Brian Michael Bendis wrote a volume of Moon Knight a few years back to coincide with his Secret Avengers team which included the hero. I recently read through this 12 issue run. I have to say that the reasons for me reading this was due to All New Marvel Now's(Yeah that is a mouth full) run coming out in the new year of 2014. Also I've always known of the character, but I've never felt the need to read anything with him in it until now. The reason other than his new series is that Warren Ellis is going to be the main storyteller on this upcoming book. Ellis has written stories including MK within the same volume of Secret Avengers, Issues #16-21 for the curious. I will be reading that before the new series comes out as well, just to feed my fix on the character. Also, Valkyrie is in the series, and she's one of my favorite female super-heroines in Marvel.
So why am I blogging about Moon Knight? Let's just say whilst reading the 12 issue series I was enthralled. I haven't read a series this fervently in quite some time. Which would be the reason why I'm writing a blog after taking quite a substantial hiatus. I genuinely enjoyed this series. Some might say it may have to do with how short it was. It was only a year long run by comic standards. I honestly don't think that's the only reason though. It was more to my liking, with the street based hero work Marvel has given in the present with Mark Waid's excellent Daredevil.
Growing up I mostly enjoyed reading Marvel's X-men. They were a strange bunch with super powers that dipped into the unfathomable. I still enjoyed Detective Comics for it's hard hitting stories and gritty, yet realistic approach to life as a man dressed in his pajamas fighting thugs. So let's add some elements of fantastical to a gritty individual. Who really in all seriousness, is just a guy trying to get a Xena like TV show of his past glory spread onto your local tube. Let us then have him face off against a guy that killed one of the founding members of the second bunch of mutants to stake claim to the name X-men. Thunderbird if you're wondering and Count Nefaria as the villain.
So we have this poor fellow Marc Spector dressing up as a super-hero in all white with a crescent on his chest. He falls in love with a temporary(full-time during Marvel's Civil War) Avenger, Echo. Who is a deaf super-heroine. MK faces both Hollywood and a guy who can level a street with his sheer audacity. Everyone says he should call the Avengers. He really should, he doesn't have any powers like Spider-man, Wolverine, or Captain America. All people who he obviously looks up to. He just emulates them.
Brilliantly done in the writing department, only if you enjoy a story about a guy just trying to do the right thing with the right capabilities. The art is standard for Alex Maleev, who is a personal favorite of mine. His work is just so stark and harsh for these kinds of stories involving the Marvel street fighters. He's done work on Daredevil in the past and Spider-Woman.
This like Taskmaster's Unthinkable, made me look at a character in a new light. It helped me to understand that people like Batman and Spider-man aren't the only heroes that deserve our attention when we read books about fantastic stories. Comics are much more than our social conscience saying Iron Man is the best, or Superman for that matter. It's about what really makes us enjoy good stories and good characters.
Suggested listening: Beach House - Myth
I listened to a lot of their music for while I read the issues, it somehow fit.
