Issue(s): Cloak and Dagger #11
Cover Date: Apr 90
Title: "The Marked Man!"
Credits:
Terry Austin - Writer
Mike Vosburg - Penciler
Mike Vosburg - Inker
Eric Fein - Assistant Editor
Danny Fingeroth - Editor

Review/plot:
This issue deals with the Marked Man, who has been appearing in set-up scenes in the past two issues. I thought he was actually killing his victims, but it turns out that they just get knocked out. I guess that makes the fact that they wake up with their secret shame branded on their forehead all the more impactful. After all, i won't care if you find out about my My Little Pony collection after i'm dead.

Another thing i apparently missed (you can tell how closely i'm paying attention to this book) is that Cloak and Detective "Rusty" Nales have apparently been developing a relationship.

I knew they were getting "close". But as far as i know, Cloak is still a teenager, whereas Rusty is old enough to have made detective at the police department. So i assumed that the closeness between them was more of a surrogate mother kind of thing.

Anyway, it turns out that the Marked Man is actually a Morlock that is confused and frightened after the Mutant Massacre.

Cloak & Dagger go with Rusty to investigate his latest attack. Brigid O'Reilly, now restored to human form, goes too, as soon as she's done talking to her eyepatch.

Also getting in on the action is the Crimson Daffodil, although he's cooked up a new identity for himself.

The group leaves Dagger behind, and our pointless action scene of the issue is Cloak absorbing a subway train to prevent it from hitting the cops. It has nothing to do with the story and it's hard to imagine how a bunch of police managed to wander onto an active subway track without having it shut down first, but someone thought this scene was dramatic enough to make it a focus on the cover.

Independent of why it's happening, it is pretty cool.

Meanwhile, Dagger (still blind) winds up lost in the subway tunnels, and she encounters the Marked Man alone. She nearly gets through to the Marked Man when the Daffodil shows up, in his new identity as the Wombat.

The Marked Man winds up getting picked up by the police. Dagger meanwhile is terrified of whatever got branded on her head, but when Cloak finds her he tells her that there's nothing there.

I don't know what to make of this problem. On the one hand, you have the usual romantic angst, plus Dagger's blindness, the schlocky tragedy of the Marked Man, and demonic possession. On the other hand, you have the Wombat.

There'd be nothing wrong with injecting a lighter tone into the book, but a) the Daffodil/Wombat is more bewildering than funny and b) instead of just getting a lighter tone, we veer wildly from one mood to another. Even without the Wombat, this series doesn't really feel like a Cloak and Dagger book anymore. The Mr. Jip thing has been going on for too long, and the plots we've been dealing with (X-Force, this Morlock refugee) seem like we really are taking the "Mutant Misadventures" label seriously, which... just stop. Even beyond any of the plot specifics, the writing on this book is pretty bad. I feel like there was a whimsical book out there for Terry Austin to write, but this wasn't it. Austin will be on the book for two more issues (but that's four more months due to the bimonthly schedule) and then Marvel will drop the "Mutant Misadventures" label and start switching creative teams, although it seems that at that point it was too late to save the title.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Cloak and Dagger's origin was shown in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #64.
  
• Dagger was blinded in Cloak and Dagger #1.
  
• Cloak and Dagger had been separated for a while, but were reunited in Cloak and Dagger #8.
  
• The Marked Man was first shown in Cloak and Dagger #9.
  
• Brigid O'Reilly became Mayhem in Cloak and Dagger #5 (previous series).
  
• We saw her make a deal with Mr. Jip to get her humanity back in Cloak and Dagger #6 (current series).
  
• We are pointed to Uncanny X-Men #211 for details on the Mutant Massacre.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A