Published October 1983
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Penciler: Ron Frenz
Inker: Kevin Dzuban
Cover Artists: Ron Frenz and Klaus Janson
What's Going On?
Spider-Man has noticed a distinct drop-off in crime in the warehouse district, combined with an increase in dead teenagers and bad guys suffering from cold numbness. Spidey recognizes this as the MO of superheroes Cloak and Dagger. When he catches up with them, they reveal that someone is trying to replicate the process that gave them super powers; the bad guys are kidnapping teens, injecting them with experimental drugs, and those kids are dying. Why are they trying to create a new Cloak and Dagger? To fight the current C&D and become junkie criminal muscle. Obviously.
Meanwhile, the New Mutants (Cannonball, Psyche, Sunspot, and Wolfsbane) were allowed to catch the muscial "Cats" in the big city by themselves. Instead of heading back to Xaver's school right away, Sunspot drags the team to a video arcade. Some local punks try to start some trouble, so Sam and Roberto publicly use their mutant powers to defend themselves. They try to get to the bus station so they can go home, but get lost and encounter more angry punks. In the ensuing scuffle, Roberto gets slashed by a switchblade, and Rahne has a bullet graze her head. The two incapacitated heroes are captured by some opportunistic criminals, and they are taken back to the warehouse district. Their idea is that, since mutants are already genetically special, they might stand a better chance of surviving the Cloak and Dagger drug. As it turns out, the crooks are right.
Writing!
Well, this is the first issue of Marvel Team-Up that I have ever read, so I don't have much of a frame of reference for how good this is compared to the average issue. That said, it's a pretty basic story, designed to highlight Cloak and Dagger right before they star in their first limited series. As far as I can tell, all the characters are portrayed faithfully, which is not always the case with guest appearances. It's not inspired, but Mantlo succeeds in shoehorning Spider-Man and the New Mutants into what is essentially a Cloak and Dagger story.
Art!
This isn't great work from Ron Frenz and Kevin Dzuban. Frenz's pencils can tell the story well enough, in the typical Marvel house style, but Dzuban's inks highlight the fact that Frenz isn't great at drawing facial expressions. While they might not be pretty, the characters are fairly distinct visually, so that's a plus. I was less of a fan of the action scenes; I wasn't looking for realism, but you at least hope for Kirby-esque energy, right? These scenes just looked awkward.
Retrospectively Amusing:
- For some reason, Dani seems to be assuming that Cloak and Dagger are homeless. I think she's right (I'm not too familiar with the characters), but damn that's a big assumption about people you've barely met. Do they smell like urine or something?
- Cannonball refers to Dani as "Psyche." I don't know if that's happened once in New Mutants.
- I love this frame of Rahne in times Square:
- Check out how abruptly this issue ends. Here is the last page:
Worth Noting:
- As far as I can tell, this is the first time someone other than Chris Claremont wrote any of the New Mutants.
- While this isn't as bad as some of the other instances of women being easily defeated in fights in New Mutants, it would have been nice if Rahne had stood up for herself here.
- Since I'm focusing this blog on all things X-related, I typically wouldn't spend time on a Spider-Man book. Obviously, this issue happens to co-star the New Mutants, and is eventually referenced during Bill Sienkiewicz's run.
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