Domino Lady

The Domino Lady
Publication information
Publisher	Fiction House
First appearance	Saucy Romantic Adventures (May, 1936)
Created by	"Lars Anderson"
In-story information
Alter ego	Ellen Patrick
Abilities	None

The Domino Lady was a masked pulp heroine who first appeared in the May 1936 issue of Saucy Romantic Adventures. All of her stories were published under the house name "Lars Anderson" owned by the publisher, Fiction House. The author's real identity is unknown.

Saucy Romantic Adventures was a "spicy pulp" magazine, a genre that typically featured semi-pornographic short stories. Though writers for these were paid less, the cover price was higher than that of a typical pulp magazine. This was due to a combination of smaller print runs and what the traffic would bear. Such magazines were usually sold "under the counter" upon request.

New short stories and a comic book featuring The Domino Lady are currently being published by Moonstone Books.

Character

The Domino Lady is really University of California, Berkeley-educated socialite Ellen Patrick. When her father, District Attorney Owen Patrick, is murdered she puts on a domino mask and a backless white dress to avenge him. She would arm herself with a .45 pistol and a syringe full of knockout serum, but often her best weapon was her beauty, which often distracted and entranced opponents, or at the very least led them to underestimate her, allowing her to outwit them. Such wiles rarely worked upon her female adversaries, however.

She steals from her targets, donating most of the profits to charity after deducting her cut, and leaves a calling card with the words "Compliments of the Domino Lady".

Stories

1. The Domino Lady Collects (Saucy Romantic Adventures, May 1936)
2. The Domino Lady Doubles Back (Saucy Romantic Adventures, June 1936)
3. The Domino Lady's Handicap (Saucy Romantic Adventures, July 1936)
4. Emeralds Aboard (Saucy Romantic Adventures, August 1936)
5. Black Legion (Saucy Romantic Adventures, October 1936)
6. The Domino Lady's Double (Mystery Adventure Magazine, November 1936)

Reprints

Reprints of the original pulp magazines and individual stories have been made, such as in Pulp Collector Press' Pulp Review in 1992.

The Domino Lady stories have been reprinted in one volume, Compliments of the Domino Lady by Bold Venture Press, with cover artwork by Jim Steranko (ISBN 1-887591-70-2).

Modern Adventures

Eros Comix have published a series of Domino Lady and Domino Lady's Jungle Adventure comics written by Ron Wilber. They were collected and reprinted in 1995 as Eros Graphic Album Series No. 19: Domino Lady (ISBN 978-1560972174).

In 2009 Moonstone Books published Domino Lady: Sex as a Weapon, a collection of eight new stories set in the 1930s and edited by Lori Gentile. Many stories involve the Domino Lady teaming up with other fictional characters like the Phantom and Sherlock Holmes.

In 2009 Moonstone also launched a comic book by Nancy Holder with art by Steve Bryant.