“Moon Knight” Omnibus Vol. 1 by various artists and writers (Part 2 of 2)

 

(oversized hb; 2020: graphic novel. Collects Werewolf By Night #32-33, Marvel Spotlight #28-29, Defenders #47-50, Spectacular Spider-Man #22-23, Marvel Two-in-One #52, Moon Knight #1-20, and material from Defenders #51, Hulk! magazine #11-15, 17-18 and 20, Marvel Preview #21 and Amazing Spider-Man #220.)

 

From the inside flap

“Soldier of fortune Marc Spector. Millionaire playboy Steven Grant. Taxi driver Jake Lockley. All three are aspects of the same man; together, they are Moon Knight! Spector’s fighting skills, Grant’s resources and Lockley’s street smarts combine in the form of Marvel’s strangest vigilante—aided by his loyal pilot, Frenchie, and Marlene [Alraune], the woman with whom he shares all his lives.

“Meet him in the pages of Werewolf By Night, where he is hired by the shadowy Committee to hunt the lycanthropic Jack Russell. His crescent cape soon glides him across the Marvel Universe as he fights alongside the dynamic Defenders, tussles with the Thing and shares the first of many encounters with Spider-Man. But Moon Knight is no ordinary costumed crimefighter, and his co-creator Doug Moench showed exactly why in the Hulk! magazine, of all places—beginning a character-defining collaboration with superstar-in-the-making Bill Sienkowicz.

“Moench and Sienkowicz began building the strangest rogues’ gallery in comics, pitting their silver-clad vigilante against lethal threats, including Lupinar the Wolf, the Cobra and the haunting Hatchet Man. Then, as Moench and Sienkowicz continued the adventures in the first Moon Knight title, they explored Spector’s past to reveal his true origin, his bitter rivalry with the bloodthirsty Bushman and his uncanny connection with Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon! From there, they continued to mix super-heroics with the supernatural, plunging Moon Knight deep into New York’s darkest corners and introducing evermore bizarre adversaries, such Arsenal, the one-man army; the nightmarish Morpheus and Stained Class Scarlet, the nun with a crossbow!”

 

Overall review

Caveat: (possible) minor spoilers in review. Part 1 of review is here. Vol. 2 is here.

Moon Knight is one of the stranger comic book anti-heroes with his dissociative disorder as well as his often out-there villains, creepy and street-gritty, torn-from-the-headlines plots and settings (usually New York City), and overall unsettling feel and endings—the overall feel is one of somewhere between for mature audiences and teen friendly comics (if they’re into dark stuff), leaning more toward pulpy for mature audiences fare. On occasion, this grittiness lent itself to insensitive language (the rare use of the words “pansy” and “slut”), but given the context of their usage, it makes sense. This series was an excellent and crazy-in-tone expansion on his character and the characters (and the resulting situations) surrounding him.

Moon Knight’s original run went from 1975 to 1984; his second run went from 1985 to 1990.

Worth owning, this, if you like your super-heroics gritty, provocative, and sometimes hallucinogenic.

 

Review, issue by issue

Moon Knight: “The Macabre Moon Knight!” (#1): Marc Spector’s mercenary past explodes his vigilante present when his former, steel-fanged employer (Bushman) reappears in New York City to violently take over gambling and other criminal enterprises.

Spector’s Khonshu-resurrected vigilante/millionaire persona (Moon Knight/Steven Grant) must stop the implacable, relentless Bushman—whose renewed presence may not be accidental—before he destroys everything Spector/Moon Knight holds true.

 

Moon Knight: “The Slasher” (#2): A serial killer (The Skid Row Slasher) stalks derelicts—including Bertrand “Jake” Crawley, Moon Knight/Lockley’s (cab driver persona) informant—drawing Moon Knight/Lockley (Spector’s cab driving persona) into the violent mix.

This is one of my favorite Moon Knight issues. In it, a life-changing chunk of Crawley’s past is shown, Moon Knight/Lockley reveals his true identity/alter egos to those close to him, and another wildly disturbed killer is confronted, ending in a weird-healing, tragic form—neo-pulp/pulp at its comic book best, despite, or because of, its melodramatic courtroom finish.

 

Moon Knight: “Midnight Means Murder!” (#3): Marc Spector/Moon Knight [MK] sets out to catch the Midnight Man, an elusive art thief, but is it a trap for MK?

Fun issue, despite an instance of brief, casual sexism (a slap on a woman’s butt) that might read as shocking for modern readers.

 

Moon Knight: “A Committee of Five” (#4): The Committee, a criminal group reorganized after MK and Jack Russell (aka Werewolf By Night, lycanthropic target of the Committee) busted it apart, wants revenge on MK—after all, he was hired to capture Russell, but turned on them and took their money.

To get their revenge, they hire five specialized, top-notch assassins to kill him. Can MK survive this seemingly endless circle of violence?

This MK issue, solidly clever, reconciles the original-now-called “fake” origin of MK in Werewolf By Night (issues 32-33), with the wildly different origin story in Moon Knight #1. 

 

Moon Knight: “Ghost Story” (#5): Brambles, New York. MK stalks two bank robbers (John Creach, Frankie Parkins) who seek their erstwhile partner in crime (Edward Redditch) in a spooky house. Seems Redditch inherited a lot of money in his mother’s will, and it’s time for Redditch—or his partners—to collect it.

Impressive, effective use of multiple flashbacks in this issue, leading up to the atmospheric haunted house portion of the story, adding a welcome complexity and twists to it.

 

Moon Knight: “White Angels” (#6): When Joshua Mendossi, Marc Spector’s close friend and Director of Police in St. Lucien, asks Spector/MK for help, MK—as Spector—flies there with his usual crime-fighting entourage: Frenchie, Marlene Alraune, Gena, her two adolescent sons (Ray and Ricky) and Crawley to the impoverished, voodoun-superstitious island which is dominated by a white plantation owner (Norman Vidal). It seems a lot of poor young black villagers have been disappearing and reappearing as zuvembies (resurrected dead men loyal to a voodoun houngan, Le Ange Blanc [or “the White Angel of Death”]).

Once on St. Lucien, Spector/MK and his friends encounter a grimmer situation than expected. The themes in this issue (like a lot of MK issues) are especially dark and somewhat mature—though still age-appropriate for a Marvel/kids’ comic book; this is to the series’s credit, as is the especially pulpy and creepy feel of this gravitas-infused storyline.

 

Moon Knight: “The Moon Knights” (#7): A group of terrorists with ransom in mind release a mind-altering drug in Chicago’s water supply, causing much of the city’s denizens to go violently insane—with MK, Marlene Alraune, Crawley, and Frenchie in the middle of it. Cliffhanger finish.

 

Moon Knight: “Night of the Wolves” (#8): MK and company’s city-wise/Chicago nightmare continues as MK—dazed and wounded—tries to stop the terrorists from poisoning the water supply (this time with a fatal drug), rescue Marlene Alraune (who has most likely gone mad) and try not to pass out before accomplishing these first two feats.

 

Moon Knight: “Vengeance in Reprise” (#9): The Bushman, defeated by MK in Moon Knight issue 1, escapes from prison. MK tears through the criminal underworld looking for him, while a threatening presence stalks Frenchie and Marlene Alraune. Is the Bushman or someone else?

Cliffhanger ending to this especially suspenseful, tightly edited issue. For Spector/MK’s character, this is a milestone situation/issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Too Many Midnights” (#10): Marc Spector/MK’s four-persona tension/crisis comes to a (possibly) disastrous head after the Bushman escapes what he intended to be MK’s watery tomb (a fate Frenchie and Anton Morgart, aka the Midnight Man, last seen in issue 3, are meant to share).

Post-sewer escape, Spector/MK is as broken as his residential Khonshu statue that “resurrected” him in Africa, while his friends and lover (Marlene Alraune) search for him—even as the Bushman and his crew embark on a vicious, effective crime spree.

Melodramatic scenes—in an intentionally funny, Shakespearean way—make up part of this issue, as well as those of Spector/MK’s rebound. Like the issue before it, this is an especially comic book-y, excellent milestone issue for Spector/MK.

 

Moon Knight: “To Catch a Killer” (#11): Their new copter operational—the previous one was wrecked beyond repair in issue 7—MK, Marlene Alraune and Frenchie head down to New Orleans to find the drug-dealing murderer of Frenchie’s on-the-lam (and recently returned) ex-lover, Isabelle Kristel.

Creed, a behemoth of a mohawk-sporting man, is a formidable and relatively less bizarre villain, but a good palate-cleanser character (considering how many mind-frakkers MK goes up against). Good, heartbreaking glimpse of Frenchie’s past and thwarted future in this issue.

 

Moon Knight: “The Nightmare of Morpheus” (#12): A mutated, gone-psychotic sleeping-experiment patient, Robert Markham (aka Morpheus), seeks revenge on the doctor (Peter Alraune) who accidentally made him that way.

MK gets involved when Marlene, Peter’s sister, is informed of Markham/Morpheus’s attacks on Peter, who’s fleeing his monstrous ex-patient’s “ebon energy” (black beams of freezing nightmare-inducing energy). MK gets unexpected help from a cop, Detective Flint.

 

Marvel Team-Up Annual: “Power Play!” (#4): MK, Iron Fist, Power Man and Daredevil are thrown into a crazy situation when Killgrave the Purple Man, whose uttered suggestions spread madness and chaos, works with Wilson Fisk (aka The Kingpin) to physically turn the entire city against the four heroes.

Fun, well-written and -illustrated hero/villain mashup, with a bit of 1981 sexism (courtesy of Power Man) in the mix.

 

The Amazing Spider-Man: “A Coffin for Spider-Man!” (#220): In this plot-twisty issue MK begins pulling high-profile robberies for the Directorate, a committee of syndicate crooks; it seems MK is gunning for a position on their board—and Spider-Man is there to stop him, once he’s figured out MK’s game.

 

Moon Knight: “The Cream of the Jest” (#13): Two cellmate-felons (Ace Taggart; Jonathan Powers, aka the Jester) waste no time in going after those who put them in prison: MK (for Taggart) and Daredevil (for Powers). Meanwhile, MK and Daredevil—initially solo, later teaming up—seek out the paroled, revenge- and robbery-minded criminals. Fun, relatively light issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Stained Glass Scarlet” (#14): A vicious gunman (Joe Fasinera) escapes from a life sentence in prison and goes on a city-wide shooting spree. MK and the mysterious Stained Glass Scarlet (a beautiful, melancholic woman in a red dress) separately seek out the mad-dog Fascinera.

A palpable sense of grief suffuses this issue with its explicit mention of John Lennon’s then-recent murder. This is an especially timely issue, not only dealing with gun violence, Lennon’s death, but beautifully illustrating its themes of retribution and failed salvation.

 

Moon Knight: “Ruling the World from His Basement” (#15): An Asian ambassador is stalked by a racist, rodent-costumed freak (Xenos). The police (including Detective Flint, last seen in Moon Knight 12) think it’s probably MK. Xenos is a fun, over-the-top new foe, whose psychological underpinnings make this another standout issue in the Moon Knight series.

 

Moon Knight: “Shadows on the Moon!” (#16): A hyper-focused and resilient muscleman (Blacksmith), who’s studied MK’s fighting style, is hired by a rich industrialist and terrorist (Alexander Latimer) to kill MK. The Thing (aka Ben Grimm) from the Fantastic Four makes an appearance in this complex-for-a-comic-book story, with impressive reader-immersive callbacks to MK’s history.

 

Moon Knight: “Master Sniper’s Legacy!” (#17): Benjamin Abramov, Marc Spector’s friend and Mossad agent, pays Spector an unexpected visit, telling the former mercenary he wants Spector to take a coded microdot to a contact (Streglov) in Lausane, Switzerland. When Abramov is killed by a hitman (Master Sniper), in the employ of a terrorist dictator (Nimrod Strange), MK—as Marc Spector—sets out to deliver Abramov’s microdot. Of course, revenge is also on Spector/MK’s mind as he travels to Switzerland, even as Master Sniper tracks him, Marlene Alraune, and Frenchie there.

This exciting, fast-paced and well-drawn (hello, Bill Sienkiewicz and artistic company!) issue has a cliffhanger-ish ending, so be prepared to (want to) read the next issue immediately.

Issue 17 also includes a solid and somewhat humorous bonus short tale, “The Worship of False Idols,” a tale of Marc Spector’s mercenary past.

 

Moon Knight:  “The Slayers Elite” (#18): In Jerusalem, MK battles three of Nimrod Strange’s “Slayers Elite”—gun-specialist Jou-Jouka; Kareesh-Bek, with his acid-filled knives; and the giant Sumaro, master strangler and garrote expert. MK engages with them to prevent the Slayers Elite from murdering Marlene Alraune and Anna Abramov (Benjamin’s widow, briefly seen in issue 17 after her husband was shot by Master Sniper at Strange’s behest).

This issue, a direct-story continuation of the previous one, is just as thrilling (on all levels) as issue 17.

 

Moon Knight: “Assault on Island Strange” (#19): MK (as Marc Spector), Marlene Alraune and Frenchie find themselves in an Enter the Dragon-esque situation as they infiltrate Nimrod Strange’s terrorist-stronghold island, with offshore support from Streglov and his men—introduced in issue 17, Streglov is the man that Benjamin Abramov, prior to his death, wanted Spector to deliver a coded microdot to; said microdot contained information about Strange’s terrorist activities, past and alarming future.

Meanwhile, Strange has armed himself with a new weapons-loaded outfit and is calling himself Arsenal, making him even more formidable. Cliffhanger finish.

 

Moon Knight: “Cut Adrift Off the Coast of America” (#20): Nimrod Strange (aka Arsenal), having escaped the destruction of his Third World Army and his island base in the last issue, threatens Manhattan, NY, with oil-based fires that would kill “ninety-seven percent” of its denizens.

Fortunately, MK, Streglov and Marlene Alraune—the last of these heroes undercover as one of Strange’s three female bodyguards—are around to stop him before his black-smoke nightmare is unleashed on Manhattan.

This is an especially dark issue for MK and Marlene because there’s the acknowledged implication that Marlene, calling herself “Mary Sands,” likely had to sleep with Strange (along with her fanatical, fellow bodyguards, Yumi and Asigi)—off-camera, of course. This lends a more-emotional-than-usual tone to the story, at least for Marlene and MK.

Great, emotionally potent wrap-up to MK’s latest, thrilling story arc, and equally excellent capper for the first Moon Knight omnibus. Followed by Moon Knight” Omnibus Vol. 2 (by various artists and writers).

The League of Night and Fog by David Morrell

 

(pb; 1987: third book in the Abelard Sanction quadrilogy)

From the back cover

“They were once master assassins. Saul and Drew—lethal weapons who dealt death with icy efficiency.

“Today they are silent warriors. Sick of the bloodshed. Penitent. But still potent.

“Now, for the first time, their paths will cross. Comrades in killing, they must join forces against a treacherous power from the past.

“This will be their most crucial assignment. It could also be their last.”

Review

League brings together the assassin protagonists from the first two Abelard Sanction books: Saul Grisman, from The Brotherhood of the Rose; and Drew MacLane, from The Fraternity of the Stone. In League, Grisman and MacLane, who are drawn out of their respective exiles (Grisman, in Israel; MacLane, the Nitrian Desert in Egypt) when they’re attacked by killers who might be linked. They, along with their equally deadly spouses, separately and (later) together, plot and fight their way through labyrinthine loyalties, multiple international agencies, and sometimes noble, sometimes loathsome killers who may or may not have the two couples in their sights.

As he does in the first two Abelard novels, Morrell deftly melds fully realized characters, streamlined and believable action, and wild-but-also-believable conspiracies with his taut, fast-paced, and all-around entertaining writing.  This is a top-notch political/action thriller, another Abelard book worth owning.

Series completists might want to note that Morrell revisited and end-capped this four-work series in his story “The Abelard Sanction,” included in the 2006 James Patterson-edited anthology Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night.

Clean Break by Lionel White

 

(pb; 1955)

Review

Fans of Richard Stark’s twenty-four-book Parker series might enjoy Clean Break, with its blunt, succinct descriptions and dialogue, its swift pacing, its character-based twists, all of which start from the first word and doesn’t let up until the last one. This is a great, blueprint-for-the-hardboiled-novel book, one worth owning.

#

The resulting film, The Killing, was released stateside on June 6, 1956. Stanley Kubrick directed it, also serving as co-author (with Jim Thompson) of the screenplay.

Sterling Hayden played Johnny Clay, ex-con brainchild of the heist. Coleen Gray played Fay, Johnny’s girlfriend.

Jay C. Flippen played Marvin Unger, court stenographer-turned-heister. Elisha Cook Jr. played track cashier George Peatty. Marie Windsor played Sherry Peatty, George’s bored, faithless wife. Vince Edwards played Val Cannon, Sherry’s secret lover.

Ted de Corsia, billed as DeCorsia, played debt-saddled Patrolman Randy Kennan. Jay Adler played “Leo the Loan Shark.” Joe Sawyer played Mike O’Reilly (cinematic stand-in for “Big Mike” Henty in the source novel). Timothy Carey played creepy sniper Nikki Arcane. Joe Turkel, billed as Joseph Turkel, played Tiny.

The Red Box by Rex Stout

 

(pb; 1936, 1937: fourth book in the forty-six-book Nero Wolfe detective series)

From the back cover

“Murder by chocolate? That’s the premise Nero Wolfe must operate from when a beautiful woman is poisoned after indulging in a box of candy. It’s a case that the great detective—no stranger himself to overindulgence—is loath to take for a variety of reasons, including that it may require that he leave his comfortable brownstone But he and Archie are compelled by a mystery that mixes high fashion and low motives. . . and a killer who may have made the deadliest mistake.”

 

Review

The fourth Nero Wolfe novel, more blunt and potentially violent than previous Wolfe works, shows the titular detective (with help from his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin) solving (and proving) the possibly accidental murder of a young prankster (Molly Lauck) via caramel candy poisoning. When mostly troublesome witnesses, suspects, their family members, and the police (again led by Inspector Kramer) show up—sometimes summoned by Wolfe—the situation heats up, becomes more urgent by more poison-related killings.

The primary reason for Box’s tonal shift is that Archie Goodwin, who narrates the Nero books, has become more straightforward, caustic, and willing to lay hands on anyone who insults or threatens his employer—perhaps a reaction to the physical threats he and Wole have faced in previous books?

Still present tone-wise is Wolfe’s erudite utterances, the humorous undertone of Wolfe and Goodwin’s interactions, as well as the effective, believable twists of the case and those involved. As excellent as the last two books (even with its tonal shift), Box is a definite-check-out read. Followed by Too Many Cooks (1938).

The Fraternity of the Stone by David Morrell

 

(pb; 1985: second book in the Abelard Sanction quadrilogy)

From the back cover

“Scalpel. A clandestine, government-sanctioned operation named for its purpose: precise surgical removal. Assassination.

“Drew Maclane was a star agent—until the day had to stop. He withdrew and for six years lived the life of a hermit in a monastery.

“But someone has tracked him down, leaving a trail of corpses. Someone who knows all about him—who will stop at nothing to kill him.”

 

Review

A superb, gripping and tautly spun follow-up to The Brotherhood of the Rose, Fraternity features a different protagonist (Drew MacLane), a government assassin who’s retreated into a Carthusian monastery after a botched double-target hit traumatizes him. MacLane, like Saul Grisman in Brotherhood, is a relatable (though distinctive from Grisman) character—that is, one worth rooting for as he tries to figure out who’s trying to kill and frame him and those close to him (his ex-lover, Arlene; his best friend and fellow Scalpel assassin, Jake).

Morrell’s strengths as an author are at the fore here: fully fleshed characters, memorable action scenes and their set-ups, and solid explanations, conspiracies and backstories that make up a read that lives up to the phrase thriller and all that it implies. Worth owning, this—followed by The League of Night and Fog.