Cloak & Dagger, Season 1 (2018)

As children, Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson both lost the most important people in their lives on the same night.  For Tandy, it was her father, a brilliant engineer with the Roxxon Corporation; and the man blamed for the disaster that claimed his life.  For Tyrone, it was his brother, gunned down by a corrupt cop who then swept the murder under the carpet.

A decade or so later, the pair are living very different lives.  Formerly disadvantaged Tyrone now attends a prestigious school and lives in a nice neighbourhood; formerly privileged Tandy commits petty crime to survive and sleeps in an abandoned church.  But when they accidentally reconnect, both their lives will be thrown into a degree of turmoil they could never expect.  Corruption, conspiracy and strange otherworldly powers combine to create a trifecta of trouble for the pair.

So yep, it's yet another Marvel Comics-based piece of media, to go with the score of box office-busting movies, Netflix TV shows, animated film and TV offering, computer games ... oh, and comics of course, but let's face it, those are a pretty small part of the overall Marvel picture these days.

In comics-world, Cloak & Dagger debuted in 1982 as sympathetic antagonists to Spider-Man, graduated to their own (short-lived) series, and have been through the usual comics wringer of ret-cons, re-writes and new directions ever since.  I have no idea what they're up to these days.  The TV version relocates them from NYC to New Orleans, and introduces the concept of them being the latest incarnation of an heroic duo that arise every time the  city faces an existential threat.  Probably smartly, Katrina is not referenced as one of the past occasions where this has happened.

So how is it?  Well, the pacing of this first season is a little off, to my mind.  For one thing, it is long on preamble, and then has a rather rapid final act that felt a bit forced.  For another, it is a bit too fond of the "here's a series of interludes which present events that are a parallel of the main plot".  However, the two leads are likeable enough, the supporting cast is good, and I'm hopeful that the second season will build on the show's strengths and shore up its weaknesses.

If you're a fan of the Netflix shows, and want something to fill in the gap now that they're winding down, give Cloak & Dagger a try.