Kudos to Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, they’ve done it again. This time it is with a Marvel character that I’ve never known much about except the fact that he looked cool as hell when I was in middle school. I speak of course about Moon Knight. If you’re not familiar with anything except what he looks like then never fear, because I didn’t either before today. But that will be explained below:
Moon Knight’s true identity is Marc Spector, an ex-mercenary who is/was(?) a bit off his rocker. He was left to die outside of an Egyptian temple where he was resurrected by Egyptian God Khonshu. Afterward, Spector is given the powers of Khonshu as night falls to fight evil. Sounds pretty melodramatic and I still haven’t figured out exactly what his powers are aside from agility and strength.
The other Marvel Bendis-Maleev run I was mentioning above was their turn at Daredevil. That was truly the best run I have seen on the Man Without Fear, and I know others will disagree with me pointing out Kevin Smith’s own overrated run. Bendis and Maleev’s run got down to the heart and soul of Daredevil and what it means to be a street level hero in New York. It was gritty, showing us the ugly underside of Hell’s Kitchen’s criminal underworld and making a couple useless villains seem not so useless. That’s not even mentioning the outing of Matt Murdock as Daredevil to the public. The arc certainly was character redefining. With Moon Knight I’m hoping they can define who he is, since the majority of us don’t know anyways.
But onto the first issue. We start off at a premiere party for Spector’s show “Legend of the Khonshu”, a story following his own, Mr. Moonknight is living it up in L.A. while making some movie money. Then he gets a call to meet up on the roof where he finds none other than Captain America, Wolverine and Spiderman waiting for him to talk. Wolverine is a little disgusted that Spector is “selling his soul” with the TV show, while Cap cuts to the chase: Someone is trying to set themselves up as the Kingpin of the West Coast, since so many superheroes are based on the East Coast. Cap wants Moon Knight to go to work since he is an Avenger and take care of the criminal element on the rise in L.A. and to stop someone from fully organizing it under one banner. Spector accepts and the rest of the issue we get to see him in action as Moon Knight.
After a deal at the docks gone wrong, a fight with Mr. Hyde and a damaged Ultron bot being the goods from the deal, we are just scratching the surface of this whole Kingpin of L.A. thing and I really can’t wait for the next issue! I give the issue 5 out of 5 grizzlies. I’m glad to be reading another street level hero comic book from Bendis and Maleev and Moon Knight seems like an intriguing hero who is a refreshing change from the characters that usually dominate the pages of Marvel comics.
He almost seemed reluctant at first to accept the job from Cap, but didn’t put up much of a fuss in the long run stating that he is an Avenger and that is what he is there for. It will be interesting trying to guess who this L.A. Kingpin might be. Someone old or someone new? I guess we’ll find out!
Grizzly Bomb 
It was implied in the last page of the comic that Spiderman, Wolverine and Captain America were figments of Moon Knight’s imagination.
What might be interesting about this new series is that it might also be about Moon Knight not just being an superhero but also an INSANE superhero!
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I love Moon Knight. I always kind of equated him more to a Marvel Batman archetype but crazy. Like a fox. I haven’t really followed Moony for a while, but I’m definitely excited for this new series.
And while Smith’s Daredevil run was good, The Bendis/ Maleev run is the epitome of Daredevil greatness, and I’ve come to expect nothing but when it comes to their collaborations.
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It has been stated that Dissociative Identity Disorder known in the past as Multiple Identity Disorder or more commonly as Multiple Identities is a coping mechanism for trauma.
In short it could be argued that Moon Knight who might feel (and become) overwhelmed by the current situation is able to cope with the situation by believing that The Avengers are supporting and contributing to his efforts.
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Kyle: interviews with Bendis have pretty much cemented that yes, that’s what’s happening. And he’s also confirmed that the new Kingpin will be an established character.
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While obviously I don’t know who the “Kingpin” will be I did intitially think maybe it might be Graviton based on what little we have seen in Issue #1.
I do think that Moon Knight is interesting on several levels including Moon Knight’s mental status and as expressed in the final pages of the issue Who would want a ‘dead’ Ultron?
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Great review. It’d be great if MK manages a long run for once … I loved the Moench/Sienkiewicz series in the Eighties, with such classic stories as ‘Stained Glass Scarlet’.
(Aside to Kyle, thanks for the comment on my blog, I have it via email but it’s not appearing on side due to a day of Blogger technical hitches last week – darn!)
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