In recent years, Moon Knight has been a recurring character at Marvel Comics, with different iterations of the character being frequent but short-lived. The most recent run of the series, by Max Bemis and Jacen Burrows, ended last October and the title has yet to be relaunched. For the next 12 weeks, in this summer plagued by a Moon Knight drought, I’ll be bringing you my thoughts on Bendis and Maleev’s run as part of our Summer Comics Binge.
“Moon Knight” #8Cover by Alex Maleev
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Pencilled by Alex Maleev
Colored by Matt Hollingsworth
Lettered by VC’s Cory PetitNot everyone is thrilled that Marc Spector is using his alter ego Moon Knight as fodder for a television show, especially Marc’s ex Marlene!
This week’s issue of “Moon Knight” starts up with our hero handing Snapdragon over to Detective Hall (remember him from a couple of issues ago?) as well as the footage of Count Nefaria on a memory stick. I’ve tried my best to keep any Batman comparisons out of my reviews, but its impossible for me to discuss this scene without one because it bears a strong resemblance to Batman and Gordon’s meetings in The Dark Knight Trilogy. By no means is that a bad thing, of course, and the superhero/police officer relationship is a trope featured in so many superhero stories. What Bendis does here, however, is subvert expectations. For me, reading this was like Batman and Gordon, but far more outlandish. When Hall opens fire on Moon Knight, who, I might add, has just left Snapdragon unconscious on the hood of a car, he quips at him and calls him “jumpy.” There’s a greater sense of humour on Moon Knight’s behalf that jars against the atmosphere that’s dark and murky.
Detective Hall, who moved to L.A. in order to escape the superheroics of New York, is still entangled with costumed crusaders and so he reluctantly pursues what Moon Knight tells him and consults with his superior, Captain Williams, on how to deal with Count Nefaria. At this point, there’s no reason to believe that Hall can’t be trusted and Bendis instead positions Captain Williams as the potentially dirty cop. Consulting his superior is arguably the right move for Hall, but given the fact that he didn’t realise there was a kingpin in L.A., this move is foolish. A kingpin would surely want someone at the top of the infrastructure within the city in order on his payroll and Hall has underestimated Nefaria’s reach. However, despite this possible alert as to her location, Snapdragon remains in police custody by the end of the issue and is ready to cooperate with the police. After last week, I’d considered this to be a possibility, but with Williams inside the precinct, I suspect that Snapdragon and he are working together to try and shut down Hall’s investigation permanently.
With Bendis choosing to slowly introduce and develop a larger supporting cast of characters, I can’t help but wonder how far he had planned to go with “Moon Knight,” whether he envisioned it running for as long as “Daredevil.” With this series only having four issues remaining, I hope that there’s a satisfying conclusion to the various threads that have been introduced and none of them are cut short.
Speaking of various threads, Marc’s TV show makes a return this week too, with a brief clip of Jake and Marlene escaping in a helicopter, only to be attacked by a werewolf. This clip itself is little more than a reference to the ludicrous history of the character (who debuted in “Werewolf by Night” #32, hence the werewolf) but outside of the clip, this scene is used to show that ‘Legend of the Khonshu’ is still only a front for Marc’s costumed escapades. This cover is becoming more of a problem which is evidenced with his dissatisfaction at the werewolf makeup, despite having previously given it the OK. Marc isn’t fully concerned with the TV show and seems to keep forgetting what happens whenever he is involved in it. The TV show is becoming a distraction from his Moon Knight business and this prompts the Avengers to appear before him. It is at this point that we get a single panel of Marc looking shocked that’s colored red. Here, it seems like Marc switches his priorities and refocuses on his Moon Knight endeavours instead, which is reversed later in the issue, when he kisses Echo again. Clearly, Marc is struggling to balance his real life with the Moon Knight adventures and he’s making mistakes on both fronts and, sooner or later, it feels like there will be huge consequences for them both.
Continued belowThis impending doom haunts the entire issue and Bendis’ script helps to generate this feeling. He doesn’t elongate any of the scenes, instead, favouring to quickly cuts between the different scenes. This not only makes the issue feel more frantic, it mirrors the internal fracturing of Marc’s mental state.
To end on a lighter note, we finally got to see Moon Knight’s equivalent of Captain America’s shield and it came in the form of some sort of forcefield/hologram. With how much I’ve been looking forward to seeing it, I’m slightly disappointed that its reveal wasn’t used in a bigger moment but hopefully it will be used in the concluding issues of the series.
Overall – After getting the upper hand on Count Nefaria in the last issue, Marc’s getting more distracted and the mistakes he is making are allowing Nefaria to close in for his revenge.
