Cloaks #1
Publisher: BOOM!
Writer: Caleb Monroe
Artist: Mariano Novarro
Cover: W. Scott Forbes
First and foremost, Cloaks is just plain fun! It’s got magic, mischief, and attitude, but at its core there’s a lot of heart there, as well.
The issue begins a few years in the past at the funeral of the “Master of Illusion,” John Blackstone, where we meet a young Adam D’Aquino. Fast forward to the present, and the young man is now a street magician in New York City who doesn’t mind taking a little extra from the spectators and tourists during his performance. From here on things shift as Monroe shows us there’s more to his character than a few tricks and a street hustle. He’s a kid that’s grown up in the foster care system, but we do see that whoever Blackstone was to him, that he learned a thing or two from this man. Oh, and did I mention there’s parkour?
This issue moves pretty fast, but nothing is left out to where you’re missing anything. Monroe introduces key players, sets up the story, and even throws in a nice cliffhanger at the end, making it entertaining along the way. There is a bit of familiarity at certain points of the story as we’ve seen characters like Adam before. However, Adam is likeable, and you’re rooting for him the entire time. As far as the visual storytelling goes, Novarro keeps things looking good and moving at a nice pace. It’s always nice to see an artist use the multiple character shots to illustrate motion instead of various action lines. For some reason you just don’t see a lot of that anymore, and I’m not sure why, because it just gives the action a larger impact than some squiggly lines on the page.
Cloaks is starting off pretty strong, and I expected no less coming from BOOM! This is a limited series, and while some tend to read better when collected, you’ll want to see how things play out from issue to issue!
Infinite Speech
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