Spider-Island continues from Amazing Spider-Man #667….

Cloak and Dagger reflect on the past. They were once Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen, two runaways from very different lives. They crossed paths in New York City, when Tyrone stopped a thief from stealing Tandy’s purse. The pair became fast friends. However, tragedy struck when they were both kidnapped and taken to Ellis Island where a man named Simon Marshall was using homeless kids as guinea pigs for his new synthetic heroin called D-Lite. It killed most people, but it triggered a transformation in Bowen and Johnson. Ty became darkness and Tandy became light. As Cloak and Dagger, they became vigilantes who hunted down and killed drug dealers.[1] New York City was a very different place in those early days, and at least Tandy kind of misses it.

Tandy is snapped out of her recollection when someone comes knocking at the doors of the Holy Ghost Church, the place that Tandy and Ty have called home for years. It is representative of the city coming to deliver an eviction order. They have to leave in ten minutes. Tandy can’t believe that the city is going to tear down the church for some gentrification project. Unfortunately, her efforts to convince the city worker to give her more time fall on deaf ears and he tells her that she and Ty have 10 minutes to vacate.

Eleven minutes later they are standing outside as a demolition crew prepares to tear down their home. With nowhere else to go, Tandy suggests they hit up Steve Rogers to see if they can stay at Avengers Tower.[2] Cloak doesn’t want to do this, particularly after their tenure with the X-Men.[3] Cloak then shows Tandy a surprise, he has purchased a billboard advertising their services. He had secretly set up a not-for-profit organization so they can help people by hiring out their services. She is shocked that he set this all up without telling her and that they have already got funding from the Future Foundation.

That’s when members of the New Avengers, Avengers, and Young Allies arrive. Luke Cage tells Cloak and Dagger that there is a mob of people dressed as Spider-Man causing trouble. Cloak volunteers himself and Dagger without asking her first. They quickly realize that the other heroes only want them to tag along because Cloak can teleport them up two blocks to the scene of the battle. When they arrive in Bryant Park, Cloak and Dagger have different opinions on the situation. While Cloak feels that a battle like this is what he needed, Dagger is of the opposite opinion.[4] As they fight these bargain-basement Spider-Men, Cloak expresses his displeasure that Dagger changed into her costume while they were teleporting through the Dark Dimension in front of the others.

It’s in the middle of the battle that Dagger realizes that she is running late. Cloak knows she is hiding something from him and Dagger hates keeping things from him, but she still doesn’t tell him what she needs to do. She is certain that the other heroes can handle the situation from here and leaves. Changing out of her costume, Tandy arrives late for her classes. She is very late, but luckily one of her class mates made copies of his notes for her.

Meanwhile, in Chinatown, Mister Negative pays a visit to an elderly woman named Suan Ming. He has come with the severed penis of a man who roughed up one of Suan Ming’s girls. As it turns out, Suan Ming can see the future and Mister Negative has come because during his last visit she said he would die soon. Now he has come to find out who is going to kill him. He mistakingly assumes his killer is a man, which amuses Suan Ming to no end because he has it wrong. As the elderly fortune teller tells him this, Tandy Bowen sits in class unaware that her life is about to take a massive turn.

… Spider-Island Continues in Spider-Island: Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #1.

Recurring Characters

Cloak, Dagger, Mister Negative, New Avengers (Luke Cage, Iron First, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel, Thing), Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, Young Allies (Firestar, Gravity, Spider-Girl)

Continuity Notes

1. For more on the origins of Cloak and Dagger see Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #64.

2. Tandy states here that Steve Rogers owes Cloak big time. This is likely because Cloak and Dagger were part of Captain America’s Secret Avengers during Civil War. See Civil War #2-7.

3. Tandy states that with the X-Men they could have lived on an island. The pair were invited to stay on Utopia Island in Cloak and Dagger (vol. 4) #1, and ultimately declined. We’ll get into that in a second.

4. Cloak thinks about how they were tricked into joining Norman Osborn’s version of the X-Men. They were part of the so-called Dark X-Men from Uncanny X-Men #513 until Dark X-Men #5. They were offered a spot on the official X-Men in Cloak and Dagger (vol. 4) #1 until it was determined they weren’t actually mutants.

Topical References

• Real-world businesses: Craigslist