Cloaks tells the story of a street magician and social activist. In the first issue the character was established as a modern Robin Hood, with a few nice little details making the character have a bit more depth. For instance, after stealing and fencing watches he heads to drop off the money at an orphanage. While this is an interesting take on the character, it ends up being a strange changing act. Not long after the character is introduced he is recruited into a super-secret spy organization and forced to hunt down his first major criminal.

This is a decent enough concept for a series, but there is one fatal flaw in the entire presentation and that is one of length. In the first issue there were as training montage to show how to become a magician, and then in the second issue there is a training montage showing how to become a spy. In the second issue the main villain of the series is revealed, and not surprisingly the character has already been seen before as there is not enough time to get around all the necessary storytelling details of the plot, introduction of the characters, explanation of their abilities, introduction of the organizations pulling the shots, and the unconventional romance that unfolds. Already in the second issue, this series only has two more and it is hard to see that it doesn’t have to keep up this ridiculous pace throughout.

In the end that is the failing of this issue and likely of the series, that way too much is being attempted in far too little time.  This series would have benefited from either going for a smaller concept, or simply more issues. As it is, there is nothing inherently wrong with the plot, the characters or the artwork, only that it feels too crammed together.

Story: David Henrie and Caleb Monroe  Art: Mariano Navarro
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.8 Overall: 7.2 Recommendation: Pass

BOOM! Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE issue for review