Six years after the first Domino mini-series, Joe Pruett and Brian Stelfreeze took a shot at it. They take more of an action movie approach compared to Raab/Perrin's "doomed romance" melodrama. Pruett and Stelfreeze shift back-and-forth between Domino dodging bullets, and people doing exposition dumps. In the first issue, it goes from her acquiring a biological weapon, to her contact accepting the weapon and sending her to meet a hacker who has some information she wants, to Domino having to avoid death at the hands of an attack helicopter (in a sequence where she wore a wig, but didn't do anything to disguise her black eye patch or startlingly white skin). It's not a bad approach.
They also mostly divorce it from the Marvel Universe. No Donald Pierce or Lady Deathstrike, no Gyrich. No Puck. Well, they can't all be good decisions. Cable shows up in one panel when Domino calls for help and tells her to basically piss off. She calls Siryn, but she's identified as "Theresa", and there's no discussion of how they know each other. Not really any discussion about mutants or X-Force or anything.
The story is similar in that it delves into Domino's past, but Pruett and Stelfreeze have her searching for her mother. Which puts her up against both some cruel experimental branch of the US military, and a group of crazy ninja monks calling themselves the Armajesuits. Stelfreeze gives them the hooded, flowing robe look, then adds in very sharply outlined masks for a little extra flair. The story serves as an origin for her powers, and gives her both a brother and a mother. Neither of whom I think we've ever seen again. The mother, just like Domino's now-deceased ex-husband from the first mini-series, can perceive the future. Interesting how someone with powers that could cause unlikely events would gravitate to people with that skillset.
Stelfreeze's art is very sharp and hard-edged. Uses a lot of thin lines to starkly outline jaws or cheekbones to make people look fierce or stubborn. Or really set someone's eyes out from their face to make them look fanatical. Also goes with a lot of broad panels stacked one on top of the other during the action sequences. Usually with thick black gutters between them. It feels like it's going for a widescreen movie approach, and his art has enough flow to it the reader can follow the course of the action easily.
They write Domino as a bit more lackadasical than Raab did. Although it doesn't seem like she's necessarily relying on her power to save her, so much as she's just that confident in her abilities. And she does come off as much more capable here than in that prior story. There's rarely a point where she seems over-matched or at a complete loss. This story ends on a what could be an upbeat note for Domino, but probably a down note overall. I guess that depends on what you think her mother did after the last panel.
Next week, Marvel attempts to capitalize on the character's popularity after Deadpool 2 by handing her an ongoing series. Spoiler alert: It doesn't work.
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