“Yesterday’s” Comic> Marvel Premiere #56

Later, Dom fell into a vat of acid and his skin turned white.

Marvel Premiere #56

FEATURING: Dominic Fortune

Marvel Comics (October, 1980)

The year is 1936 and aboard the gambling ship “Mississippi Queen” owner Sabbath Raven ends up the owner of Dum Dum Dugan’s circus (yes, THAT Dum Dum Dugan), which he lost gambling to the house to spite a gangster. That gangster really wants the mentalist, hoping he can use his mental power to open a safe that explodes on contact, costing the man one of his hands. Teaming with the sword swallower, Spencer Keene’s boys accidentally grab his assistant, Glory, who is the one with the actual power. Learning of the circus performer’s betrayal and Glory’s kidnapping, Dom, Sabbath, and Dum Dum go to her rescue. A movie producer decides he wants to sign Glory, which Sabbath accepts as payment, returning the circus to Dugan.

What they got right: This was a good old-style crime fighting adventure. Dom and Sabbath make a good bickering couple and you learn all you need to about Dominic Fortune, gun for hire, with properly used exposition. The early pages should be used as an example to writers working on this kind of introduction. Plus we get to see Dum Dum before dying and being replaced by a life model decoy joining the Howling Commandos.

What they got wrong: If you can’t handle all o’ da accents (from Spencer’s super-Britishness to Glory’s (I’m assuming) Brooklyn 1930s girlness), you’re going to have a problem. Lucky for me it wasn’t over the top except for those two and it wasn’t enough to bother me. I had to stretch to find something amiss.

Other Notes: The only other issues of Marvel Premiere I currently own features reprints of Marvel UK’s Doctor Who magazine comics so I will get to those when the non-IDW Doctor Who comics get into the rotation.

Recommendation: A fun adventure and Dominic would be a factor at least into the 1980s in the Marvel Universe (there will be a later Iron Man story out of my longbox during his “Silver Centurion” armor days, for example). Plus it’s a Dum Dum story that can’t be ruined by Original Sin, so that’s always a plus. Pick this one up if you see it.