New Mutants #23-25 (1985): Cloak and Dagger

I guess when you have the best abstract comic book artist of all time—and the first to bring a highly stylized, highly conceptual kind of storytelling to mainstream superhero books—it’s inevitable that stories would turn to the similarly abstract.

In this case, Sunspot, whose powers essentially turn him into a detail-less, dark black figure, has been injected with the same drug that gave Cloak (of Cloak and Dagger) the ability to access his “darkness” power.  As a result, Sunspot is taking on a less humanoid shape, and is starting to lose control of his power.  Similarly, Wolfsbane, who as also injected, is becoming increasingly werewolf-like.

Eventually, we learn that Cloak and Dagger have actually been losing their powers as Rahne and Sunspot have gained them—so, in the end, C&D “reclaim” their abilities and all is returned to normal. Look how cool Bill’s C&D look.

When you add on top of this that the Warlock character is a regular New Mutant now, this book is full of opportunities for Bill Sienkiewicz to just go nuts.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!

Meanwhile, the Hellfire Club has recruited Sunspot’s father as a way to try to get Roberto to defect from The New Mutants.

Also: Peter Sellers makes a guest appearance.

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