Craig, yet again-thanks for posting. You're almost making a Domino archive. (One thing I do miss about the old boards actually, is that a lot of people put a lot of effort into the fan threads, in terms of collecting images, and making sense of their complicated stories. It was sometimes very handy to look back on. It's nice to get some context too, rather than bare facts like Wikepedia. Also, your comments amuse me.

A few thoughts:
About the randomly horny thing: it's something I like about her, that she has lots of sex, and sometimes randomly hooks up; and she doesn't feel guilty or angsty about it in the slightest. She's happy and unapologetic about it; and that's not that common for real or fictional women. I don't want all female characters to be like that; but I like a variety of characters and I really find her straight-forwardness refreshing.

Non lethal weapons: why doesn't everyone have them? I've often wondered. Cops do in real life.


And on another note: anyone know where this scan is from?

image.jpg

Apparently gallinophobia is fear of chickens, not to be confused with gallophobia: fear of the French, and presumeably Fantomex.

[Bl00dwerK]

About the randomly horny thing: it's something I like about her, that she has lots of sex, and sometimes randomly hooks up; and she doesn't feel guilty or angsty about it in the slightest.

So what you're saying it you don't have a problem with Bea getting lucky?

[Sea Hound]

So what you're saying it you don't have a problem with Bea getting lucky?

Nope. Hang on, who's Bea? I still don't have a problem with it, unless it's Bea Arthur, in which case I have no problem with it, but don't want to see it in comics.

[Bl00dwerK]

Nope. Hang on, who's Bea? I still don't have a problem with it, unless it's Bea Arthur, in which case I have no problem with it, but don't want to see it in comics.

Bea's Domino. Wolverine was calling her "Bea", short for Beatrice, in some X-Force thing I read. I think it was that "Sex + Violence" trade. Don't quote me on that, though...

[Sea Hound]

Bea's Domino. Wolverine was calling her "Bea", short for Beatrice, in some X-Force thing I read. I think it was that "Sex + Violence" trade. Don't quote me on that, though...

Thanks! I haven't laid my hands on sex + violence, although I've heard it's really good. I just can't bring myself to shell out real money to see the small hairy man in all his glory. (I'm fine with Logan clothed.). I was thinking of that running Deadpool gag where he fancies Bea Arthur and I got confused.

[Bl00dwerK]

Thanks! I haven't laid my hands on sex + violence, although I've heard it's really good. I just can't bring myself to shell out real money to see the small hairy man in all his glory.

Yeah, when I read it I was like "Really, Domino? Wolverine?", but you know how she is...

[CraigTheCylon]

And on another note: anyone know where this scan is from?

image.jpg

Apparently gallinophobia is fear of chickens, not to be confused with gallophobia: fear of the French, and presumeably Fantomex.

Seen the pic before on Tumblr but I don't have the issue...if I had to guess it's likely from Daniel Way's Deadpool run. Haven't read it - Way's way with Wade isn't as funny as, well, saying 'Way's way with Wade' out loud for a start - but I've seen some other panels from what might be the same issue of Wade badgering Domino into admitting she's afraid of chickens. Might have to dig through some trades for those issues if I'm to continue taking this 'archivist' role seriously...

Also, the Bea thing: Domino used the name Beatrice in some of her early appearances through X-Force and Cable's solo series. Apparently it sounds similar to the Latin word for luck, so that's kinda fitting. However, back in Dom's '97 miniseries, we learn that Neena is her real first name (or at least an older alias) and that she only took 'Beatrice' as a name to distance herself from the memory of her old husband. The implication at the end of that series is that Dom's settled with her past and is okay with using her real name again, although whether other writers complied I can't say. Also, in the 2002 miniseries, it's revealed that Beatrice is the name of Dom's mother, which is a hell of a coincidence (bear in mind Domino didn't remember her mother at all before tracking her down in that series, so it's not like she named herself after mommy in tribute).

[Drakeon]

Yeah, that scene is from Deadpool. Cyclops sends Domino to distract Deadpool during a mission and in the midst of it Wade thinks they hooked up but it didnt happen. Domino just lets him think so.

[CraigTheCylon]

Okay, on with the scan parade.

#34-35 of the Wood run is titled 'Subterraneans' (even though none of it occurs underground...) and, as I mentioned, has Dom and Psylocke infiltrating a cruise liner, home to a cult whose leader has acquired a missing sample of that proto-mutant DNA stuff.

Surprisingly, this goes unnoticed despite Pixie's pink flashing and latin gibberish.

Fresh clothes acquired, the girls join a group meditation session (and how a girl with purple hair and one with chalk-white skin go unremarked upon in a crowd of visibly regular humans is left unexplained) before Betsy is 'noticed' and herded off for a private session with the leader. This isn't the work of telepathy, btw - so far as I can tell the boss guy's just digs on fit Asian birds. Fair enough. Anyway, Domino barely lasts another minute of meditating before getting bored and wandering off.

That first caption's an important one for understanding Domino's thought process in this story, and Wood's take on her overall. It's a lot different to the devil-may-care cavalier Dom we're all used to from other stories, whose lucky charms give her the confidence needed to take crazy risks without worry; Wood's Domino, on the other hand, takes no comfort in her powers and prefers to minimize the odds manually, by taking the safest possible route from A to B. Again, it's a very abrupt shift for the character, but it is consistent through Wood's run, and one could argue that Dennis Hopeless' take on Dom in Cable & X-Force was an attempt to merge the approaches of Wood and KYost etc. into one character...

Anyway, as Psylocke suffers a Bond Villain monologue, Domino goes all Metal Gear:


...and we learn that the cult leader has drank (yuck) the proto-mutant DNA, is now rapidly 'evolving' into...something, and he's intending to share the gift with all of his followers. Onto the next issue...

[CraigTheCylon]

Oops, forgot to mention, this art is drawn and coloured by Roland Boschi. I quite like it though I'd have preferred more Lopez.

Anyway, everything goes tits-up when the US military launch a missile strike against the cruise liner (in response to the leader bragging to the world about his malformed plans) and Psylocke accidentally gives away that she's been brain-talking to Storm and co. all this time.

Yes, they are sending the teenage girl chasing a frickin' ICBM. Because rampant child endangerment is the pillar of all things X-Men!

Anyway, Domino wants to help but Psylocke has a sudden attack of massive hypocrisy.

Uhm, Betsy? Yeah, remember how about 9, maybe 10 issues back you and the gang were invading a small country and you basically diced up a whole bunch of soldiers with a katana, and looked on without complaint as Domino and Warpath did similar business with gun and knife respectively? Yeah, that's called 'killing' also. And those dudes were just following orders. This freak probably deserves a bullet more.

Anyway, Domino grumbles a bit but acquiesces to her team's stupidity and goes for a non-lethal rescue attempt:

...which does succeed, barely.

TBC.

[CraigTheCylon]

Anyway, while they wait for the missile to be dealt with, the two take a blood sample from the leader, then Domino has to vent.


(the bit beneath the red line in the second image is actually cropped in from the following page)

This is...pretty shocking, when you think about it, but in a good way. Two superhero characters have a disagreement which A) is actually based on contrasting viewpoints previously established rather than one or both suddenly acting OOC as hell, and B) doesn't end in an actual fight. Neena and Betsy make their views plain, scowl a bunch, then drop it - neither really agreeing but quietly acknowledging that they're grown women and shouldn't act like children. It's like actual real people talking!

Plus it makes sense for both how Domino is portrayed in this run (of course she'd rather ditch the theoretically-important-but-kind-of-a-drag sample if it means a reduction in the number of things trying to kill her and her teammates) and for Psylocke too (who simply can't bring herself to piss off Storm, her longtime friend, though she makes another kind of reason to make it seem more convincing). I do like Psylocke throwing that last comment in too, a bit of cheap flattery to maybe mollify Dom.

The story wraps up with Pixie somehow not blowing herself up along with the missile, then the team reunites. Storm tells Cyclops to suck it again (remind me why they were on the same side originally?), while Domino and Colossus meet in the latter's quarters. DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUoesn't actually amount to anything! Because Dom and Psylocke are only in the rest of Wood's run as background while the rest of the issues are 100% Ororo arguing with Peter and a side helping of Pixie in wurrrrve. So, I'm not covering those. Waste of time.

But, we will return to adjectiveless for #38-39, aka 'The Boneyard', a mostly continuity-free story pairing Domino with Daredevil, of all people.

[CraigTheCylon]

<_<

>_>

...just gonna assume people are still reading this.

So yes, we now move onto adjectiveless X-Men #38-39, a.k.a. 'The Boneyard', a title which does eventually make sense, written by Seth Peck with art by Paul Azaceta (coloured by Rico Renzi). After that whole brouhaha with the proto-mutants and the Security Team basically eating itself thanks to Storm and Colossus, Domino's boredom leads her to do some light solo work...

Before we go further, I must say I love Azaceta and Renzi's work here. Very striking colours and a minimal, loose inking style that reminds me a lot of Michael Allred or most of the work on DC's Batman '66 series.

This place Neena's sneaking into is a high-stakes casino run purely for criminals. What Domino hopes to accomplish here is...unclear; she says she's on recon but personally, I just think she gets off on the thrill of high-stakes gambling while surrounded by lunatics who'd kill her in a heartbeat if they knew who she was. Seems like her kind of deal. Of course, this isn't actually a solo story, so here comes the Man Without Fear, but NEVER MIND HIM LOOK IT'S ONLY BATROC ZE LEAPAIR!!

You may also notice recent Original Sin star the Orb hanging out here. This whole club's stuffed with delightfully wacky, obscure baddies.

Despite her annoyance at his appearance, Domino breaks her cover to help Daredevil when the brawling starts, and the two mop the floor with most of these punks. Wave 2 looks to be a little more hardcore, though.


TBC in next post.

[CraigTheCylon]

Actually, I take that back. Wave 2 is weak as hell too.

Brilliant little detail here - see the guy Bulldozer steps on before barreling into Wrecker? That looks a lot like Edward Lavell, a.k.a. the Eel, whose personal gadgetry includes an insulated costume with a 'greasy coating' that makes him slippery and hard to restrain...or, y'know, a big man-sized banana peel if left laying around. As is proven here. Also loving Domino's "welp, that happened" face.

The fighting done, Neena and Matt corner the schmuck running the casino, who blabs the location of an off-site location where all the house's 'winnings' are sent. They proceed there, continuing to snip at each other...

That thing about the scanner will be important in a mo.

But first, more fighting!

At this point, people should just never bother pointing a gun at Domino. Never works out.

The guards, it turns out, weren't hoarding money - they were protecting a supply cache of duplicate villain tech. Vulture wings, Shocker gauntlets, Whirlwind arm-blades, even full Crimson Dynamo armour. That's what the scanner in the casino Daredevil mentioned was up to - surreptitiously taking full readings of the clientele's gear so it can be reverse-engineered by the man behind this whole affair.

Onto #39 and another post...

[CraigTheCylon]

The trail from the warehouse leads Dom and...Dare (?)...to an old island that used to be HYDRA-owned, but now the defensive forces are rather more random. And oh hell, I have to scan a splash page. Hold onto your butts.

Well that came out almost intact.

Yes, it's more fighting. At least it's really cool to look at, and again, full of nods to dumb old villains (Stilt-Man's legs! Klaw's weird radar-dish hand!) to keep your eyes peeled for. All the while Neena and Matt are watched via CCTC by Armitage, the man running the show, who has traumatic flashbacks about his daughter because I guess that's what you think about when an albino mutant merc is shooting at a dude wearing knockoff Beetle armour.

Armitage attempts to raise the stakes with drone-operated Goblin Gliders (prompting some expository muttering from D&D* about how the mastermind must have more sources for his merch since Osborn wouldn't be caught dead slumming in a casino) but that proves no more effective than the earlier stuff, and things quieten down so our heroes can catch their breath and have a quick chat.


Judging from Neena's words, I'm guessing Seth Peck had the same opinion on Wood's run as I did. Sympathetic fist bump. Also glad that he's written a Mark Waid-style 'happy' Daredevil rather than grim-n-gritty boring Daredevil. That's a better fit to play off Domino.

One more post and we're done, I promise!


* - actually what Daredevil suggests for a team name, much to Domino's dismay

[Bl00dwerK]

...just gonna assume people are still reading this.

I'm still reading them...