Writer: Brian Michael Bendis / Penciller: Alex Maleev / Colour Artists: Matthew Wilson (#1-#6) and Matt Hollingsworth (#7-#12) / Letterer: VC's Corey Petit / Collects Moon Knight (2011) #1-#12 / TPB / Marvel Comics
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2nd February 2022
The Pitch: Captain America. Wolverine. Spider-Man. There's nobody you'd want to have your back more than this trio of mighty Avengers. So who better for Moon Knight to call upon to lend a hand? The trouble is, they're all in Moon Knight's head - the latest splinters of Marc Spector's shattered psyche! And as Spector battles his own mind to find balance in his new home of Los Angeles, a powerful criminal mastermind makes his deadly move - trafficking Ultron's temporarily inert robot body! Can Moon Knight get his act together in time to take on this deadly threat - or is he way out of his league?
Every long-time comic collector likes to think they're in the know. Down the pub, in coffee shops, even on comic-based websites, we all like to think that we've got a great grasp of not only what’s coming, but what has been. “Nothing slips past me”, we fool ourselves into thinking. Sometimes if we've had a pint or two, we may even say it out loud. Well, I have to admit Bendis and Maleev's Moon Knight run slipped past me, despite the fact I'd read and enjoyed their Daredevil run and this followed right on after it. If only I'd known! And whilst they'll be no braggadocio in boozers from this writer, I will boast happily about the fact I've read it. Because it might just be one of the best damn runs of the 2010s.
SPECTOR IS ENJOYING THE MONEYED HIGH-LIFE OF L.A. ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNITY ELITISM
With the Steven Grant persona seemingly gone, we find Marc Spector, the ex-mercenary, in Hollywood, making the Legend of Khonshu a TV show based on his exploits in the desert. Bushman is now the nominal enemy, the show's big bad. And Marc is enjoying the moneyed high-life of L.A. Entertainment community elitism.
Or is he?
He finds himself called into action by Captain America, Spider-Man and Wolverine.
Or does he?
There's a new Kingpin, making moves on the West Coast, acquiring power and weapons.
Or is the- actually, no, wait. This part is definitely real.
SPECTOR BEGINS TRYING TO COPE WITH WHAT’S HAPPENING TO HIM, UNDER THE SURFACE
In their MK, Bendis and Maleev lean into Marc's troubled psyche. With Jake Lockley and Steven Grant AWOL, we're left with just Spector and his Spectre, The Moon Knight. If his time in New York were his rock and roll years, this is Marc reinventing himself as a premiere dream-pop artist, with his crime-fighting alter, alter-alter-ego providing a sheen of dirt, a little piece of New York, brought with him to Hollyweird. How does a hero protect those who travel by night in the sun-drenched city where everything gleams and all the world is a stage? Well, the West Coast Avengers to which Moon Knight was once affiliated need him to figure it out, because this new Kingpin is set on a course to take over L.A. The book highlights Marc's damaged psyche, focusing on how it puts other characters on edge. Not to mention Marc himself, unsure of the real. His DID isn't given short shrift. Marc begins to try to cope with what is happening to him, under the surface.
BENDIS’ SPECTOR IS CASUAL, EASY-GOING
Bendis, whose lengthy character-driven dialogue exchanges helped set the template for the MCU strips the Moon Knight ideas-wise. It might seem like just a simple geographical relocation, but we know how that can radically alter a person, a story, a life. His Spector is casual, easy-going. The Hollywood playboy. When Echo, arriving here from Daredevil and other exploits arrives on the scene, marc's response is to hit on her. His enthusiasm for something to happen coupled with her enthusiasm for absolutely nothing to happen makes for first an amusing side-story, then gives the entire piece an emotional undercurrent which comes up past your knees, to your chest and into your lungs, so that you might drown when bad shit goes down in the book's final acts. If you've not read it, I'll leave it there, to surprise you later. Suffice it to say, it was a punch in the gut. The book holds its secrets well, teasing out a little here, a little there, filling the spaces with backstory on Marc's new go-to guy, now that he's shorn of Frenchie and Marlene. There are mysteries to be solved here – the new Kingpin's identity first (a complete surprise to me, as I'd never heard of him), Marc's identity or identities for another. There's a ton to unpack in these 12 issues. The meta-commentary on Hollywood versus reality, adaptation versus purity, L.A. as the fountain of youth and most importantly reinvention, where even failure has the patina of success and how the fake like sometimes consumes the real one. And of course, there are the reveals, one coming early, one late, both huge moments that make you look at Marc differently.
NOT A SINGLE MAJOR CHARACTER IN THIS IS WHO THEY APPEAR TO BE
Part of the appeal of this Moon Knight is that everyone has another identity. Not a single major character in the thing is who they initially appear to be. It sounds like a bad trope but is played brilliantly by Bendis and Maleev. They layer in the central drive nicely so that Moon Knight in their hands becomes a story of people who long to be other people. They want to be loved – Spector makes a TV SHOW for Christ's sake! - and adored. Why else does Spector's condition manifest itself in the way it does? Why does he become those particular people? You'll notice I'm avoiding saying who those characters are. No spoilers. Even the villain of the piece wants more, wants bigger, wants a rep. But it's not ambition. Its escape. And that partly feeds into the meta-nature of the book too, since Bendis gives hitherto minor characters their big break here, nudging them towards the big leagues. Once you’ve attracted the attention of The Avengers, you know you've made it, right? Maleev meets Bendis' thematically tight scripting with a scratched, fast art style, one that wants you to squint into the darkness or shield your eyes against bursts of light from strange powers or the garish L.A. Sun. He strikes a balance between the rain-soaked moods of his Daredevil work and the slightly lighter approach needed here. He creates moments that look like stillness but are, you come to realise, more like watching a coiled snake that bides its time waiting to strike. They're not still, the subjects of the panels are not empty vessels. Things boil under the surface. And when things boil over? Maleev brings the kinetics, the tripwire violence that Moon Knight was always known for. His pencils recreate the noir feel of Daredevil, yet keep things looser, less constrained. He brings to life the silent menace in small moments, as with characters who creep up on you or appear seemingly out of nowhere. He is helped by the two Matts, Hollingsworth and Wilson, who in addition to keeping it dark when needed also manage to replicate the distinct L.A. Lightened and heighten its effect. Petit is a star here, too, having so much to do with Spector's constantly shifting viewpoint as well as the venal nastiness of the L.A. Kingpin. If you've never read Moon Knight and are looking to start before the show hits, this is the best way to do it. Don't let it pass you by. After all, you're an expert comics reader, aren't you?
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