Issue(s): Cloak and Dagger #2
Cover Date: Sep 85
Title: " Have you seen your mother baby -- standing in the shadows?"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Rick Leonardi - Penciler
Terry Austin - Inker
Carl Potts - Editor

Review/plot:
I don't know. The credits say this is by Bill Mantlo, but if i didn't know that i would guess it was by Ann Nocenti. Because it's scripted in such a way that everyone is very overtly speaking their innermost subconscious thoughts out loud.

At Father Delgado's urgings, and because Cloak went crazy last issue, Dagger is returning to see her mother. She originally ran away from home because her mother was too focused on flaunting her wealth and didn't spend any time with her. And in this issue she's having a decadent party. And so the kids of other partygoers decide to act out because they want their parents attention. And here they are saying so.

The idea that kids act out because their parents don't pay enough attention to them is something psychologists might say, but it's meant to be a deep rooted subconscious thing. They don't actually walk around saying, "I wish there was some way we could make them notice us!"

Anyway, Cloak somehow managed to finagle his way onto this roadtrip even though he was the impetus for Dagger leaving, so when the two of them notice the fire that the poor little rich kids create, Cloak and Dagger are able to teleport there and terrify them.

After stopping Cloak from doing worse than just terrifying them, Dagger marches off to tell their parents. She doesn't know that the party is being thrown by her mother, and when Cloak finds out he's depicted with an evil grin, relishing the fact that Dagger is going to be let down and have to return to him.

As i mentioned, the adult party is really decadent. You know they're decadent because one of them is wearing a Sgt. Pepper outfit. And because they are putting the moves on a 16 year old girl.

So it goes as Cloak expected.

In the end, Dagger's step-father, Phil Carlisle, arrives, having deduced from Father Delgado's earlier inquiries about his ex-wife's address that Tandy might be headed to her mother's house. He arrives too late for this issue.

Tandy's mother doesn't really have a lot more appearances, but the step-father will become a semi-regular part of Dagger's life.

Also in this issue, we see Detective Brigid O'Reilly volunteering to take on the corruption she discovered in her department.

There's a real lack of subtlety in the writing here, but it's mitigated in a big way by the Leonardi/Austin art team.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - first Phillip Carlisle (Dagger's step-father)

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• There's another flashback to Cloak & Dagger's origin from Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #64.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The title refers to the 1966 Rolling Stones song, so I'm guessing it really is Mantlo.