Strange Tales #8 (V2)

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Note: This issue begins Terry Austin’s run on the Cloak & Dagger story lines.

Cloak awakens from a nightmare where the darkness is consuming him and there’s no sign of Dagger to give him light to survive. He awakens from the nightmare. As he sits there, he thinks about how, because of his lack of sleep, he’s failing his classes, stuttering worse than ever before, and feels like a complete failure; noting the only good thing in his life is Tandy (Dagger), which even she – he is forced to feed off of her light – increasing that sense of failure, that without her, he wouldn’t be able to survive. Tyrone hears about a man who lives or works around the neighborhood of the Holy Ghost Church who has a knack for being able to deliver whatever anyone needs. Tyrone goes and visits him and before he even says anything the man pulls out a small, obsidian cube and tells Tyrone to swallow it quickly before it evaporates, and it will grant his heart’s blackest desire. Tyrone thanks him and leaves; and the man who provided the stone changes shape and his store – entitled Mr. Jip – suddenly seems to fold up and disappear. At the Church, Tandy returns from college and offers to help Tyrone, but he yells at her that he’s not stupid. She apologizes and leaves, returning later, and he then apologizes to her, saying that he is stupid and he can’t figure things out.

Tandy begins dancing, talking about how excited she is to be in dance class again; and suddenly the obsidian cube jumps into Tyrone’s hand – and he hears the voice of the vendor telling him to consume it quickly; which he does. He once again becomes Cloak, and Tandy is upset, saying that she can’t believe he would willingly become the shadowy monster that he was before, rather than being free of the curse, rather than simply being human. Furious, she storms out and says that she’s done being his partner.