Comic Reviews

Moon Knight #1

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Alex Maleev

Publisher: Marvel

Boy oh boy, am I ever glad this guy is back. It wasn’t so long ago when Moon Knight was one of the lesser known heroes/anti-heroes in the Marvel U, but lately he’s been in the limelight. After faking the death of one of his personalities, he returned to America to take his war to the streets against Norman Osborn. Now this happened to be a joyful moment for me, as Green Goblin/Norman Osborn is one of my all time favourite villains, and I got a real soft spot for those that attempt/succeed in taking him down. One of the best moments was when Sentry assured Moon Knight he would slip up, to which Spector replied ‘So will you.’ And who was right there? Siege anyone? But back to the review.

Marc Spector is living in L.A, and is enjoying the premiere of a recent action television series that appears to be in his honour. He’s hamming it up like a certain billionaire playboy (that he is too often compared with, somewhat justly, but mostly unfairly) when Cap, Wolverine and Spidey show up on his doorstep. Trouble is brewing and they want Moon Knight back. Done! Simple as that, Spector is willing to hop back into action. It didn’t take much prying, but that could have to do with the last few panels of the comic, which I won’t spoil for you.

The storyline for this arc begins well. There’s some goods being exchanged (interesting goods at that), powered thugs involved, and a bit of noir detective work done by the part of Spector. Maleev’s art is great for this type of street-level-crime comic. It has the grit of Daredevil with the violence of Punisher (though not quite, cause Spector doesn’t kill anymore).

Issue 1 was great. I’m very excited, especially for two reasons: a) Who’s behind the goods shipment (when you see the goods, you’ll see why this is intriguing), and b) Are the Avengers helping Spector at all? Read the comic and zone in on the last few panels to see what I mean. If the other two ‘Big Shots’ re-launch as well as this, we’re in for three great new titles.

Pros:

-Great opening story so far

-Adds a bit of a ‘Daredevil noir feel’ to Spector’s insanity and violence

Cons:

-Gotta wait a month to see what’s really going on in Moon Knight’s head