It's not hard to guess which of the leaders' alliance is most used in "Acts of Vengeance". And once again Doctor Doom is shown to have carried out at least the initial commissioning of the villains (though he subcontracts the details to the Jester). But it's astonishing to see that the lesser villain used more than any other is Hydro Man. Never one of the big-name Spider-Man villains, he somehow keeps getting picked for inclusion in groups across the event, even though he gets captured each time.
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #9
Script: Terry Austin
Art: Mike Vosburg
Backgrounds: Don Cameron
Letters: James Novak
Colours: Glynis Oliver
Pin-Up Art: Mark Texiera, Howard Chaykin, Charles Vess, John Byrne and Walt Simonson
Editor: Carl Potts
Chief: Tom DeFalco
This is an extra-large issue that sees a team-up with the Avengers with a twist. For some reason, perhaps because they've been seen fighting Spider-Man a few times, Cloak and Dagger have turned up not on the central alliance's list of heroes to dispose of but instead on a list of potential villains to recruit. And thus the Jester has come to add them to a team that will attack an Avengers public meeting.
This is a new Jester, who has taken on the role after the original retired to become an actor. Using a new version of a villain, especially in such a key role, feels so detached from the principles of "Acts of Vengeance" that it seems most likely the Jester was picked for use and drawn into at least the previous issue before someone realised the character was no longer available and so an explanation was hurriedly worked into the script to work around the mistake. The rest of the team assembled are pretty obscure foes of limited powers, including the Rock, the Fenris twins and a robot of the Hulk. The "Assembly of Evil" isn't a complete walkover but ultimately proves not much more than a nuisance. Either Cloak and Dagger and/or the villains who declined to join, such as Typhoid Mary and the Leader, were critical missing elements or else the real target was not the Avengers themselves but rather their reputation. One of the underused themes of the crossover is the public debate about whether the super-heroes make sure safer or more dangerous for their ordinary public and a crossover in which numerous villains are attacking the heroes should provide plenty of fuel for the debate. But instead this aspect has not been used so much outside the
Fantastic Four issues and so the wider backdrop is lacking here.
Going for a team-up also means a trick has been missed. Cloak and Dagger normally have gritty street level adventures against non-costumed foes and are generally isolated from much of the wider Marvel universe, so this crossover could have provided an opportunity to face them off against some bigger name established villains. But unfortunately that opportunity has not been taken and so instead we have a team-up that somewhat crowds out the stars of the book, with a somewhat lightweight fight that at times has elements of slapstick, particularly in the scenes with She-Hulk and both the Hulk robot and the Jester.
Overall this is a rather disappointing issue. It doesn't feel worthy of either a double-sized issue or of being Cloak and Dagger's sole participation in the crossover. All round it feels like a set of wasted opportunities.
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #9 has been reprinted in:
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