Comic book review for the Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger miniseries by Nick Spencer
Average rating: 4/5 stars.
Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1 by Nick Spencer
Art: Emma Rios
Wow, I was really impressed with this title. For those waiting for a good Cloak and Dagger story, pick this book up. I’m not sure how well it’s going to tie-into Spider-Island, but so far, I’m really enjoying it.
First, Rios’ art is perfect for them. I love how she draws Tandy. Ty’s big ole cloak also really lends itself to her style. Plus, I’m really digging Rios’ layouts. They’re really well done creatively, especially as Tandy goes off to college and Ty continues to fight with the Avengers.
I like how Spencer makes Tandy and Ty somewhat unreliable narrators in how this story really flows from their points-of-view, which are not always the same. There was definitely more to the story about them getting kicked out of their church/home/office. And their interactions with the New Avengers illustrated things really well. I loved how Tandy thought they were just looking down her shirt, and Ty called out Danny for being too lazy to walk a couple of blocks to the battle.
Spencer also did a really great job at explaining the origins of their powers and how they met and the recent stories about them without making it dull or seem just like a repeat of information in exposition form.
Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #2 by Nick Spencer
Art: Emma Rios
I’m continuing to love Rios’ art and her layouts. They are so beautiful and perfect for this Cloak and Dagger story. I’m loving all her organic lines and the sparkley way that she draws Tandy and Tandy’s powers. Rois is also a master at drawing motion during fight sequences. Love it.
As far as the story, Tandy’s fantasy about being “normal” in the grocery store with her child and Mr. Negative was interesting. Especially in how she knew something was wrong as she picked up Ty’s head in the produce section. It was a good kick-off to the action.
Tandy’s friend Patrick turning into a spider while they were studying was entertaining and horrifying at the same time. Spencer did a great job at portraying both the annoyance of random people with superpowers and the horror of being turned into a spider. However, given that Spencer knows Tandy is Dagger, why wouldn’t he have been like “omg, wtf” to her, knowing she’d understand.
As much as I adored Rios’ art and I’m glad it’s there, the fight scenes didn’t seem to have much substance otherwise. Now I’d rather have no text than “omg, rocks are falling” with pictures of rocks falling on people, but still there could’ve been more dialog.
Interesting that Mr. Negative was also experimented on at the same time as Tandy and Ty. And Tandy is so correct in that Mr. Negative is bringing forth his own prophecy about his death. Though his powers to have Tandy “see her true self” is certainly intriguing.
Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #3 by Nick Spencer
Art: Emma Rios
Rios can just keep drawing all my comics. Love her art. It’s so freaking beautiful and tasteful. I mean, Ty was naked for a lot of the issue and Tandy’s costume is gravity-defying.
So the whole point of this series was to make Cloak and Dagger switch powers? Now she’s all dark energy and he’s light? What’s the point of this? I don’t think it was done in a bad way; I just don’t understand why it was done. I mean, this miniseries might’ve ended with a “The End” but it seems to be a set-up for a further series about them and them fighting Mr. Negative.
Of course, they had to kiss to make Dagger live. *eye roll* I’m not a fan of plots that force characters to get together because of their powers. I guess I get it, and it explains why Ty loved Tandy so much and why she didn’t return his feelings. But now I feel like Tandy’s being forced to love him. And what about her schooling? And her friend Patrick that was turned into a spider and probably killed by Mr. Negative and his demons?
How is this any kind of plot closure?