CLOAKS review

(Review by Melody Werner)
Cloaks is a four issue long thriller series focusing on illusions/magic published by BOOM! Studios, co-written by Caleb Monroe & David Henrie, and illustrated by Mariano Navarro. As you may know, I'm a huge fan of thrillers but I don't think many do the genre all that well. Is Cloaks an exception? No, not really--unless of course you squint your eyes so hard it alters reality to being one where this hunk of junk could be labeled decent.

The art is alright. It doesn't look gorgeous and it isn't horrid. It's serviceable, it's kinda fun, and not much more. The action is okay, but again, not incredible. It doesn't do much with motion but when it does, it works fine. The covers by the excellent W. Scott Forbes are much better, which is never a particularly good sign. The lettering is generally good, though the Impact font is used in the very first page which always starts the alarm bells ringing when it's in a comic from a company as big as BOOM! is, especially given how badly it is just pasted onto the page. It looks incongruous, and that may sound like a minor criticism but it speaks to the deeper problem(s) with Cloaks; whether it was lack of funding, competence, talent, effort, time, having someone there to say "Hey, this is a problem in need of addressing.", or some mix of any of the six, there is no way something so bafflingly amateurish would've found its way into a high profile book people actually care about, like Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers or Giant Days.

The plot and set-up are not very well executed or well thought out. It's not particularly cerebral but it acts like it is through the dialogue. It sticks out like a sore thumb that you're supposed to be surprised by plot twists when really you can see them coming from miles away because the series has no subtlety. It's all over the place because it throws a ton of clichés at the audience with no semblence of talent nor understanding of how to implement them. The pacing is meandering and Cloaks lacks explanation for certain plot points. The ending is dry as can be and has no satisfaction whatsoever.

As far as characters go, they're all really forgettable. None of them are all too interesting or likeable. The best one is incredibly inconsistent and none of her actions make a whole lot of sense. The dialogue is lackluster, with no flavor to it whatsoever, though it's generally harmless.

Cloaks really has nothing going for it and it consequently revels in mediocrity. It has many faults and is very hard to recommend to anyone. It has no enjoyment nor brainbending moments nor impact and is hugely forgettable. It had some potential considering that it could've been sort of like Now You See Me for comics (and I know plenty of people aren't too fond of NYSM, so for them... I guess maybe "The Prestige of comics"?), but let's just say that potential's squandered. Cloaks gets a 4.5/10.

Lousy

Summary:
A humdrum wannabe thriller and a hodgepodge of stolen ideas with serviceable art, decent action, a poorly told story, no subtlety, awful pacing, boring characters, and meh dialogue.

(originally posted: 2/28/2016)