X-amining Domino #1-3

"Rise and Fall" / "Death be a Lady Tonight" / "Hard Luck!" 

Jan - March 1997

In a Nutshell

Domino battles Pierce and the Reavers for the life of her former lover!

Writer: Ben Raab
Penciler: David Perrin
Inkers: Harry Candelario
Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Colors: Joe Rosas

Editor: Mark Bernardo 
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

Plot

Issue #1: In a hidden government facility, Milo Thurman is watched over by Henry Peter Gyrich. Given that Thurman's usefulness involves his ability to predict future events with uncanny accuracy, Gyrich is angry that he didn't pickup on a specific recent event. Meanwhile, Domino is enjoying the Carnival in Rio when she is attacked by the diminutive Pico. After defeating him, she is visited by Puck, who tells her that Milo — with whom Domino was once close — is in trouble. Interrogating Pico, she learns where Milo is being held, but after fighting her way to his cell, discovers he is gone; in his place stands Lady Deathstrike. 

Issue #2: Domino battles Lady Deathstrike while thinking back on her dawning romance with Milo when she was a security officer in the same facility. Elsewhere, Skullbuster prepares a captive Milo for transformation into a cyborg. Back in the secret facility, Domino sets charges to blow it up, but is caught by Lady Deathstrike before she can escape; both get caught in the blast. Later, Domino wakes up and learns she, like Milo, is now a prisoner of Donald Pierce. 

Issue #3: With Pierce poised to convert Milo to a cyborg under his control, Domino attacks, but is bested by Pierce. She is given to Skullbuster and Lady Deathstrike, who prepare her for a cyborg transformation of her own by lowering her into an acid bath. But her luck kicks in, allowing her to escape. Purloining the advance weaponry intended for her cybernetic form, she blasts Pierce, but Milo is already dying. He tells Domino he loves her, and Domino is furious with herself for not reciprocating even as she cares deeply for him. She triggers the base to explode and escapes. Back in Rio, Puck tries to comfort her, but the loss of Milo is hitting her hard. 

Firsts and Other Notables

Domino's first — but not last — miniseries, and is notable for exploring her pre-X-Force, pre-Six Pack past for the first time. That exploration largely comes in the form of Milo Thurman, a brilliant (but non-superpowered) thinker who is able to predict events with uncanny accuracy. After hacking the government, Milo is imprisoned in a secret facility and made to use his abilities for the government as punishment. When Domino is later assigned to the facility's security detail, the two meet and eventually fall in love. 

While this is seemingly meant to be payoff to earlier teases that Domino is/was married, and she will refer to Milo as her ex-husband in future stories (with his last name often given as her surname as well), it seems doubtful the pair would have actually been allowed to marry while he was incarcerated and she was, for all intents and purposes, his prison guard. 

This miniseries also reveals that Domino's real name is Neena (for now; later stories will complicate this and it is currently considered yet another alias); "Beatrice", a different name earlier suggested to be her real name, is established to be a pet name given to her by the Dante's Inferno-obsessed Milo. 

The villains of this story are the Reavers (or at least three of them), including a returned-from-the-dead Donald Pierce and Skullbuster (as well as Lady Deathstrike, who managed to escape the slaughter of the Reavers in Uncanny X-Men #281). 

In issue #3, Pierce details how he survived his encounter with Fitzroy and the Sentinels; it's not clear (nor clear why), but the implication is that Onslaught was involved (probably because when you have catch-all villain with inconsistent motivations and plans in the recent past, sure, why not, attribute it to him). Following this story, Pierce will port over to Cable in a few months and make several appearances there. 

Skullbuster — who technically died in Uncanny X-Men #255 at the hands of Forge — gets no explanation. Presumably, Pierce rebuilt him somehow (even though he had previously converted Cylla Markham to serve as a new Skullbuster). 

Pico the diminutive lackey of Mr. Tolliver/Tyler/Genesis who served as Domino's jailer when she was Tolliver's captive and Vanessa was masquerading as her (last seen in X-Force #14), pops up in issue #1, working for the Reavers and having received cybernetic augmentations as a result. Also, it's worth noting that Pico's last name is "Halfghanaghan."

Puck of Alpha Flight is also on hand, to clue in Domino to the situation with Milo (something something Department H). I don't think these two have an established past together prior to this, so this is another character, like Wolverine, with a mysterious past which includes Puck. 

Creator Central

Excalibur writer Ben Raab handles the script, while David Perrin, who drew Uncanny X-Men '96, handles the pencils. Near as I can tell, this series represents Perrin's last work at Marvel. 

The Chronology Corner 

Domino appears here between Cable #40 and X-Force #66. 

Lady Deathstrike appears here between Wolverine #77 and #114. 

A Work in Progress

In a legitimately funny moment, Domino escapes from Pico via the rooftops, and says she'll be safe so long as he doesn't have stilts, and in the next panel we see he does indeed have Stilt Man-esque stilts. 

In more Onslaught post-game, it's implied that Onslaught is the threat Gyrich is mad Milo didn't foresee. 

The Reavers are operating out of an old Weapon X base; it gets destroyed in the end, so presumably, it's just one of their bases, since we'll be going back to various Weapon X facilities plenty of times in the years ahead. 

The Grim 'n' Gritty 90s

Milo is smoking throughout the opening of Domino #1. 

Chelsea Clinton (and her braces) also get name-checked. 

I'm not entirely sure why (other than "the 90s"), but Domino spends much of the opening issue running around in a bikini. 

In Domino #2, Domino pulls that old 90s trick of stating something that seems unusual for her to be saying, then follows it shortly with a declarative, "NOT!"

Young Love

Domino worries about how, if she can't even be honest with herself about how she feels about Milo, how will she ever be able to tell Cable how she really feels. 

Austin's Analysis
Honestly, by the standards of superfluous "choke the shelves with content" mid 90s X-Men miniseries, this could be a lot worse. It helps that it's only three issues. This allows for an economic story, with little fluff and clearly-defined chapters — the setup in issue #1, a fight in issue #2, and the conclusion in #3. It also means there's not a lot of room for the most complex of plots or character development, but at this point, I'll take a slight but economically-told plot. As a vehicle for developing Domino's character, it's similarly light, but does get credit for its ending. Rather than having Domino realize she's loved Milo all along just as he dies, she finds herself still unable to reciprocate the depths of his feelings for her (and is struggling more with that means for her current relationship), a relatively unique turn in genre storytelling. 

Art-wise, David Perrin is a competent storyteller, the action clear and, the apparent need to dress Domino scantily aside, free of the more egregious artistic tropes of the time. Pierce and the Reavers make for decent villains in the context of the story — their plot has nothing to do with Domino directly so the lack of history between them doesn't matter, and Pierce isn't the kind of complex villain that needs his motivations deeply probed. They're a good fit for the lean story. 

To be clear, there's nothing here that elevates this above the level of bog standard 90s era superhero storytelling. The same brevity that keeps the plot moving prevents any kind of serious examination of Domino's feelings and doesn't make much space for any kind of artistic flourishes.  I'd be hard-pressed to recommend anyone seek this out, unless they're really big Domino fans or really want to see Donald Pierce's return after his ignoble death at the hands of Fitzroy. But simply being "bog standard" nevertheless gives it a leg up on so much other contemporaneous content. 

Next Issue

More fun with the Dragons of the Crimson Dawn in Excalibur #109!

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