Cloak & Dagger #1 (One-Shot): Best Cloak and Dagger Story Ever?
Writer: Stuart Moore | Pencils: Mark Brooks | Publisher: Marvel Comics:
I was not reading many comics circa 2010 and missed this entire era of X-Men stories. I recently reviewed Chris Claremont and Milo Manara’s X-Women One-Shot. Cloak and Dagger #1 was also included in the trade paperback
Cloak and Dagger #1 is easily the best story I have read featuring these characters. It is also the first story I have seen them treated as individuals with different motivations that don’t necessarily align with one another. Historically, both has been symbiotically tied to each other so seeing them at odds is a bit refreshing.
In this one-shot we see both Cloak and Dagger seeking relationships outside from one another. Dagger seeks a new life with the X-Men. Cloak, on the other hand sees the X-Men as a group of segregationists. In his Downtime Cloak teleports to his old neighborhood and has rekindled a relationship with an old flame. Cloaks new relationship causes tension with Dagger as they both seem to want more out of life than their co-dependence to one another. The situation breaks down further when Cloak is captured by an anti-superhero group and Dagger needs to go solo to bail him out.
Cloak and Dagger #1 is the sort of comic that will make you go and track down back-issues. I was not expecting such a quality story. Both lead characters are in a weird situation and their feels are valid. Cloak and Dagger have one of the most tragic origins of any superhero team. The two characters leech energy from each other, so any squabble is detrimental to both.
The art from Mark Brooks is Steller. He has a really clean art style. This is complimented by the colorwork from Emily Warren. I have never seen Cloak in his human form and would love to see more of it. The story gets creepy at times. The relationship our heroes have is an odd one, but it makes Cloak and Dagger one of the most unique teams in comics.
In Short: Cloak and Dagger #1 One Shot is of the best One-Shots I have read in a long time.