Cloak and Dagger have always been a bit of an after-thought. While they have had a few mini-series and short lived monthly titles over the years, Cloak and Dagger have always had more of a cult following than a real fan base. People were generally happy to see them show up for a guest spot here and there, but there didn’t seem to be any great demand for a Cloak and Dagger monthly series with them as the stars.

Cloak & Dagger: Spider-Island #1 is going a long way towards showing people the error of their ways. This was a fantastic comic and a perfect place for anyone who has ever had any interest in the duo to jump on board and see what the buzz is all about.

Although technically a Spider-Island crossover, that event is barely an after-thought in this story. You don’t even need to be reading Spider-Island to enjoy Cloak and Dagger. The real story here involves the relationship between Cloak and Dagger and their place in the Marvel U.

Not only have they always been seen as an after-thought by Marvel fans, this issue shows how they have a similar reputation within the actual Marvel U. Cloak is looked at as a way to save on Quinjet fuel and is used for his teleportation powers. Dagger gets even less respect, being seen as basically the hot chick who is next to Cloak. The only ones who take them seriously are each other, and their partnership, with it’s intense devotion between such different characters, is what shines through in Nick Spencer’s well crafted story.

We get a quick Cloak and Dagger primer here, learning their origins, a bit about their backgrounds, and their relationship with each other. There is also the brief Spider-Island plot point, as well as a more developed subplot featuring Spider-Man villain Mr. Negative and his mysterious connection to the two.

To only focus on Nick Spencer’s well written tale would be doing a great disservice to Emma Rios, who is the perfect artist for this book. Her pencils evoke Marvel artists of the late 70s and early 80s, with a modern twist, and do a terrific job in portraying the action while giving us stunning character work as well.

Marvel has found the perfect creative team to show the world why Cloak and Dagger are Marvel’s most underrated characters. Hopefully this title will be a big enough hit with people buying it for Spider-Island that a lot of people will be converted to Cloak and Dagger fans. This duo, with this creative team, could easily support a monthly title. Here’s hoping we get much more of Spencer and Rios on Cloak & Dagger in the future!