The new title launches ahead of the Freeform TV version of the characters.


Marvel Entertainment on Wednesday announced the launch of a digital Cloak and Dagger comic book series, reviving the characters a day ahead of their debut of the Freeform television series adapting their origin.


The new six-issue series, titled simply Cloak and Dagger, sees creators Dennis Hopeless and David Messina bring the estranged characters back together when a threat from their superheroic past returns and puts the two former heroes at risk one more time, and acts as a re-introduction to characters who haven’t been in the spotlight of Marvel’s comic book universe for some time.
Hopeless is known for his work that includes All-New X-Men and Jean Grey.


“The current state of Cloak and Dagger’s relationship is one of the main driving forces behind this story. When we open, they’re further apart than ever, and the new status quo is still uncomfortable for everyone," Hopeless said in talking to Marvel.com. "Then old memories crop up, like old memories always do, and they’re yanked back together. It’s a lot of fun because we get to dive into their long history together. We spend some time with them in the early days when their powers and partnership were both still new and terrifying.”


Originally debuting in 1982’s Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man No. 64, Cloak and Dagger headlined their own comic book series a number of times in the 1980s and ‘90s; outside of guest appearances in Uncanny X-Men, Runaways and The Amazing Spider-Man, the characters were last featured in their own comic in a 2010 one-off issue. The duo are poised for their own Freeform show, debuting Thursday.


Outside of story, the most interesting thing about the new series may be its format. While it’s not unusual for Marvel to launch comic book series based on media tie-ins, those titles are traditionally available in print as well as digital. While Marvel has been regularly releasing digital-first comic book titles for the last year, they have all been released in partnership with Amazon’s digital comics platform ComiXology as part of the latter’s ComiXology Orignals program.


Cloak and Dagger No. 1 is currently available digitally.