In this episode we’ll take a look back at the first issue of Marvel’s 1982 mini-series Vision and The Scarlet Witch that hit the spinner racks on August 10, 1982.
This issue can be found in Vision & The Scarlet Witch – The Saga Of Wanda And Vision on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ij08Iw As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support!
In this episode we’ll take a look back at Cloak and Dagger #1 that hit the spinner racks on July 12, 1983.
Cloak and Dagger #1 can be found in Cloak and Dagger: Child of Darkness, Child of Light on Amazon and ComiXology. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support!
The New York Comic Con was held October 10-13 at the Jacob Javitz Center in NYC. To me, NYCC is an annual holiday that allows me to add to my growing collection of original comic book art. When tickets went on sale over the summer, I had just missed out on purchasing my usual three day pass, but was fortunate to get individual tickets for Saturday and Sunday. I had to make up for the lost day by tackling my wish list of artwork and the show, particularly Artist Alley, didn’t disappoint.
I arrived on Saturday about 30 minutes before the doors opened and was near the front of the crowd. When the doors opened at 10 AM, I went directly toward Artist Alley, which for the second year in a row was located in its own section of the Javitz Center separate from the exhibit hall.
This year I decided to hold off on purchasing original art pages from published works in order to concentrate on obtaining sketches for the sketch book I started back in 2005 (some of them can be seen on my Comic Art Fans page). This year’s NYCC boasted a great lineup of artists and I knew I would get some great additions to the sketch book. I actually got an early start on Friday night when JHU Comics hosted a creator signing with New Paradigm for the new comics Watson & Holmes and World War Mob. At the event, Rick Leonardi (Cloak & Dagger, Spider-Man 2099) added a great Spider-Man to my book.
Spider-Man drawn by Rick Leonardi
I started Saturday by stopping by the The Artists Choice table to meet the great George Perez. His work has been a favorite of mine since his work on The Avengers and The New Teen Titans in the early 80’s, and going into NYCC I had realized that although I’ve gotten sketches from George in the past, I didn’t have one in my sketch book. George added this drawing of the Flash.
George Perez at the 2013 New York Comic Con
Saturday brought an unexpected surprise when Kevin Eastman (co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) provided fans with autographs and free sketches throughout the day. I waited on line for about an hour that morning, but had to leave to get John Romita Jr. to autograph both my copy of Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics and my Captain America jam page (both were must-haves on my list). I thought I had missed out on the opportunity to meet Eastman, but later that afternoon I had heard that he would be back to sign and sketch. That second time around I was about 10th on line and got a great sketch of Michelangelo in my book and Eastman’s autograph on my NYCC badge.
Kevin Eastman at NYCC 2013
Michelangelo drawn by Kevin Eastman
Adam Hughes is always high on my list for a sketch and I stopped by his booth first thing Sunday morning. Twice a day, he provides quick marker sketches in exchange for donations to his favorite charity. I was third on line and got this Batgirl sketch for the book.
Batgirl drawn by Adam Hughes
My final sketch of the day was from DC artist Ivan Reis (Green Lantern, Aquaman, Justice League). In the past I had always been too late to get on his sketch list at NYCC, but he had time on Sunday for brush sketches and I was able to get this amazing drawing of Aquaman:
Ivan Reis at the 2013 New York Comic COn
Aquaman drawn by Ivan Reis
Other highlights of the weekend were chatting with legendary artists Klaus Janson (Daredevil, The Dark Knight Returns) and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (Batman, Jonah Hex, Superman) and meeting fellow comic art fans. Overall the show was a great success and I’m already counting the days to the 2014 New York Comic Con. As I walked out of the Jacob Javitz Convention Center Saturday night, I thought about how much the show has grown since the first NYCC in 2006. I looked up and noticed the Empire State Building was lit up with the blue and red colors of Spider-Man’s costume. The first thought that came to my mind at that moment was “Excelsior!”
In honor of Good Friday, I wanted to devote this post to a very special page in my comic art collection: page two from Brian Augustyn’s Unforgiven (2004, Metron Press) pencilled by Rick Leonardi and inked by Joe Rubinstein.
I love the combination of Rubinstein’s inks over Rick Leonardi’s pencils. I’ve been a fan of their Marvel and DC work but I had never been aware of the religious themed Unforgiven comic book (with primary storyline penciled by Dick Giordano and inked by Terry Austin).
This amazing splash page depicts Christ on the cross, flanked by the two thieves (Dismas and Gestas according to the Gospel of Nicodemas). I wish I could have seen Leonardi’s original pencils compared to the inked page. Rubinstein’s line work on the wind, clouds and sunlight lends a sense of power and awe, but the simple lines depicting Mary looking up as her son is dying on the cross add another layer of emotion to the scene. To the right, a Roman foot soldier leans against his spear as if he’s just passing the time until the condemned have died. This is a perfectly composed page, and it’s one of my favorites in my collection.
Cloak and Dagger #1 (October 1983)
Cover by Rick Leonardi and Terry Austin
Recently I opened up the old box o’comic books and rediscovered an old favorite of mine from the early 80’s: Cloak and Dagger #1 from the 1983 mini-series written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Rick Leonardi and Terry Austin.
Cloak and Dagger, introduced in Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #64 (March 1982), were created by Bill Mantlo and artist Ed Hannigan. Runaways Tyrone Johnson (Cloak) and Tandy Bowen (Dagger) meet in New York City and are tricked by an offer of shelter from strangers that prey on runaways. Tyrone and Tandy are forced to take a synthetic version of heroin, and the side effects of the drug provide them with their superpowers: Cloak creates a dimension of darkness in which he can consume people’s energy to feed his “hunger,” Dagger creates and shoots daggers of light that drain the energy of her enemies and are also used to feed Cloak’s constant hunger.
The first of the four issue Cloak and Dagger mini-series opens with a splash page of the New York Port Authority on the corner of 42nd Street and 8th Avenue. It’s July 20, 1983 and the neighborhood in the opening pages bears little resemblance to the Hell’s Kitchen/Times Square of today. Father Francis Xavier Delgado, a priest born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen, walks among the pimps, prostitutes and lowlifes of the neighborhood in an effort to save them. That night’s attempt proves fruitless and he returns to the Holy Ghost Church on 42nd street. He kneels at the altar of the empty church praying for God’s guidance when Cloak and Dagger appear seeking sanctuary.
Several blocks away at the 21st Precinct, Detective Brigid O’Reilly observes a group of “chickenhawks,” lowlifes that victimize newly arrived runaways at the Port Authority, as they shiver in a jail cell. Doctors and cops have seen others in their condition and chalk it up to bad drugs, but when questioned by O’Reilly, one of the thugs tells her about the “angel” of light and “devil” of darkness that put them in their condition. O’Reilly connects their story to reports of vigilantes attacking criminals and drug pushers, then takes to the streets of Hell’s Kitchen.
After a debate with Father Delgado over the ethics of their “mission” to punish the criminals that prey on runaways, Cloak and Dagger attempt to save a pair of brother-sister teen runaways from a group of chickenhawks. Gunfire leads Detective O’Reilly to their lair, but before she can act, a stray bullet strikes and kills the brother. Dagger’s light makes quick work of the lowlifes, but O’Reilly refuses to accept their methods. To her, Cloak and Dagger’s methods make them no better than the criminals. She attempts to arrest them, but Cloak teleports them back to the Holy Ghost Church. Later that night, Father Delgado sees Dagger in tears as he takes a phone call from the 21st Precinct requesting last rights for the dead runaway.
It was usually the art that would draw me to a particular comic book, and this was no exception when Cloak and Dagger #1 hit the stands in 1983. Seeing Terry Austin’s name on the cover was all I needed to plunk my 60 cents on the counter to buy this issue. His inks were a great match for Rick Leonardi’s pencils, and an original page from this mini-series has always been on my want list.
But it was Bill Mantlo’s writing, particularly his use of 1983 New York City as a backdrop, that got me to buy the subsequent three issues of this mini-series. Combined with Leonardi’s pencils and Austin’s inks, Cloak and Dagger brought the seediness of early 80’s Hell’s Kitchen to the comic book page. Looking back, I’m surprised at how much of that atmosphere they were able to include in their stories. This was a comic book with a significant readership under the age of 18 that showed pimps, hookers and drugs. These were dark stories for the time, years before “dark and gritty” would become overused in comic book stories.
Cloak and Dagger #1 can be found in Cloak and Dagger: Shadows and Light on Amazon and Comixology, and will be in the Cloak & Dagger Omnibus on Amazon (release date May 26, 2020). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support!
The New York Comic Con was held October 11-14 at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in New York City. This was my sixth time attending the show in the last seven years and I’m amazed at how much the convention has grown since the first NYCC in 2006. If I remember correctly, that first NYCC was in a space no bigger than this year’s Artist Alley and was relegated to the lower level of the Javitz Center. Now it takes up the entire convention center and it’s still barely enough space for the thousands of comic fans and cosplayers that attend.
NYCC started on Thursday but I had a three day pass beginning on Friday. I left work early Friday afternoon and cabbed it to the Javitz Center. There was a good crowd at the Javitz Friday afternoon, but despite the number of people on line the wait time to get in was minimal (on all of the three days I attended) thanks to the fantastic planning by the event organizers Reed Exhibition Companies.
First stop: Artist Alley!
For me NYCC has always been about meeting the comic book writers and artists in attendance, particularly the men and women whose work I read from 1977-1989, and this show didn’t disappoint. I had spent the week prior to NYCC looking over the list of comic creators that would be in attendance and putting together a list of who I would try to get sketches from. My list ran down an entire page and would have cost me about a month’s salary if I was able to get all of the proposed sketches, so I scaled it down to my “must haves.”
The first artist I met was Rick Leonardi, penciller of many Marvel titles including Cloak & Dagger, The Uncanny X-Men, and Spider-Man 2099 just to name a few. I’ve been a big fan of his over the years, and at last year’s show I had commissioned a sketch of Cloak and Dagger from him that is one of my favorite pieces of art in my personal collection. Lucky for me Rick’s sketch list wasn’t filled up yet when I arrived. I asked for a Dr. Strange and he hit this one out of the park. This sketch is definitely one of the highlights of my book. He even added Kirby crackle!
Dr. Strange sketch by Rick Leonardi.
2012 New York Comic Con
Next up was one of my favorite inkers, Bob Wiacek. His run on The Uncanny X-Men with penciller Paul Smith in the early 80’s is one of my all time favorites. I decided to get a Wolverine sketch on 11″x17″ comic art board based on Paul Smith’s amazing cover from Uncanny X-Men #173. I initially asked Bob to draw Wolverine only with the intention of having another artist draw Rogue, but I quickly changed my mind and asked him to include Rogue as well for a full cover recreation. He showed me the pencils on Saturday, which were AMAZING, and the commission will be fully inked and FedExed to me this week. Needless to say, this will be the signature piece of my comic art collection.
Going into the show I had a Tony Daniel sketch on my wish list, and I was able to get not one, but TWO sketches from Tony on Saturday and Sunday. First up was a sketch card of Poison Ivy, followed by a sketch of Harley Quinn in my sketch book. Not only is Tony an amazing artist, he is one of the nicest people I have met in my years of attending comic conventions.
Poison Ivy
Drawn by Tony Daniel
Tony Daniel shows off a Harley Quinn sketch
I was also fortunate enough to get this great Savage Dragon sketch from Erik Larsen. The hits just keep on coming!
One of the highlights of the weekend was chatting with several of the creators in attendance about their work. I have a copy of Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics by Les Daniels and decided to get the Marvel alumni in attendance to autograph the inside cover. I walked up to Louise Simonson’s table for an autograph and was surprised to see former artist/editor Carl Potts. I had a great conversation with both of them and mentioned to Carl that I’m proud the owner of a page he drew from Alien Legion #4 (inked by Terry Austin). Bob McLeod was very generous with his time discussing the creation of The New Mutants (post to follow!).
I walked the exhibit hall floor a few times, mainly to check out the original comic art for sale. I fully expected the number of attendees to peak on Saturday, but the show floor was also crowded on Friday and Sunday. After awhile I decided to stick with Artist Alley.
I did buy one piece of published original comic art over the weekend, a religious themed page drawn by Rick Leonardi and inked by Joe Rubinstein from a story they collaborated on back in the 90’s. I won’t give too much information on the piece because I’m hoping to write a blog post on it for the Holidays. But I will say it was a page that I wanted to buy when I first saw it online, but never thought I would have the chance to purchase it. Now it’s officially part of my “not for sale” collection.
I had a fantastic time at NYCC over the weekend and overall I thought the show was an amazing success. This picture pretty much sums up for me:
Fante's Inferno 