Domino Patrick: Daughter of the Domino Lady

I first discovered "Domino Lady" in the comic books published by Moonstone some years ago.  I have purchased and read all of the comics published about her, and I've picked up and read the several books starring the pulp heroine.  Recently, Moonstone published an anthology about Domino Lady's daughter, Domino Patrick, set some twenty years after the adventures of Domino Lady herself.  I recognized a few of the authors (Mel Odom, Trina Robbins, and editor Nancy Holder), so I figured it had to have some good tales in it.  And I was right!

Domino Patrick: Daughter of the Domino Lady has ten short tales about the adventures of Domino Patrick, a private investigator in Los Angeles.  While she has her mother's beauty and charms, as well as her mother's love for adventure, Domino Patrick does not don a costume and mask to fight crime; rather, she has earned her P.I. license and helps people out within the confines of the law (well, to a certain extent).  She has her own contact within the police department, and she has definitely learned how to use her womanly wiles, just like her mother, to help district and defeat the hard-nosed criminals of California and beyond.

The stories vary in length, style, and subject matter.  From blackmail and strip clubs to wild west theme parks and sabotage to mobster daughters on the run and secret, forbidden relationships that end in death, Domino Patrick faces them all.  Some of the stories are told from first-person point of view, while others are third-person, and the final story, guest-starring the Green Hornet, is told from a mixed POV - Domino's side of things are told from third-person, while Green Hornet's portions are first-person (and, surprisingly enough, it does not make it more difficult to read).  Honestly, none of the stories are bad - they are all engaging in some form or fashion; however, I will readily admit that I definitely liked some more than others. 

"Number One with the Bullet" by Trina Robbins is probably my favorite of the bunch.  Not only is Domino hired to provide protection to an up-and-coming singer who is being stalked, but the story provides a very interesting mystery of who killed the stalker?!  When the woman stalking the lead singer of the band winds up dead at her table in the middle of a crowded restaurant, it's up to Domino to figure out whoddunnit.  There's a lot of drama going on - the back-up singers are upset the lead singer is leaving them; the lead singer has fallen for a local band boy with the intent of starting a new career with him; and the singer's manager is hellbent on making sure she doesn't lose her money-making client.  Lots of motives and lots of means, but only one of them did it - the question is, which one?

"The Education of Domino Patrick" by Colin Harvey comes next in my line of favorites, as it is a very different kind of story.  A teacher at a private school commits suicide, and his wife is confident that a fellow teacher persuaded him to do it.  It seems her husband discovered the other teacher in a compromising position with a female student, and to protect his career and the girl's reputation, he badgered the woman's husband until he killed himself.  So, Domino goes undercover as a substitute teacher to uncover the truth - but what she finds is something far different than what the widow could have ever suspected - a truth that, in the 1960s, would have had dire consequences for all involved.  It's actually a touching story of love, from a number of different angles, and how that love can affect those left behind.

"Everyone Knows It's Windy" by Tim Lasiuta is a fun story, probably one of the shortest in the book, but definitely Domino in style all the way.  While shopping at her favorite clothing store, Domino faces down a crew of thieves who have been holding up a number of shops in the area.  Only, this time, they have to face Domino and her unique style of bringing down the bad guys.  This story features a bit of humor along with the obligatory fight scenes, and it's brief and to-the-point, so that Domino can get on with her day.

"Menage a Trap" by David Boop is the longest of the stories in this collection, and it is the last story in the book (probably due to its length). This is the story that features a team-up with the Green Hornet and Kato, as Domino Patrick travels to Detroit at the request of newspaper man, Britt Reid, who wants her to help him uncover the identity of the Green Hornet (and, of course, she has no idea Britt is actually the masked vigilante!).  It's all a test to see just how secure his secret identity really is, and as Domino goes about trying to unmask the green-cloaked man, she slowly becomes aware that nothing is what she thought it was.  As can be expected, the two eventually team-up to battle the mysterious Mr. X in a climatic battle in the harbor that leads to the destruction of a bridge, the capture of a number of Mr. X's minions, and a friendship borne out of adversity between two next-generation heroes.

There are six other tales within the book, all of which have their own good qualities to them and are worth the read.  I hope this is not he last we see of Domino Patrick, and hopefully Moonstone will publish more stories about this luscious P.I. (maybe even a team-up with her mother, the Domino Lady herself!).

RATING:  9 old, beat-up photo albums out of 10 for good, old-fashioned pulp-style stories with another strong female lead - because, let's face it, we can never have enough strong female detectives out there!

Domino Lady: Gentlemen Prefer Domino Lady

The sultry pulp crime fighter returns in Moonstone's latest anthology, featuring stories that team-up the sexy Domino Lady with some of the greatest pulp heroes of yesterday.  To date, I have enjoyed nearly all of Domino Lady books and comics that Moonstone publishing has had to offer.  With adventures that take place in the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Domino Lady must confront crime without the aid of cell phones, computers, tasers, and all of the other technological gadgets that today's crime fighters have.  Domino Lady must simply use her wits, her fighting skills, and her feminine wiles to defeat the bad guys - which makes for some really great reading!

Gentlemen Prefer Domino Lady offers up eight short stories in which Ellen Patrick dons her alter ego persona to fight the villainous mafia, saboteurs, killers, and other sundry bad guys alongside some of her contemporaries, such as the Black Bat, the Phantom Detective, the Green Ghost, Zero, Secret Agent X, Ravenwood, the Woman in Red, as well as "the ladies of pulp."  Each tale, written by a different author, places Domino Lady in a set of circumstances where she either requires the aid or must assist one of these pulp heroes, and together they fight a common enemy.  In some cases, the characters have teamed up with Domino Lady before (either in comic form or in prose form), and in those cases, readers get brief references to those prior tales.  In other cases, Domino Lady is meeting the characters for the first time, although there are comments made that the heroes have heard of each other but never had an opportunity to meet.  Regardless, the team-ups prove fortuitous for them and very unfortunate for the villains!

"Ladies' Day," the first story, is by far my favorite.  A day at the salon turns into a cat fight when Madame Orchid and her henchmen show up, determined to get to the owner of the salon.  But it's unfortunate for them that not only is Ellen Patrick at the spa, but several other women who happen to have connections with some other pulp heroes - such as Jean Moray (the assistant to I.V. Frost) and Myra Reldon, otherwise known simply as "Ming" (an assistant to the Shadow).  Playing on the misconception that women are the weaker sex, these women work together to take down all of the hired thugs, as well as the ruthless Madame Orchid, leave the police the simple job of cleaning up the mess...

"Zeromino" was a bit more sci-fi than Domino Lady is used to, as the man she teams up with, Zero, has some very strange powers.  The story was alright (fairly comic book-style in nature), but it was not one of my favorites.  Zero is after a man who claims to have become immortal, and along the way, Domino Lady becomes embroiled in his mission.  Through pure mishap, Zero's powers are transferred to Domino Lady, who must figure out how to use them and stop the villain of the story.  I much prefer the more down-to-earth stories for Ellen Patrick to conquer, so this one missed the mark.

"Red-Handed" guest-stars the "Woman in Red."  I am familiar with the writer of this story, Bobby Nash, who I actually met at DragonCon some years ago.  I have enjoyed his other stories (both of Domino Lady and other characters), so I went in with high hopes on this one.  I wasn't disappointed.  Nash introduces readers to Peggy Allen, a police officer who never seems to garner the credit that her male counterparts do.  However, when she dons the red outfit, she fights crime in a way the police force won't allow her to.  She and Domino Lady are a force to be reckoned with in this story,   When an informant of Domino Lady turns up dead, and Allen and her partner are investigating the death, it turns to Domino Lady and the Woman in Red to track down and ultimately capture the criminal mastermind behind the death.

"My Date with Domino" is a fun little story where Secret Agent X and his assistant, Betty Dale, cross paths with Domino Lady while investigating a cache of weapons that could cause more than their fare share of destruction.  The trio must somehow destroy all of the weapons before the criminal gang they are hunting cause the disastrous "C-Day" event!   The banter in this story is a lot of fun and definitely made me smile as I read it.

"Blind Date" (another "date"?) features the team-up of Domino Lady and Ravenwood.  I have heard of Ravenwood before (I actually have a book that collects all of his tales), but I haven't read any of his adventures as of yet.  So, this story was a nice introduction to the character for me.  The two pulp heroes are after the same man, but for entirely different reasons,  The story alternates perspectives between Domino Lady and Ravenwood, so the reader not only gets to follow both characters are their separate tasks, but also allows the reader to become better acquainted with both characters throughout the course of the story.

"Kill the Lady Goodbye" takes Ellen Patrick and her date, David King, to New York, here King's father is missing and he must take control of his father's family business - a well-known carnival.  At the same time, the Black Bat is on the trail of a big-time crime boss, who seems to have taken over the King Carnival.  Needless to say, the paths of Domino Lady and the Black Bat cross, and with these two acting in concert, it's only a matter of time before the criminal element is wiped out of the carnival (with a surprise twist relating to an inside job at the carnival!).

"Dame Sinistre" gives the spotlight to the Green Ghost, as he must rescue a good friend's daughter who has been kidnapped as part of a supernatural experiment to draw an evil entity known as Leonox into this world.  His alter ego happens to be on a date with Ellen Patrick when the drama begins, so it goes without saying that Domino Lady gets dragged into the mix.  The story is completely told from the Green Ghost's point of view, and Domino Lady is simply along for the ride (and nearly gets sucked into the ritual sacrifice designed to bring Leonox into this world!).  It's an okay story, but again, the strong supernatural side of things just doesn't really fit with my idea of Domino Lady.

"Call in the Stuntman" is the final offering in this anthology, and it guest-stars the Phantom Detective.  In this story, Domino Lady has found the evidence that will exonerate a well-known and beloved actor that she knows to be innocent of the crime for which he is being tried (being a spy for the Nazis!).  But on the very day the evidence is to be revealed that will prove his innocence, a costumed pirate swoops in and slices the actor's throat open, killing him!  Domino Lady is determined to bring the culprit to justice, as is the Phantom Detective, who happened to be on the scene when the murder took place.  Together, they track down the criminal known as "the Stuntman" to a studio where, in a truly theatrical battle, he appears in the Phantom Detective's own costume, resulting in a battle between the two "Phantoms," leaving Domino Lady to figure out which one is which!  I did enjoy this tale, which involved more detective work and felt very much like an episode of a television show in book form.

The editors of this anthology, David Boop and Kim Perisin, chose well with their bookend tales - the first and last stories are definitely the two best ones in the book.  None of the ones in-between are bad, but some are definitely better than others.  The one thing I was disappointed in, however, is the amount of spelling errors throughout the stories.  With two editors, I would have expected little to no misspellings; yet, there are enough errors that after a while, it became a glaring defect in the book and took me out of the story.  It just confirms my belief that "editors" in today's book market are more about marketing then actual editing of the books.  Otherwise, fans of pulp characters and Domino Lady in particular should enjoy this anthology for what it is.

RATING:  8 posh French restaurants on the Sunset Strip out of 10 for giving readers eight prime examples of why gentlemen really do prefer Domino Lady!

Domino Lady: Money Shot

I have been a fan of Domino Lady since I was first introduced to the character in the pages of Moonstone Publishing comics.  Created in the vein of The Shadow, Doc Savage, and other "pulp" heroes, Domino Lady has no super powers, nor does she live in a world populated with strangely powered beings. No, Domino Lady deals with the gritty underbelly of society in 1930s' Hollywood.  Domino Lady is actually Ellen Patrick, a high-society, well-loved member of the royal class in California's land of make-believe; and while most of the world considers her only in terms of her beauty and glamour, only her best friend knows that she has an alter-ego that has taken down some of the toughest criminals in Hollywood.  And in this new novel, Ellen discovers just how tough some of those criminals can be...

Domino Lady: Money Shot is written by Bobby Nash, with whom I was not really familiar until I met him at DragonCon in Atlanta in 2019.  I picked up his Nightveil novel, based on the character by AC Comics, and which was a thoroughly enjoyable book. So, I was curious to see how he would handle a non-powered female character and picked up his Domino Lady novel.  It has taken me more than a year, but I finally sat down and read it. And I enjoyed it for two reasons.

First, the story captured the essence of the pulp era. Crime is everywhere, cops are on the take, mafia control the city, and hit men are seeking their targets. Ellen's own father was taken out years ago, which caused her to don the Domino Lady persona in the first place - and while she has taken down a number of crime lords over the years, her work is not done. But, as Ellen, she has finally fallen in love, and possibly, she can have a life for herself outside of the vigilante work she does at night. Everything is perfect - until a day at the beach ends in the death of her fiance and the beginning of a hunt for his killer.  Was it the opposing candidate in the race for governor for the State of California? Or was it someone he had put behind bars when he worked for the state attorney?  Or was it someone on the police force afraid he might out them for being on the take?  Domino Lady will use every means at her disposal to find out who it was and bring them to justice.

Nash doesn't pull punches when it comes to the fights, the chases, and the deaths.  Domino Lady herself faces the grim reaper a couple of times in the story, but she manages to escape its eternal clutches and lives to fight another day.  She takes on hit men, evades cops, and even has a vicious fight with a naked assassin (you have to read it to believe it!), but ultimately she uncovers the truth - and it definitely ain't pretty.  The story provides a satisfying conclusion, but definitely leaves it open for more stories that, perhaps, one day Nash will tell.

The second reason I enjoyed the book is that Domino Lady was not the only star. Domino Lady had 94 pages (13 chapters), so that begs the question - what was in the remaining 111 pages (21 chapters) of the book?  Well, that's where readers get a taste of a character known as The Golden Amazon.  In a reprint of story entitled "Ripper, Burning Bright," author Howard Hoplins (who passed away in 2012), readers meet Violet Ray Brant, the adopted daughter of a wealthy couple who have kept her past a secret from her. But there is something important about that past she can't remember - because from that past, somehow, in some way, Violet gained the power that burns within her.  A power that has a personality and agenda all its own.  A power that is so great, it takes over when she sees people in need, and that's when The Golden Amazon appears!

The story centers around a young burlesque dancer named Belinda, who Violet vaguely recognizes from her past. The Golden Amazon saves Belinda from several thugs who threaten to do unspeakable things to her, and now Violet fears the girl recognized her. When Belinda comes to her for help against the husband who beats her, Violet has to control the urges of the power within her to make the right decisions that will not put Belinda in a worse position.  Oh, yeah, and along the way, Violet must deal with Chris Wilson, a not-so-slick private detective who is working for a secret organization that wants to capture The Golden Amazon and harness her power. And before you think that's all, there's also the little matter of Jack the Ripper, who touched a strange glowing power in the past and was thrust forward into the year 1939, where he has decided to carry on his work. Only now he has an odd power with him ... a power that seems very similar to that of The Golden Amazon ...

Both characters are unique, both worlds are dark and gritty, and both stories leave you wanting for more.  Two great books for the price of one!  I have no doubt we will see more of Domino Lady forthcoming from Moonstone Publishing (although not necessarily by Nash), but I'm not so sure about The Golden Amazon.  Guess it's time to take a trip on the internet and see what I can find out about this new (to me, at least!) hero!

RATING:  9 shiny but deadly .45s out of 10 for hard-hitting, pulp story-telling with strong female leads that make for great reading.