If I had to guess, I'd bet that this project has been sitting in the drawer in the Marvel offices for some time now. My reasons: (1) it's been a while since Joe Pruett and Brian Stelfreeze have done work for the publisher, if memory serves, and (2) two of the editors credited as guiding forces for this project no longer work as editors at Marvel, and (3) Domino is one of mutantdom's least visible characters at the moment. So was this a story that was begging to be told? No, not really, but it is a fun action-oriented espionage story that entertains, thanks in great part to Pruett's dialogue.
The mutant spy-for-hire known as Domino is contracted to retrieve a biological weapon from within the heart of Singapore, and she pulls the mission off thanks to her skills and her luck-manipulating mutant power. Now that she's completed her task, she wants to get paid. But her fee this time around is an unusual one. She's after information... about herself, about her past. And her employer from the Singapore job has hired someone else -- a computer hacker extraordinaire -- to uncover Domino's prize.
Stelfreeze captures Bond-like action perfectly in this fast-pased first issue. Domino's abilities seem to be emphasized far more than her sexuality, which was a welcome change of pace for a super-hero book with a female lead. I did have a problem with the color schemes, though, which seemed too focused on one primary color from scene to scene. It washes out the backgrounds rather than achieving the cinematic feel I'm guessing for which Stelfreeze was aiming. I also had some trouble with the choreography of the climactic helicopter scene.
What makes the book pop is the title character's personality. There's a playful, almost impish quality to her banter with her employer and the hacker later on. She's cocky and funny, and her sarcasm throughout the opening just gets you on her side. I also enjoyed the hacker character. He relished his unusual job with equal zeal, and I wish that the future issues could have included more banter between him and Domino.
I knew pretty much nothing about this title character coming into this comic book -- I was not a follower of the first few years of X-Force, of which she was a central part -- and fortunately, Pruett doesn't require his readers to be familiar with her. This is an accessible read. Inconsequential as well, to be sure, but it's fun and succeeds at what it sets out to do: to dazzle its audience just a little.
