New Comics!: The "Spider-Island" Edition #2 (September) (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Spider-Island:  Cloak & Dagger #2:  OK, first, the positive.  Spencer and Rios give us a really innovative issue here.  Spencer uses all sorts of interesting structures, like the dream sequence that begins the issue (establishing Mr. Negative's ability to screw with Tandy's mind) and the action sequence where Cloak gets beaten by Mr. Negative's Inner Demons (awesomely titled, "Cloak Gets Beat Up:  A Silent Play in One Act, Staged Two Hours Ago").  Rios also delivers, giving us the mirror-reflected dialogue bubbles, an innovation so awesome that it reminds me of Bachalo having the Mayan deity punch Spidey from the above panel in "Amazing Spider-Man" #557.   Moreover, Spencer doesn't let these experiments come at the expense of the storytelling.  He takes a fairly well-trod device, the "superhero at college" schtick, and makes it feel fresh.  I was rooting for Patrick to convince Tandy to go on a date with him (before he became a tarantula), in part because it would be nice to see Tandy have a little, you know, fun.  Unfortunately, both Spencer and Rios also have some missteps here.  First, I'm not entirely sure why Mr. Negative felt the need to turn Tandy into a dark version of herself rather than just killing her to stop the prophecy (though, as Tandy noted, he might wind up making it a self-fulfilling prophecy just for trying to stop her).  Hopefully, Spencer will clarify Mr. Negative's motives next issue, but I just don't see how it's going to be something believable.  Moreover, Rios loses the plot a bit as the issue progresses.  Although her indistinct lines work well for Cloak and Dagger when they work, they cause confusion when they don't  The sequence where Cloak fights the Inner Demons gets down-right incomprehensible at times, because it's hard to tell what exactly is happening.  Finally, it's not a negative (heh), exactly, but it's still pretty clear that Marvel is just using "Spider-Island" as a way to get people excited about Cloak and Dagger.  I'm down with that, but, other than Patrick turning into a tarantula, this issue has almost nothing to do with the larger event.  (Also, paging pet peeve #1:  Cloak and Dagger don't fight in this issue, contrary to what the cover implies.)

Spider-Island:  Avengers #1:  I appreciate what Yost tries to do here.  "Spider-Island" as a concept lends itself to a certain level of hilarity.  In a lot of ways, it's the perfect Spider-Man story:  it's a serious event that also allows the authors ample room to explore their funny side.  Yost is at his best here when he's delivering the banter between Hawkeye, Jessica Jones, and Ms. Marvel.  On some level, it's like watching the cool kids at school complain about the popular nerd.  Hawkeye is at his obnoxious best, and both Jessica Jones and Ms. Marvel are great, supporting Peter while at the same time allowing that he does, in fact, maybe get them into some annoying situations.  I also liked how Yost pulled in the plots of a lot of different issues from the past few months.  We've got "Amazing Spider-Man," "Avengers," "New Avengers," "Venom."  It's good stuff.  It goes to how good the authors and editors have been, since Slott took over "Amazing Spider-Man," at fully integrating Spidey in the world he inhabits, not forgetting he's on three superhero teams.  Yost lost me, though, with the addition of Frog-Man.  I mean, Frog-Man.  Really?  (On a totally random side note, I actually have Frog-Man's first appearance, "Marvel Team-Up" #121.  I bought it at a flea market in Miami not quite realizing the, um, gem I was uncovering.  In fact, it's a pretty decent issue.  It doesn't mean I want Eugene in my "Spider-Island," though.)  I really could've spent my whole life without seeing the Avengers win a battle because Frog-Man vomited on someone.  Essentially, I could've used more Hawkeye, less Frog-Man.  In fact, that's a pretty good metaphor for how I feel about comics in general...