(Silver Streak Comics 011, 1941)
The Domino is dead! All those murders he did and more importantly admitted to when he was trying to extort the NYPD have caught up to him via the electric chair, and all of New York breathes easier.
Not for long, however, as the various witnesses at the Domino’s trial, and particularly the members of his own gang who turned state’s evidence, begin turning up dead with a domino – that has the Domino’s fingerprints on it! – in their hands. Rumours that the ghost of the Domino has returned for revenge start flying around the underworld.
And to top it all off, the Domino’s grave turns out to be empty!
Now, the seemingly dead gangster returned from the dead to get revenge is a common enough trope that we can lay out the possible ways it might have happened with ease:
1. the Domino’s death was faked and the “body” smuggled out for “revival” elsewhere
2. the Domino really dies and his body was collected by an unscrupulous scientist for revival or brain transplant, etc.
3. the Domino’s body was stolen and he is being impersonated, possibly by a secret identical twin
4. it’s actually the Domino’s ghost
Feel free to place a small bet on which of these comics-accurate options is the case here.
Answer: it’s option 3! The Ghost of the Domino is in fact Pete Poulos, one of the Domino’s former lieutenants, who has faked his old boss’ return and done all of the seeming revenge killings as a smokescreen for his true goal: to eliminate all the other former members of the Domino gang who know where their old boss’ money is hidden.
As per usual, a combination of facial disguises and a bulletproof vest carries the day for Presto Martin, and the Ghost of the Domino is sent to replace the original in prison (and possibly the grave).
Categorized in: Accessories (Calling Cards), Activities (Dominoes), Fraud (Fake Ghosts)
