Review- CLOAK AND DAGGER: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

CLOAK AND DAGGER: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (Marvel, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #64, 69, 70, 81, 82, 94-96, Marvel Team-Up Annual #6, and Marvel Fanfare #19 (cover dates March, 1982- March, 1985)

Writers: Bill Mantlo, Al Milgrom (#94-96)

Artists: Pencilers- Ed Hannigan, Al Milgrom, Ron Frenz, Tony Salmons, Rick Leonardi, and Kerry Gammill

Inkers- Jim Mooney, Al Milgrom, Kevin Dzuban, Terry Austin, Tony Salmons, and George Freeman

Progress and diversity are two things on the tips of the tongues of comic fans everywhere these days. Judging by the hype in the comic press, this is something new and now. Sorry kids, but writers like Bill Mantlo and others were blazing the trail decades earlier. Unlike nowadays, there were no plugs from CNN or USA Today whenever something new or daring was attempted...something like, say, an interracial superhero couple. Bold ideas were presented to the story more organically and thus enjoyed greater acceptance than many of the so-called progressive or diverse ideas forced down the throats of comic fans today.

Cloak and Dagger were teenage runaways who were kidnapped and experimented on with synthetic drugs by the mob, who were trying to make new addictive drugs. Due to some anomaly in their body chemistry they were the only ones to survive...and somehow get super powers in the process. They take up a crusade against drug dealers everywhere. This was all very 1980s, Nancy Reagan “Just say no” for the comic book set.

Spider-Man is in every issue except for one, so this is kind of like a Spider-Man hardcover as well. Dagger's light steals Silvermane's life in #70, a plotline revisited and resolved in issues 94-96. Those three issues are all special to me, as I bought #94-96 off of the stands and read them countless times during the summer of 1984. The Punisher losing his sh*t in issues 81 and 82 is highly enjoyable as well. 

This is as close to Cloak And Dagger Masterworks as we will ever get. Combine this with the other Premiere Classic hardcover which collects their original mini-series and you have their early run collected. It would be nice to see these two make the silver screen if only to get more 1980s material collected.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.25 out of 5.

The OCD zone- The late, lamented Marvel Premiere Classic line was a sort of junior Masterworks line, where material was presented in a high quality format but at a much lower MSRP than the Marvel Masterworks. The line reached well over 100 volumes but petered out because Marvel flooded the market with them.

Linework and Color restoration: The linework is tight and clean. Not Masterworks level but I am fine with it. The coloring is pretty faithful to the original issues.

Paper stock: Thick coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, lays mostly flat.

Hardback cover notes: The dustjacket has that stupid dull matte finish which scuffs if you breathe on it hard enough. The images have spot varnish and the lettering has a foil stamp. These comments apply to the bookstore market design only. The Direct Market variant dustjacket is different. The cover of the hardback has that grainy faux leather casewrap with white die stamping.

Review- ACTS OF VENGEANCE OMNIBUS

ACTS OF VENGEANCE OMNIBUS (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)

Note: Book actually released in 2011

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 326-329, Avengers Nos. 311-313, Avengers Spotlight Nos. 26-29, Avengers West Coast Nos. 53-55, Captain America Nos. 365-367, Cloak and Dagger No. 9, Iron Man Nos. 251, 252, Quasar Nos. 5-7, Spectacular Spider-Man Nos. 158-160, Thor Nos. 411-413, Web of Spider-Man Nos. 59-61, and selections from Avengers Annual No. 19 (cover dates December, 1989- February, 1990)

Writers: John Byrne, Ron Frenz, Tom DeFalco, Mark Gruenwald, Dwayne McDuffie, David Michelinie, Gerry Conway, Howard Mackie, and Terry Austin

Artists: Paul Ryan, Ron Frenz, Sal Buscema, Alex Saviuk, Kieron Dwyer, Al Milgrom, Herb Trimpe, John Byrne, Ron Lim, Mike Vosburg, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Tom Palmer, Joe Sinnott, Andy Mushynsky, Mike Esposito, Don Heck, and others

Stop me if any of this sounds familiar to you: Super villains unite to swap their foes in order to gain a strategic advantage over them. The Avengers' headquarters gets destroyed. There's a big supervillain prison breakout. The Government is trying to pass the Superhero Powers Act, which would make being a superhero illegal. Am I referring to Avengers Disassembled? The opening New Avengers arc, Breakout? Civil War? DC's Villains United? Nope. All of these things occurred here more than a decade before they were re-purposed (read: ripped off) and padded out to ensure maximum decompression. And here you kids thought that Avengers centric events were new!

Loki manipulates Doctor Doom, the Red Skull, the Mandarin, the Kingpin, Magneto, and the Wizard into forming a tenuous partnership where they will swap each others' enemies and catch them unawares. This results in some pretty cool brawls: Quasar vs. the Absorbing Man. Iron Man vs. the Wrecker. The West Coast Avengers vs. the U-Foes. Thor vs. the Juggernaut. The Avengers vs. Freedom Force (a/k/a the New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants), my personal favorite battle in this crossover. There are lots of cool, fun moments throughout this book.

Spider-Man temporarily gets the power of Captain Universe, which helps him win some upsets over villains who clearly outclass his normal power range (i.e. Graviton, Magneto). This Omnibus also serves as a clear cut upgrade over the old Spider-Man: The Cosmic Adventures trade paperback from the '90s, as this has superior linework and color restoration. 

Long before we had Illuminati or Dark Reign, we had Acts of Vengeance.

I look forward to cracking open my Acts of Vengeance Companion Omnibus, which collects the rest of the crossover issues.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5. 

The OCD zone- Superb coated stock paper and high quality sewn binding that enables this book to lay completely flat from the first page to the last equals one happy OCD camper. Couple it with double page spreads with zero gutter loss and you have the definitive document of this crossover for the ages.

Extras include the Marvel Age cover and article from issue 81, the pin-ups from Cloak and Dagger No. 9, the cover to the Spider-Man: The Cosmic Adventures trade paperback, the house ad for this crossover (which was used for this direct market variant cover that I bought), and the Alan Davis cover for the bookstore market version of this book.

Linework restoration rating: 4.75 out of 5.

Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5.

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Review: X-Men- Inferno Crossovers

X-MEN: INFERNO CROSSOVERS (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 311-313, Avengers Nos. 298-300, Cloak & Dagger No. 4, Daredevil Nos. 262, 263, 265, Excalibur Nos. 6, 7, Fantastic Four Nos. 322-324, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Nos. 146-148, Power Pack No. 40, 42-44 and Web of Spider-Man Nos. 47, 48 (cover dates October, 1988- April, 1989)

Writers: Gerry Conway, Chris Claremont, Steve Englehart, Ann Nocenti, David Micheilinie and others

Artists: Todd McFarlane, Alan Davis, Keith Pollard, John Romita, Jr., John Buscema, Tom Palmer and others

One man's garbage is another man's treasure. This era of comic books is ripe with nostalgia for me, as I bought many of these issues off of the shelf the day that they were released. The Spider-Man issues hold a particular place in my heart. I haven't read The Spectacular Spider-Man or Web of Spider-Man issues since they were released, and I was surprised at how quickly they came back to me. There is a good 184 or so pages of Spider-Man in this 600 page book, which works for me.

In all honesty, there is nothing of any lasting significance that happens in any of the issues collected in this book, which is fine by me. You get competently done stories by many veteran creators, none of which rank among any of said creators' finest work. They are all entertaining and worth a read, however. I am happy to have this deluxe, oversized hardcover in my collection.

The OCD zone- The production values (color and linework) are excellent, although there is a dropped word balloon on Page 294, Panel 6. If it were in, say, Daredevil, I probably wouldn't care, but it was in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man. This is likely due to a pasted over word balloon that fell off of the source material used for this book. The paper and sewn binding are top notch as usual for Marvel.