Issue(s): Cloak and Dagger #1, Cloak and Dagger #2
Cover Date: Oct-Dec 88
Title: "Blind salvation!" / "Straying from the path!"
Credits:
Terry Austin - Writer
Dan Lawlis - Penciler
P. Craig Russell - Inker
Marc McLaurin - Assistant Editor
Carl Potts - Editor

Review/plot:
Cloak and Dagger are back in their own series, but also down to a six week schedule. It's also a more expensive book at #1.25 for issue #1 and then $1.50 for #2 and beyond, compared to 75 cents for the Strange Tales issues. But these first two issues have inks by P. Craig Russell, and that's a good thing.

The first thirteen issues of this series are actually entitled "The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger", and issue #1 starts with a battle already in progress between Dagger and X-Factor.

Terry Austin gets pretty post-modern with us on the narration.

Mr. Jip starts to look for Cloak, who disappeared to the home of an aspiring young magician in the Strange Tales issues. But then he turns to other matters, and we see Father Delgado - just call him Francis now - has been let out of the insane asylum.

Back to the X-Factor fight, where we find that Beast has changed back into his red and blue costume. Which is fine with me; i find the brown and yellow version hideous.

X-Factor are trying to go easy on Dagger since they recognize her from their "mutant files", but the fight gets more difficult when Dagger's controller, Night, brings in some random people to use as fodder.

Meanwhile, we find out that the kid that captured Cloak is the son of Mr. Rasputin, a one-time Dr. Strange foe.

Rasputin has given up the sorcery game and is now working for Stitko Insurance. But he frees Cloak and sends him to join Dagger.

Cloak immediately takes Dagger into his cloak dimension...

...where she faces the Predator demon that lives there.

The Predator drains the darkness from Dagger and spits her out. The explanation is a little lost on X-Factor.

Dagger comes out of Cloak's cloak blind, though. She's taken to the hospital, where it's stated that the blindness is likely permanent. Her step-father Phil Carlisle arrives with plans to move her to his apartment where he can care for her. This is against the advice of doctors, who recommend care and therapy at a rehabilitation center, but Carlisle, who up until this point has seemed like a nice and reasonable guy, refuses to give "one more dime to those quacks". Father Bowen tries to convince Carlisle differently.

Earlier, police detective Rebecca 'Rusty' Nales, still investigating the death of her friend and fellow detective Brigid O'Reilly, showed up at the Holy Ghost Church looking for Cloak and Dagger, but found Father Bowen instead. And she's still there when Cloak comes home from the hospital alone. Instead of interrogating him, she comforts him and he starts telling her about Dagger. After a while, he's feeling a little better, but that's when the madness starts.

The weird little dudes wind up at the Connecticut home of the Richardeses, formerly of Fantastic Four fame.

Also in these issues, O'Reilly, who is now Mayhem, is visited by a mysterious stranger.

She later shows up at Dagger's hospital room with no indication of who she was talking to.

Meanwhile, the planet headed motorcycle dudes come back to Cloak.

The three pursuers capture the first guy, but Cloak refuses to let them back inside his cloak. He doesn't want to be an inter-dimensional portal. Father Delgado then shows up just to freak Cloak out some more.

And then... and then... what?! WHAT?

WHAT?!?

WHAT?!?

WHAT!?!!!

I'm sorry, you guys. I thought this was Cloak and Dagger, but i obviously made some kind of mistake. I'll check back with you next issue and let you know what's going on here. I was going to say that these full issues, even with a lot of space taken up by exposition and introductions for people new to the series, were giving Terry Austin more space for humor and characterization and things were looking up. But then halfway through issue #2 i started having LSD flashbacks and i think i just need to go lay down and ride it out for a while.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Continues directly from Strange Tales #18. X-Factor appear here between X-Factor #29 and X-Factor annual #3. Cloak ends this issue in space and Dagger is blind, so no generic Cloak & Dagger appearances should take place in between this and next issue. I'm allowing some time to pass while Cloak hovers as a prisoner in the alien ship.

References:

• Cloak and Dagger's latest involvement with Night and Mr. Jip was set up in Strange Tales #16-18.
  
• Mr. Jip was first introduced in Strange Tales #8-11.
  
• Detective Brigid O'Reilly became Mayhem in Cloak and Dagger #5 (previous series, obviously). She got some comfort from Cloak in Strange Tales #15.
  
• Mr. Rasputin previously appeared in Strange Tales #145 (original series).
  
• No footnote for this, and not really a reference, but one of the yellow eyestalk dudes at the end was once seen in Giant-Size Defenders #3.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

One thing that you didn't mention in your review- Day dies and it's implied Mr. Jip could have saved him but didn't. This will be important later regarding Night's loyalties.
"Saggy Baggy Elephant" is from the X-Men vs. the Fantastic Four.
The Old Man is a parody of the Shadow.
Some of the aliens appear to be from the same race in FF 296-297.

... maybe these are supposed to be sobering stories about the dangers of drugs?

So an LCD flashback, is that "Liquid Crystal display" or "Low carbohydrate diet"? Or "Lowest common denominator"?

Don't you know that LCDs are my drug of choice? Fixed it; thanks.

I was just curious:-) thanks. I'm gonna go sniff some paste out in the parking lot.

Those appear to be multiple Grott the Man-Slayers in that first "WHAT?" panel.

"Stitko Insurance"?