Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by Alex MaleevMoon Knight’s startling true nature as a one-man Avengers team stands revealed! Now, in the guises and identities of Spider-Man, Wolverine and Captain America, Marc Spector wages war against organized crime in Los Angeles. But who is the Kingpin of crime in L.A. and how does Moon Knight plan to bring him down?
I’m not sure I was prepared for this — damn it, Bendis. More after the jump.
I have a pet theory that works something like this: the fewer main characters a comic book has, the better it will be, if it’s written by one Brian Michael Bendis. My history with Bendis is a lot like anyone’s who was around for the glory days of 2001: first caught wind of him on Alias and Elektra and Daredevil and was totally sold, hook line and sinker. Even when it didn’t work it was still fun to keep up on. Then my boy picked up the Avengers, and, well. Without a clear focal point, he tried (and maybe is still trying, I haven’t kept up lately) to substitute gargantuan plots and sinister conspiracies for the character resonance that sold me on things like Alias, and I joined the backlash in full force. So as a lapsed fan, what pleases me the most about Moon Knight is that whatever Bendis had, he never threw it away completely.
Spider-Woman was a step in the right direction, but now, on the heels of the first volume of Scarlet, Bendis and Maleev finally feel like they’re back on their feet. Moon Knight takes the elements of their ‘classic’ collaborations — early Daredevil, for example — and refines them through the lens of Maleev’s ever-improving art. Most of Bendis’s tics and fetishes are on display: the Mametesque monologues; the terse, semi-snide discussion between characters (or personalities, anyway); the subversion of typical villain stories (he’s not after Ultron, he’s after people trafficking in Ultron parts); and, of course, the revival of a villain from some old Marvel Fanfare issues from the early 80s. It’s all there, but it all feels… not exactly fresh, but certainly fun again.
Of course, this as close to a fresh take as Moon Knight has had in umpteen-billion years, and I’m glad for it. As much as I like a semi-immortal man with psychological problems serving the bloodthirsty Egyptian god of vengeance or whatever, I think that in recent years they’ve taken the concept as far as it’s going to go on its own. Besides, with Ghost Rider coming back, do we really need two supernatural instruments of angst-powered revenge running around? The idea of Moon Knight’s multiple identities shifting to become the three big names in New York superheroics is, admittedly, a batshit crazy one, but I’ll stick with it despite my misgivings. Why? Because everyone not named Marc Spector inside the comic also happens to think it’s batshit crazy. This isn’t a model that can sustain itself forever, but I’m willing to see where it goes.
Likewise, it’s nice to see the character of Echo again, far, far away from the Avengers. After the misfire of the Ronin storyline and then Echo falling off the face of the Earth or whatever because no one thought to look her up after she murdered Elektra and thus single-handedly set Secret Invasion in motion… well, things weren’t looking good for Maya Lopez. Here, as a foil to the obviously totally insane Moon Knight, she’s a necessary voice of reason (from outside the boundaries of Marc’s head) and a character whose quirks and talents aren’t outscaled by cosmic stories that may or may not have any use for her.
And then there’s the art. Oh, the art. Oh, Maleev. After seeing him go hyper-photographic on Spider-Woman, here he takes a looser, sketchier tack, and it’s gorgeous. Sure, he’s almost certainly still using photo models for some (maybe all) of this stuff, but the lines are sharper, bolder, and altogether more confident — the photo reference has become a part of a greater whole, rather than the dominant driving force. If we’re going to keep comparing things to Daredevil, well, this is where the quantum leap has happened. Look at old Daredevil stuff by these guys — half the time the fight scenes looked like posed action figures. Now, Maleev draws action as if people are actually moving, actually acting. He’s knocking it out of the park. I can’t recall having ever seen him paired with the colorist Matthew Wilson before, but it’s a good team, and I want more, now.
Six months ago the idea of a Bendis comic, even a Bendis-Maleev comic, had me thinking ‘oh, god, not more.’ Now, my faith is renewed — and they’ve gotten me interested in Moon Knight again as a side benefit. Dear Internet, I don’t mean to shock you, but you might want to sit down regardless: pretty soon you might be able to safely say “Brian Michael Bendis is writing awesome comics” again without having to qualify it somehow. I know, right? Exciting times!
Final verdict: 9.5 / That you’re still reading THIS and not Moon Knight is a mistake, fix it
