By Bill Mantlo, Larry Stroman & Al Williamson (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-8713-5125-8
Cloak and Dagger are two juvenile runaways who fell into the clutches of drug pushing criminals. With a group of other kids they were used as guinea pigs for new designer drugs but whereas all the others died horribly Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen were mutated by the chemical cocktail and became something more – or less – than human.
Isolated, alone, vengeful they determined to help other lost kids they hunted drug dealers and those who preyed on the weak in the blackest corners of New York City, guest-starring all over the Marvel Universe and occasionally winning and losing a number of short-lived series all of their own. They were created by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan, first appearing in Spectacular Spider-Man #64 (March 1982).
Cloak is connected to a dimension of darkness; able to teleport, become intangible, terrifyingly amplify and feed on the wickedness in people. His unceasing hunger for these black emotions can be temporarily sated by the dazzling “light knives†emitted by Dagger, a shining, beautiful super-acrobat. Her power too has advantages and hazards. The power can cleanse the hunger of dependency from many addicts, but constantly, agonizingly builds within her when not used.
Cloak’s incessant hunger can be assuaged by the light-knives and his seemingly insatiable darkness proves a vital method of bleeding off the luminescent pressure within Dagger.
One of the perennial themes of the extended epic was the true nature of their abilities: were they mutants, transformed humans or were greater spiritual forces at play in their origins and operations…?
In Predator and Prey creator/writer Bill Mantlo describes a transformative moment when the symbiotic couple split, as Cloak’s ravening hunger and bleak nature clashed with Dagger’s increasing need to rejoin the larger world: a desire fostered by the obsessive attentions of Catholic priest Father Francis Delgado, who grants them shelter and sanctuary in the bowels of the Holy Ghost Church. Delgado believes that the beautiful young girl is an actual Angel of the Lord whilst Cloak is a demon straight out of Hell… and he’s apparently not completely deluded…
When an exorcism painfully affects Ty Johnson, shaking his previous belief that his powers stemmed from mad science and not the supernatural, he removes himself from the sustaining contact of Dagger. Alone, driven and desperate Cloak’s ravenous nature is revealed to be at least partially caused by a demonic entity named Predator who uses the teleporter’s dark energies to siphon human life force to itself. Greedy and malign, fed up with Cloak’s resistance it resurrects one of its old agents to take over the process, but the willful ghost that was Jack the Ripper has its own agenda…
Framed for a spate of murders and cop killings perpetrated by Jack and distanced from each other, Cloak starves whilst Dagger’s light grows and boils within her. They have never needed each other more or ever been further apart….
Once Marvel led the publishing pack in the development of high quality original graphic novels: mixing creator-owned properties, licensed assets, new series launches in and oversized and key Marvel Universe tales such as this one in extravagant over-sized packages (a standard 285mm x 220mm rather than the now customary 258 x 168mm) that always felt and looked like far more than an average comicbook no matter how good, bad or offbeat the contents might have been.
By 1988 Marvel’s ambitious line of all-new epics was beginning to founder and some less-than-stellar tales were squeaking into the line-up. Moreover, the company was increasingly resorting to in-continuity stories with established and company copyrighted characters rather than new properties. Moreover hastily turned out movie tie-ins became an increasingly regular feature. The line began to have the appearance of an over-sized, over-priced clearing house for leftover stories – but this isn’t one of them.
Tension-filled, bleak, brooding and potentially controversial this exploration of society’s darker sides, set amidst the casual ruthlessness of 42nd Street’s capacious, innocence-devouring seediness blends horror, superheroics and social conscience into a gripping and effective tale of hope, redemption and just punishments.
Produced on luxuriantly large slick pages, lettered by Ken Bruzenak with colouring from John Wellington, Larry Stroman and the incomparable Al Williamson, despite displaying the American’s total inability to draw English Police helmets (sorry – such a pet peeve!) have crafted a gem of a thriller that is worthy of another look by horror-lovers and Costumed Crusader fans alike.
© 1988 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All rights reserved.