Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by Alex MaleevMoon Knight gets one step closer to the kingpin of Los Angeles and uses Ultron as bait. But in doing so he may have unleashed a hell the West Coast cannot survive. Another blistering chapter from the Eisner award-winning team that brought you DAREDEVIL and HALO!
I’ve yet to dig into Bendis and Maleev’s pretty much universally acclaimed run on Daredevil. Given that, I was still monumentally excited when pair were announced as the new ongoing creative team on Moon Knight and six issues in and the book appears to just be getting started with its epic, world-building mission.
Click on down for more haps.
I’ve noticed distinct qualities between Bendis’ Avengers/main Marvel Universe books and pretty much everything else he writes (including Takio). Simply put, while he definitely enjoys writing the widescreen action of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, from my perspective he brings much more of himself to the books that exist slightly left of the spotlight, and in that sense I feel like this book exists at the center of his overall work.
Bendis got his start writing stories about crime and it’s clear that is the area of comicdom where he feels the most comfortable. Given that, one should never mistake this for an Avengers book (despite the appearance of Avengers, actual ones, in this issue). This book could not be more pulpy if it tried, and I feel like that is where it draws its major appeal from. At its core, this book hinges on misconception, about things not quite appearing to be what they are, and it is within the gap between what is and what is not, is Moon Knight. He’s a hero, but he seemingly has no principles. He is a master strategist, and yet completely insane. Much like Bruce Wayne may or may not be the mask Batman wears, the mask Marc Specter wears is sanity, and that provides a really compelling hook for this story.
Speaking of the story, that is pretty much the one thing I can call this book on fumbling. While the characterization and situations are immensely compelling, I feel like the plot is moving at iceberg speed. It’s been six issues and while each issue and of itself has its high points, I feel like we should have a few more answers to the questions posed by Issue #1 by now, or at least have a few hints. I have zero clue who this new LA Kingpin could be, I have absolutely no idea why the familiar voices in Specter’s head have become faces that are familiar to America’s average housewife and I have absolutely no idea how or why Ultron inexplicably ties into this all. I know Bendis has something or other featuring Ultron coming up, but are we supposed to be looking for seeds of that in this book? Ultimately, I think I want this book to exist more apart from the Marvel Universe than it actually does, and these brief interactions just confuse more than they add.
There isn’t a whole helluva lot I can say about Alex Maleev’s art on this one. The dude is a legend at this game and his jagged, seemingly disjointed pencil work has more personality and pure emotion than many artists can ever hope to achieve. On top of this, Maleev is one of those artists I can honestly say has not turned in sub-par work in as long as I have been an observer of his work. The guy is a workhorse, and given that quality has seemed to be his baseline, its no surprise that his pencils have developed as strongly as they have. When you hold yourself to a high standard, your work will absolutely follow you there.
Overall, this book is shaping up very very well. Provided it can SPEED itself up and not let its quality attributes become stagnant simply due to nothing been done with them fast enough, I do believe Bendis and Maleev have found their newest mega hit.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy
