Epic Collection: Ghost Rider—Hell on Wheels by various artists and writers

 

(oversized pb; 1972—1975, 2022. Collects Marvel Spotlight #5-12, Ghost Rider #1-11, and Marvel Team-Up #15.)

From the back cover

“In 1972, one of the most iconic characters in comic book history, the flame-skulled Ghost Rider, burned his demonic presence into readers’ minds. Forevermore, a legion of fans were addicted to the Rider’s combination of hell-on-wheels drama and action-horror adventure. And it begins here when Johnny Blaze makes a deal with the devil to save his friend’s life. The payment due? Transformation into the Ghost Rider. The stories that follow will take the horror hero to Hell to battle Satan, pit him against the tempting Witch Woman and team him with Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan. Written by Gary Friedrich and Tony Isabella and gloriously illustrated by Mike Ploog, Tom Sutton and Jim Mooney.”

 

Overall review

Caveat: (possible) minor spoilers in this review of these fifty-year-old comics.

GR = Ghost Rider

JB = Johnny Blaze

These opening issues of GR are fun, sometimes above-average reads, especially toward the later issues shown in this collection. Initially, there’s a lot of repetitive framing in consecutive issues (Satan, having made a crooked deal with a naïve, curiously childlike JB, seeks to reap JB’s soul via different, malefic operatives). Then there’s the issue of why JB sells his soul, his reasoning—beyond his short-sightedness and masochistic personality—reading as paper-thin. If you can get past that (I eventually did), GR, at least in these issues, is entertaining, with more plot variation and character deepening. Good tween-to-teen-mindset stuff, for the most part, with consistent, stellar artwork.

Followed by Epic Collection: Ghost Rider—The Salvation Run.

 

Review, issue by issue

Marvel Spotlight: “Ghost Rider” (#5): A desperate situation leads an adolescent, stunt-motorcyclist Johnny Blaze to make a dumb decision: he sells his soul to Satan, who cheats Johnny via a sly loophole. Johnny now turns into a flaming-skull, nighttime demon (Ghost Rider), even though Satan has yet to fully claim Johnny’s soul.

This origin-story issue works if Johnny is a sixteen-year-old; such is the adolescent emotionalism that drives him to sell his soul. . . for what? That an emotionally abusive old man and supposed friend (Crash Simpson) has a few more years of life? Both Crash and his daughter, Roxanne—also Johnny’s potential girlfriend—treat Johnny like crap over a misunderstanding, one he doesn’t bother correcting them on. This is all too plot-convenient dumb, even for a comic book. While this doesn’t entirely ruin the issue, it makes for an at-times badly written read with two key emotionally schizophrenic characters (the Simpsons) who are wildly inconsistent in their mood swings.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “Angels from Hell” (#6): Johnny Blaze tangles with a biker gang, led by the temperamental, ginger-Afro’d Curly Samuels. When it’s revealed that Curly worships Satan, who seeks to claim His bounty on Johnny’s soul, things get worse for Johnny.

This is an interesting, okay issue story-wise, as Curly’s character (and his true identity) ring strange, when one considers that he’s eager to sacrifice Roxanne “Roxie” Simpson (Johnny’s emotionally schizophrenic romantic interest) to Satan.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “Die, Die, My Darling!” (#7): Curly Samuels, Satanic biker—revealed to be the angry soul vessel of Crash Simpson (Roxanne’s father)—is commanded by Satan to sacrifice Roxanne, something Samuels/Simpsons struggles with.

Meanwhile, Blaze/Ghost Rider, looking for his kidnapped girlfriend (again, Roxanne) evades motorcycle cops and maintains his stuntman roadshow while his surly road manager (Bart Slade) plots against Blaze.

Fun, slightly ridiculous issue: Why would Simpson sell his soul to Satan to right a minor-at-worst slight against Johnny? Still, the artwork is appropriately dramatic, as is the dialogue and overall writing.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Hordes of Hell” (#8): At the end of the last issue, GR and Crash Simpson/Curly Samuels were about to fight in front of the altar where Simpson’s daughter (Roxanne) was soon to be taken by Satan. Simpson’s strange revenge on Johnny (over an imagined “cowardice”) is reiterated by the frustrated Simpson.

Melodrama takes a downturn as a bigger threat to Crash and GR appears—a threat that Simpson/Samuels might have to fight too. This situation gets a curious, just-as-shifty-dangerous resolution.

Johnny Blaze/GR finds himself in further (possible) danger when he preps for a stunt, a motorcycle jump across Copperhead Canyon (part of the Grand Canyon). This section of canyon is a hotly contested territory, once part of Apache/Native American land: seems the Apache want it back, and they’re willing to fight for it anew, led by a fierce-minded shaman (Snake Dance), who has an intense dislike of Blaze/GR—as do Snake Dance’s followers.

Another cliffhanger finish to this action-packed, uneven but ultimately entertaining issue.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Snakes Crawl at Night. . .” (#9): Blaze/GR has a thought-to-be-fatal encounter with his Copperhead Canyon motorcycle jump.

Meanwhile, Bart Slade (Blaze’s surly road manager) tries to take over his Blaze’s traveling roadshow. Not only that, Snake Dance, the Apache shaman, with help from an ambivalent fellow tribesman (Sam Silvercloud, introduced in issue 8) mean to sacrifice Roxanne Simpson to their fiery snake god!

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Coming of Witch-Woman!” (#10): GR rushes to get Roxanne Simpson to the hospital before she succumbs to the snakebite she received during Snake Dance’s sacrificial ritual.

Meanwhile, Sam Silvercloud and other Apaches challenge the gone-wild Snake Dance—just as Linda Little-Tree (aka Witch-Woman), Snake Dance’s twenty-something daughter, shows up. Can she provide the anti-venom snake serum that Roxanne desperately needs.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “Season of the Witch-Woman” (#11): Linda Little-Tree, aka Witch-Woman—in the employ of Satan—recounts her life journey to Johnny Blaze/GR thus far while holding him prisoner in a metaphysical realm. (Is there anyone in this comic book who isn’t somehow under Satan’s sway?) She means to give him over to the dark overlord, but GR manages to escape, rushing to make his scheduled/roadshow jump across Copperhead Canyon.

 

Ghost Rider: “A Man Possessed!” (#1): Johnny Blaze, shot by police—unlike his GR alter-ego, he isn’t bulletproof—rides to protect Roxanne Simpson and winds up in a hospital.

“Several miles away” from Blaze’s “crash site,” Sam Silvercloud and Snake Dance (the latter no longer under malevolent influence) grapple with how to waken Linda Little-Tree (aka Witch-Woman) from her Satan-induced coma. To do so, Sam contacts a helpful Daimon Hellstrom, also known as a “Son of Satan.”

At Copperhead Canyon, Blaze’s treacherous road manager (Bart Slade) prepares to make the jump that Blaze can’t make (given Blaze’s injuries and hospital stay). Few, it seems, believe Slade can make that jump.

 

Ghost Rider: “Shake Hands with Satan” (#2): GR confronts Satan, who’s possessed Linda Little-Tree (aka Witch-Woman) in the netherworld while a biker gang (Ruthless Riders), led by Big Daddy Dawson—a huge, intimidating man—threaten Roxanne Simpson, Blaze’s girlfriend.

Daimon Hellstrom, rebellious “Son of Satan,” arrives at Snake Dance’s house, only to find Linda/Witch-Woman gone. But there’s a greater danger Sam Silvercloud and Snake Dance must face, one even Hellstrom can’t save them from.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Son of Satan!” (#12): Daimon Hellstrom, now under the nighttime influence of his aggressive alter ego, seeks Satan to usurp his power.

Elsewhere, Big Daddy Dawson and his bike gang menace Roxanne Simpson; Dawson claims the cowering young woman as his property.

This is an entertaining, good issue that brings together GR’s multiple characters and plotlines from previous Marvel Spotlight – GR issues. Unlike issues 5-11 of Spotlight, this issue ends on a less dire cliffhanger note. There’s still danger and imminent death situations for its lead characters but it’s relatively less melodramatic.

 

Ghost Rider: “Wheels on Fire” (#3): Daimon Hellstrom leaves GR and Linda Little-Tree (now free of Satanic possession) in the desert—thing is, when GR reverts to his Johnny Blaze alter ego, the wounds he sustains while GR (when he’s impervious to bullets, broken bones, etc.) afflict him when he’s no longer his flaming-head self. . . this is important, because in recent issues, GR/Blaze has accrued some physical damage. Can GR maintain his relative invulnerability to natural wounding until he and an unconscious Little-Tree escape the deep desert?

Meanwhile, Hellstrom has more pressing issues. One aspect of his alter (“night”) ego is that he wants to rule Hell as an innovative head—this means he must depose Satan first, while he’s still in his “night” self, and not in his “day” (more chill, humble) self. And since he’s in “night” mode.

GR finds a way to try and rescue Roxanne Simpson from Big Daddy Dawson, lead biker of his gang; when that rescue goes awry, Blaze (now the predominant alter ego) winds up in the hospital. Can he recover in time to track the on-the-run Dawson, who’s kidnapped Roxanne Simpson, Blaze/GR’s love? And is GR willing to commit murder to protect her?

This is one of the best GR issues I’ve read. It’s consistently solid, good, with no melodrama and it reveals a latent power GR didn’t know he had: he can create an on-fire motorcycle, one that exists while he’s in his GR persona.

 

Ghost Rider: “Death Stalks the Demolition Derby” (#4): After running afoul of a police roadblock—Blaze/GR is wanted for some of his supposed actions in previous issues—he’s arrested and hospitalized anew, his wounds still fresh. A new employer (the shady Duke Jensen) hires Blaze after he’s cleared of charges, and two months later, Blaze, as GR, rides in Jensen’s destruction derby, one that might kill GR.

Roxanne Simpson works undercover for the local Attorney General in Jensen’s office, to catch crooked operator Jensen. When she overhears a conversation she wasn’t supposed to, she’s in immediate danger again.

 

 

Ghost Rider: “And Vegas Writhes in Flame!” (#5): As cops bust into Duke Jensen’s derby-arena office, he reveals his true form; he’s Roulette, a reptile-faced demon! Alongside him, his right-hand man (Slifer) also transforms into his demonic self before they vanish into a ring of fire—Roxanne Simpson is safe from the demons, but the fire enveloping the office may claim her life.

Roulette, slinging fire bolts at GR, give him a choice: save the tied-to-a-chair-in-the-burning-office Roxanne, or save Las Vegas, NV, which is being set aflame with Roulette’s fire bolts. This is Roulette’s revenge, getting back at the crooks who ruined his life when he was a mere mortal. Can GR save Roxanne and Las Vegas, or will one, or both, be torched out of existence?

Good issue, with a villain whose backstory is interesting, and who (of course) is in the employ of Satan.

 

 

Marvel Team-Up: “If An Eye Offend Thee. . .” (#15): During one of Johnny Blaze/GR’s roadshows (poster-advertised as “Ghost Rider’s Motorcycle Extravaganza”), a new villain—The Orb, with his round eyeball-shaped helmet/mask—hypnotizes most of the packed arena while kidnapping Roxanne Simpson. Seems The Orb wants Blaze/GR to sign over ownership of his roadshow to him; years ago, he was merely Drake Shannon, Crash Simpson’s original/former partner, from decades ago, before an accident disfigured his face and nearly killed him. Now The Orb wants what should’ve been his!

Fortunately for GR, Peter Parker/Spider-man happens to be in the audience. Of course, having encountered GR in the past in a cooperative manner, he helps “flame-head” (as Spider-Man calls him) take down The Orb and his motorcycle thugs while GR tries to rescue Roxanne (again).

Good, entertaining issue, one that seeds GR with an interesting/recurring villain (The Orb).

 

Ghost Rider: “Zodiac II” (#6): In San Francisco, California, a quartet of costumed villains (Leo, Libra, Gemini and Sagittarius)—former members of Cornelius Van Lunt’s Zodiac gang—heist money from their ex-boss’s transport trucks. Their thieving tracks, character-wise, except all of them are also physically in prison!

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Johnny Blaze/GR tries to rescue Roxanne Simpson from gone-mad kidnapper Dave Barnett. Dave is the son of Vegas Attorney General Barnett (also a former FBI agent). It seems Dave was incensed by Blaze/GR’s reluctance to travel to San Francisco to stop the ex-Zodiac gang doppelgängers.

This is a fun set-up issue for GR’s next showdown with Zodiac (next issue), though Dave Barnett’s motivation is especially irrational and short-sighted (even for a comic book character), resulting in a paper-thin plot for this issue (#6)—it’s almost as paper-thin as Blaze’s teen-dumb reasoning for making a deal with Satan at the start of GR’s original run: Satan, as anyone who’s Christian-biased might guess, is almost certainly going to cheat his deal-partners, especially in a Marvel universe work!

 

Ghost Rider: “. . . And Lose his Own Soul!” (#7): GR and The Stunt-Master (making an impromptu decision to aid GR) pursue former Zodiac supervillain Taurus on motorbikes. Can they stop him before his full powers—and true identity (“Aquarius. . . the one man Zodiac!”)—are revealed, and the one who makes them possible (duplicitous demon Slifer, from GR #5) succeed in their plans?

This is another fun read, a solid wrap-up to the Zodiac II storyline (began in issue 6), with a clever, character- and GR-true twist, making this is one of my favorite GR issue-endings.

 

 

Ghost Rider: “Satan Himself!” (#8): Satan works against JB/GR on two fronts: first, he torments Roxanne Simpson with  visions of her father (Crash) in Hell—he does this because Roxanne is Blaze’s pure-soul key to staying out of the Devil’s clutches. Second, Satan transforms diminutive sized demon Slifer (GR, issues #5-7) into a kaiju eiga-sized, Cyclopean hell-beast, “Inferno the Fear-Monger.” With his terror-causing hand rays, Inferno creates widespread panic in San Francisco, CA.

Meanwhile, Satan reveals to Roxanne that he was actually the robed, seemingly benevolent “Messenger” who told JB that he’d take Crash Simpson’s soul out of Hell (Marvel Spotlight #8)—a promise that wasn’t kept!

This is an exciting, firing-on-all-creative-cylinders issue, one of their best thus far.

 

 

Ghost Rider: “The Hell-Bound Hero!” (#9): GR, still warring against Inferno in San Francisco, CA, seems doomed. Satan has him dead to rights when an unexpected, but-not-entirely-egregious divine being blocks Satan’s intentions, reframing the elements, relationships and limits of JB’s life and powers: as GR, he’s no longer invulnerable to bullets and other weapons, but he’s also no longer beholden to Satan for the crooked deal he made with the giant, horned demon king.

Not only that, Slifer—no longer in his Inferno manifestation—gets a new physical form and more powers, to further bedevil JB/GR.

While the last-minute divine intervention element/character feels cheesy, bordering on writerly, this shift and its repercussions also ushers in a new, possibly more varied and exciting period for GR and those around him. . . a mixed-bag issue, it’s still above average for most of its visual and plotted delivery.

 

Ghost Rider (#10): This issue is a reprint of the August 1972 issue of Marvel Spotlight (#5), where GR battles The Incredible Hulk. See that issue review for details (it’s the first listed issue in this collection).

 

Ghost Rider: “Desolation Run!” (#11): During a desert motorcycle race—JB was told about it by The Stunt-Master (GR, #8 and 9)—GR and his fellow bikers are forced to contend with The Incredible Hulk, who’s been tricked into thinking that GR attacked him earlier that day. The trickster in question is Slifer, shape-shifting demon, and recurring GR villain (issues #5-9).

The writers included the following “Note”: . . . these events “occur between page 6, panel 2, of Hulk #184 and page 10, panel 3 of that same issue.”

Fun, solid issue, one that is “respectfully dedicated to the memory of [Batman co-creator] Bill Finger, giant motorcycle and all.”

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

(oversized hb; 2021: graphic novel. Collects Moon Knight #21-38; Iron Man #161; Power Man and Iron Fist #87; Marvel Team-Up #144; Moon Knight #1-6 [second run, 1985]; Marvel Fanfare #30, 38 and 39; Solo Avengers #3; and Marvel Superheroes #1.)

From the inside flap

“Moon Knight’s first solo series comes to a close, including the climax of Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz’s artwork continues to evolve before your eyes, he and Moench put their tortured hero through a series of trials—including the return of the waking nightmare that is Morpheus and the vigilante Stained Glass Scarlet, now wielding a crossbow as her weapon of choice. But while encounters with these and other deadly adversaries take their toll, they have nothing on the task of juggling the identities of mercenary Marc Spector, millionaire playboy Steven Grant and cabbie Jake Lockley—not least the strain that puts on his love life. And just as Marlene Alraune starts to doubt their romantic future, her brother gets caught up in the madness—and things go from bad to worse. When a mystery man is inspired to seek power by becoming Moon Knight’s dark nemesis, will the schemes of the Black Spectre drive a final wedge between Marc and Marlene—or perhaps destroy the silver-and-ebon-clad marauder once and for all? Though that task may fall to Moon Knight’s very first foe, the Werewolf By Night—back and more ferocious than ever, as only Sienkiewicz could draw him.

“Other creators take Moon Knight in new directions as he fights killers, super villains and zuvembies—and shares adventures with Brother Voodoo, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Power Man and Iron Fist, the X-men, the Fantastic Four, and more. But as he falls further under the influence of a certain Egyptian god, he emerges stronger than ever—as the Fist of Khonshu! It’s the dawn of a new era for Marc Spector, but where does that leave Marlene?”

 

Overall review

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

The creative team behind Moon Knight really upped their game in these final Volume 1-run (1980-1984) issues. A lot changed, not just for Moon Knight, but its supporting characters (e.g., Gena, MK’s diner-owning friend and mother of two energetic teenage boys), and those wild changes made equally big waves in the storylines as well as Spector/Grant/MK’s bruising, who-am-I mindset and life. The first five issues of this omnibus wrap up the Volume 1 run, leaving MK (as well as his friends and family) in a good place.

The Volume 2 run (six issues, 1985) shatter MK’s quiet life—Spector/Grant had left his vigilante lifestyle behind—and compel him to don the jet and silver spandex again, this time without his usual supporting characters (e.g., Marlene Aulrane) always close by. Volume 2 issues also bring to the fore a more supernatural element in MK’s life (the Volume 1 creators had left the extent of MK’s mystical elements open for readers to decide), and the Volume 2 really run with those elements, connecting MK (now truly “the Fist of Khonshu”) with three immortal Thebes Valley priests who regularly unsettle Spector/MK’s peace of mind as they alert him to incidents of global malfeasance and terror. The Volume 2 run ends on a solid, entertaining note.

The five remaining non-Moon Knight issues in this hardback (and physically heavy) collection place MK in a guest role.  Some of them are strange (even for a MK read), as if any superhero could’ve been inserted into his role(s)/appearances, while others are entertaining in a general way.

The quality of Moon Knight’s (and associated titles) artwork varies with who’s doing the drawing, linework and coloring. Most of it’s good (in that gritty, experimental and pulpy series-true way). The rest embraces a new aesthetic, one that may or may not grab you, depending on when you came up reading comic books (and if you grew up reading them).

Ultimately, “Moon Knight” Omnibus, Vol. 2, with its complicated, often tormented and hallucinating title character, is as great a read as Vol. 1, worth owning (despite their not-for-the-casual reader priciness).

 

Review, issue by issue

Moon Knight: “Primal Scream”/”Scorecard” (#34)—“Primal Scream”: Gena , local diner owner and Moon Knight’s [MK] friend, is viciously attacked by a young man (Frank) exposed to a dangerous chemical (the result of a secret experiment, code name: “Project Primal”—an operation MK’s alter-ego, Marc Spector, once confronted). In the now, MK must track down Frank as well as locate the source of his poisonous infection, before it spreads to others.

Excellent issue, art-, character- and writing-wise, with its planetary environment-focused message, reminiscent of elements in Dan O’Bannon’s 1985 film The Return of the Living Dead. This issue is scripter Tony Isabella’s first work for MK.

 

“Scorecard”: This fun, experimental issue is narrated by a decrepit, macabre-humored host (the Scorekeeper) in a riff on the EC horror-esque works like Marvel’s The Vault of Evil (1973-1975).

In “Scorecard,” the Scorekeeper asks readers if MK’s anti-crime efforts are effective, actually help society at large. The answer is obvious, yes, shown in an overview of MK’s street encounters, including the trouncing of two thugs pretending to be werewolves while they prey on local (New York City) shopkeepers. This mini-story also continues the storyline of “Primal Scream,” with Gena making a post-Frank-attack, life-changing announcement to her adolescent sons (Ricky, Ray).

 

Moon Knight: “Second Wind” (#35, double-sized issue): Excellent issue!

A battle with a winged thief (The Fly) leaves MK seriously injured—possibly unable to walk for the rest of his life. As if that weren’t bad enough, a Soviet mutant (Bora), with her tornado-creating powers, is on a mission to hunt down and blow into oblivion those who defected ballet dancers who betrayed her and their country.

When MK (as Steven Grant) and Marlene Alraune cross paths with her, and he is unable to stop her, he enlists the aid of the Uncanny X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Can they stop Bora? Can MK/Grant regain his ability to walk? And what is it that Gena, MK’s diner-owning friend and anti-crime ally, feels the burning need to tell him?

There’s a lot happening in this issue, even for a Moon Knight comic book, all of it entertaining, tightly penned and risk-taking (series- and character-wise) in the best ways.

 

Moon Knight: “Ghosts” (#36): A Nubian demonic necromancer (Anmutef) from the twentieth century B.C. is accidentally resurrected by MK’S Khonshu-enhanced presence, threatening the world anew, and necessitating initially unwanted-by-MK assistance from Stephen Strange, master of the mystic arts. MK and Strange should remove Amutef from our earthly realm, but MK (who’s sworn off any belief in Khonshu’s supernatural intervention and powers in his life, must somehow rediscover his wonder about the albino-statue god.

Excellent game-changing issue in the Moon Knight series, one whose repercussions are likely to ring loud in future issues.

 

Moon Knight: “Red Sins” / “Crawley” (#37) – “Red Sins”: Elias Spector, Marc’s rabbi father, lies on his deathbed while Marc/MK processes that fact by pummeling neo-Nazi punks. Once MK comes back to himself, he and Marlene Alraune go to see his father just as a bizarre turn of events sets everything on its head. Excellent, with a cliffhanger finish to this.

 

“Crawley”: Bertrand “Jake” Crawley, one of MK’s key street informants and friends, recounts how he helped MK deal with a neighborhood mob of people. Fun, okay story.

 

Moon Knight: “Final Rest” (#38): In the cliffhanger conclusion to last issue’s first story (“Red Sins”), a curiously familiar red-robed and -masked magick practitioner (Zohar), who took Elias Spector’s corpse, is tracked by MK and Marlene Alraune. But Zohar has a few insidious tricks up his voluminous sleeves. This is a particularly dark and life-changing conflict for Marc Spector/MK, especially fun (for the reader) and intense.

This is the final issue of the original run of Moon Knight, a good send-off.

 

Marvel Team-Up: Spider-Man and Moon Knight — “My Sword I Lay Down!” (#144): The two heroes come together to battle The White Dragon, a white- and red-spandex clad villain who means to take over New York City’s Chinatown district after one of MK’s friends and Chinatown leader (Do Yang) dies. Good, entertaining issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Night of the Jackal” (#1, volume 2): In this first-issue, series reboot (and sequel series to the original run of Moon Knight), Steven Grant has sworn off his MK-related vigilante activities and is living a happy life with his longtime, live-in girlfriend (Marlene Alraune). Alraune, like Spector/Grant is thrilled; she no long has to worry about her lover’s safety.

It all comes to a crashing end when a new villain, a resurrected priest (“Araamses, brother to the pharaoh Seti” and “priest to the god Anubis, Slayer of souls and dweller of darkness”) threatens to destroy Khonshu, the moon god who resurrected MK. A reluctant Grant, after a visit to Thebes, the Valley of the Kings, is (again) compelled to by three seemingly immortal priests to become “the Fist of Khonshu,” even if it means losing those he loves in the process.

Entertaining going-back-to-MK’s-roots reboot, worth reading. This first Volume 2 issue kicks off a more supernatural take on MK’s adventures, a take that was absent the Volume 1 stories (Bill Sienkiewicz preferred MK’s world and adventures to be more real-world.)

 

Moon Knight: “Deadly Knowledge” (#2, volume 2): Northern Yucatan, Mexico. Still grieving over being dumped by his longtime love (Marlene Alraune), MK, with help from über-feminist scientist Dr. Victoria Grail, tries to stop a Nazi experiment-obsessed scientist (Dr. Arthur Harrow) from completing his jungle-secret mission—it’s an especially personal quest for Harrow, whose twisted-mouth visage, the result of his “trigeminal neuralgia, tic douloureux,” might be cured by the human suffering he’s causing.

Good, fun issue; it introduces not just one (possibly) recurring villain, but several—including those working for the imposing O.M.N.I.U.M., Harrow’s financial benefactors.

 

Moon Knight: “A Madness of Dreams!” (#3, volume 2): Morpheus, within the body of Peter Alraune (Marlene’s brother), awakens anew (Morpheus was last seen in Moon Knight, #22 volume 1). The dream demon escapes Seaview Research Hospital where he was interned, his violent rampage resulting in a hospital-hostage situation, a full-blown nightmare event that the police, cordoned outside, are helpless to end.

Can MK rescue the hospital-trapped Marlene Alraune and put down, again, the contagious insanity that is the ebon-energies-blasting Morpheus? This is another good issue that ties together Spector/MK’s personal life with that of his vigilante life. Lieutenant detective Flint, MK’s New York cop buddy, last seen in Moon Knight #30 volume 1, also makes an appearance!

 

Moon Knight: “Bluebeard’s Castle” (#4, volume 2): Female Fortune 500 executives—four so far—have been kidnapped and are being held for future execution by the misogynistic, seething Bluebeard, a new villain in MK’s gallery of foes. It looks like the modern-day pirate’s crime spree will continue unless the police stop it, something they’ve been unable to do. A desperate Detective Flint asks a reluctant MK to help stop the neuron-ray-blasting, newspaper- and cop-taunting kidnapper, a request Spector/Grant struggles with.

Fun, solid issue. It’s not difficult to figure out who Bluebeard really is, but considering it’s a comic book it’s a non-issue, at least in this case.

 

Moon Knight: “Debts and Balances” (#5, volume 2): Khonshu’s three mystical priests from Thebes (specifically the Valley of the Kings), first seen in “Night of the Jackal” (#1, volume 2), compel MK to leave New York City to go to Chicago, IL to save sacrificial children from the immortality-seeking White Cobra Cult and (possibly) three black-clad assassins, who are somehow linked to the cult. Good, entertaining work.

 

Moon Knight: “The Last. . . White Knight” (#6, volume 2): An unspecified South Caribbean island. MK, with help from a junkie US Customs Special Agent (Lynora Goode), sets out to take down a heroin-dealing gang . Led by fierce and imposing Mama White, a priestess and “keeper of the old faith, protector of ancient rites,” the gang also kidnaps children for a mysterious “Sacrament” ritual—one which MK might be forced to take part in!

Solid, entertaining finale to the Volume 2 run of Moon Knight.

 

Marvel Fanfare: “Real to Reel” (#30): MK and Marlene Alraune (who was not with Steven Grant/MK in the Volume 2 run of Moon Knight), hanging out in a small backwoods town, are drawn into a crazy-weird situation where a cinema verité filmmaker draws the wrath of locals and a spectral bodied Mother Nature—the latter partially born of a once-in-a-lifetime planetary alignment, a “Syzygy Quadrature.” The filmmaker has accomplished this massive piss-everyone-off event by killing a herd of deer for a scene in a film shoot, then leaving their corpses to rot, waste away.

This one-off issue is a disconnected-from-Moon-Knight-Volume-2 work, a forgettable, weird and bland trifle of a Moon Knight tale (it could almost be applied to any superhero, with MK’s name filling in the character-blanks. It also has a ridiculous Marlene/MK-argument subplot, one that belongs in a teen romance work, not worthy of Moon Knight.

 

Solo Avengers #3: Hawkeye and Moon Knight—“Tower of Shadows”: MK, seeking leads on a criminal (Cornelius Van Lunt), is given a late-night address to visit by his former-foe-turned-friend Jack Russell (aka Werewolf By Night)—but when MK has to run a gauntlet of death traps as well as fight a blue-cowled and -caped phantom of sorts (The Shroud), MK questions whether or not he’s being “set up” and: is there more to this situation than he initially thought?

This issue, like the MK-visiting Marvel Fanfare: “Real to Reel” (#30) issue, feels off as a MK-centric work. When MK, frustrated by the “Tower of Shadows” traps and attacks by The Shroud, begins questioning Jack Russell’s loyalty to MK—something that Russell has repeatedly proven during the original runs of Werewolf By Night and Moon Knight—it just reads wrong. Sub-par writing as a MK-centric work.

 

Marvel Fanfare: “Whatever Happened to the Podunk Slam?” (#38): At an all-female orphanage (Danielle Clarke Home for Lost and Friendless Girls), young girls begin disappearing just as old women begin appearing in their place and a boy band (pop quintette Podunk Slam) is in town. MK, ditching his Steven Grant persona (and merged its millionaire status with his birth name, Marc Spector), investigates this strange situation, with help from his right-hand man and copter pilot (Frenchie) and his art-collection advisor (Spence).

 

“Podunk” is an especially fun and wild-for-a-comic-book issue, one that recalls some of more enjoyable Volume 1 Moon Knight entries.

 

Marvel Fanfare: “#*@%&c” (#39): Relatively light entry in the Moon Knight series where MK fights off terrorists. Fun, offbeat read.

 

Marvel Super-Heroes: “Old Business” (#1): Houston, Texas. Marc Spector, visits an old friend—Gena, former owner of Gena’s Diner (and one of MK’s “Baker Street Irregulars”) in Moon Knight Volume 1 run, now the co-owner and manager of a fancy restaurant. His visit is interrupted when he must don MK’s silver-and-jet outfit to stop a jewel thief (The Raptor).

While The Raptor feels like a lightweight villain, it’s entertaining, and the scenes where Gena and Spector are talking are heartwarming, a nice capper to the just-after-Volume 2 Moon Knight run.

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

 

(oversized hb; 2021: graphic novel. Collects Moon Knight #21-38; Iron Man #161; Power Man and Iron Fist #87; Marvel Team-UP #144; Moon Knight #1-6 [second run, 1985]; Marvel Fanfare #30, 38 and 39; Solo Avengers #3; and Marvel Superheroes #1.)

From the inside flap

“Moon Knight’s first solo series comes to a close, including the climax of Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz’s artwork continues to evolve before your eyes, he and Moench put their tortured hero through a series of trials—including the return of the waking nightmare that is Morpheus and the vigilante Stained Glass Scarlet, now wielding a crossbow as her weapon of choice. But while encounters with these and other deadly adversaries take their toll, they have nothing on the task of juggling the identities of mercenary Marc Spector, millionaire playboy Steven Grant and cabbie Jake Lockley—not least the strain that puts on his love life. And just as Marlene Alraune starts to doubt their romantic future, her brother gets caught up in the madness—and things go from bad to worse. When a mystery man is inspired to seek power by becoming Moon Knight’s dark nemesis, will the schemes of the Black Spectre drive a final wedge between Marc and Marlene—or perhaps destroy the silver-and-ebon-clad marauder once and for all? Though that task may fall to Moon Knight’s very first foe, the Werewolf By Night—back and more ferocious than ever, as only Sienkiewicz could draw him.

“Other creators take Moon Knight in new directions as he fights killers, super villains and zuvembies—and shares adventures with Brother Voodoo, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Power Man and Iron Fist, the X-men, the Fantastic Four, and more. But as he falls further under the influence of a certain Egyptian god, he emerges stronger than ever—as the Fist of Khonshu! It’s the dawn of a new era for Marc Spector, but where does that leave Marlene?”

 

Overall review

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

Vol. 2 continues in the dark, pulpy, socially relevant and unsettling dissociative-lead vein of its previous omnibus, with its mostly gritty New York City settings, morally gray characters (some of them returning from earlier issues), making for another t(w)een-friendly read, with its experimental tones, storylines, and other elements. Moon Knight is one of Marvel’s more iconoclastic characters and comic book runs. This is an excellent collection, one worth reading if you’re a lover of pulp, 1980s vibes and artwork, and a seriously disturbed protagonist.

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

 

Review, issue by issue

Moon Knight: “The Master of Night Earth” (#21): Mirebalais, Haiti. Moon Knight [henceforth to be called MK] and Jericho Drum (aka Brother Voodoo) track the revolutionary soldiers in service of coup leader “Grand Bois, leader of the Unholy Trinity, Lord of the Crossroads and Demons. . . the Master of Earth and Night Forests.” While tracking the speedboating soldiers, with help from Daniel (spirit brother of Drum) they encounter violent zuvembies (zombies) and other spooky horrors.

Entertaining, good issue, atmospheric. Always a pleasure to see Jericho and Daniel—they also appeared in Werewolf By Night (issue 39).

Also included in this issue: another “Tales of Khonshu” story, titled “Murder By Moonlight.” In “Murder,” a cop-killer (Herb Russell) flees a crime scene and takes desperate refuge in the Brooklyn Museum, where Khonshu’s statue, along with mummies, is on display. Fun, EC Horror-esque morality work.

 

Moon Knight: “The Dream Demon” (#22): Morpheus—last seen in Moon Knight issue 12—terrorizes his former dream-study doctor (Peter Alraune) through nightmares, whose repercussions spill into waking life. Morpheus has been sedated and treated with a new drug to siphon off his mind-blast “ebon energy” (which allows him to create waking-life nightmares), it seems he’s getting more powerful, his black energy infecting others (MK included).

Meanwhile, MK, Frenchie and Marlene Alraune (Peter’s sister, MK’s girlfriend) must also fend off Morpheus’s attacks, psychic and corporeal. Cliffhanger finish.

Also included in this issue: “Khonshu Tales: Moon Over Alamein”: October 1942. Alamein, Egypt. Two American soldiers (Ezzie O’Gourke and Davie Wadler) accidentally discover Khonshu’s alabaster statue in a cave. They leave everything as they find it, and the next day—no suprise—Khonshu’s influence is felt (anew) by O’Gourke, Wadler, and others. Another enjoyable Khonshu-in-another-place-and-time mini-story.

 

Moon Knight: “Perchance to Scream” (#23): Morpheus (aka Robert Markham), escaped from his energized dream-sleep and his asylum-prison, follows MK, Marlene Alraune and her brother (Peter) and Frenchie to Steven Grant’s (aka MK) country cottage with violent and tragic results. Good, intense issue.

 

The Invincible Iron Man: “If the Moonman Should Fail!” (#161): Members of a subversive technologist group (A.I.M., Advanced Idea Mechanics) trap Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), Steven Grant (aka MK, etc.) and several other people in an ocean-submerged “experimental power generating facility” (Project Neptune), to hold them for ransom. Fortunately, Iron Man and MK are there to deal with the situation. Fun read.

 

Power Man and Iron Fist: “Heatwave” (#87): MK is trapped in an empty water tank during a heatwave while Power Man and Iron Fist track and battle thugs of Commodore Planet, a weapons smuggler, to rescue the missing-for-days MK. Solid, good issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Scarlet in Moonlight” (#24): Scarlet Fasinera’s crossbow crusade against the mobsters responsible for her son’s death continues. This time she’s targeting upper echelon mafioso. MK is torn between helping and stopping her. (Scarlet was last seen in Moon Knight issue 14). Excellent, moody and emotionally relatable issue, with superb artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz and Christie Scheele.

 

Moon Knight: “Black Spectre” (#25, double-sized issue): A Vietnam vet with PTSD (Carson Knowles) sets out to become MK’s opposite-number villain—namely Black Spectre, a medieval-armor-wearing and grudge-bearing agent of sudden violence, wielding a pike and political influence. Another anything-could-happen, exciting issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Hit It!”/”The Cabbie Killer” (#26) –

“Hit It”: A jazz-beat sets the citywide tone and narrative percussion, in which MK must stop a grief-crazed man (Joe) from assaulting everyone around him.

“The Cabbie Killer”: Someone has hired a behemoth of a man in military garb (Commodore Donny Planet) to blow up New York cabbies, and MK means to find out who, one fist fight at a time. Fun story.

Commodore Donny Planet and MK previously crossed paths in Power Man and Iron Fist, issue 87, also in this omnibus edition).

 

Moon Knight: “Cop Killer” (#27): MK investigates a spate of murders where the victims were cops, leading him down some unexpectedly character-twisted avenues. Good issue, featuring an appearance by the Kingpin (aka Wilson Fisk). Good issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Spirits in the Sand” (#28): In this especially atmospheric, often spooky and possibly supernatural issue, MK—traveling as Steven Grant—and Marlene Alraune return to the desert tomb where Khonshu (might’ve) resurrected Marc Spector/MK/etc., and where they must survive grave robbers intent on finding Khonshu’s rumored hidden treasure. Excellent, return-to-MK’s-roots work, one of my all-time favorite MK issues, between its stellar writing and art.

 

Moon Knight: “Morning Star”/”Colloquy” (#29)—“Morning Star”: Desperate to hang onto power, a high priest (Schuyler Belial, aka Morning Star) of a comic-book diabolical satanic cult has his followers hunt Jack Russell (aka Werewolf By Night), so Belial can use Russell as a sacrifice to raise a devil. When one of one of MK’s cop buddies (Detective Flint) and MK get involved, things become more complicated. First part of a two-part tale, good story. (Jack Russell’s last appearance in MK was issue 4.)

“Colloquy”: Steven Grant is revisited by a ghost of his mercenary self (Marc Spector). Solid reiteration of one of MK’s themes.

 

Moon Knight: “The Moon-Wraith, Three Sixes, and a Beast” (#30): Schuyler Belial’s satanic cult members—first seen in MK issue 29 (“Morning Star”)—continue to hunt Jack Russell, aka Werewolf By Night. Meanwhile, MK and Detective Flint try to forcibly surcease the black-robed, pointy-head-hooded cult’s pursuit of Russell, also MK’s friend.  Above-average, especially pulpy issue, even for the clad-in-white MK.

 

Moon Knight: “A Box of Music for Savage Studs”/”Fly the Friendly Skies” (#31)—“Fly the Friendly Skies”: On Dough Row—a stretch of an especially impoverished New York tenements—a youthful gang of toughs (Studs), led by the merchant-predatory and loathsome Shank, run violent and wild.

Meanwhile, one of the Studs (Lenny) struggles with his conscience after two of their crimes directly impact his home life, and MK steps in to end the Studs’ reign of intimidation.

 

“Fly the Friendly Skies”: Eco-terrorists seek to hijack an airship—their leader (Douglas Brenner) means to end mankind’s pollution of the Earth by ending mankind! Of course, MK can’t allow this, so he does his vigilante thing, even after Brenner has him temporarily blinded. Fun, James Bond-ish issue, with its group-of-female-terrorists storyline.

This issue marks Kevin Nowland’s debut as a MK penciller, taking over for the consistently excellent Bill Sienkiewicz.

 

Moon Knight: “When the Music Stops”/“Cancer” (#32)—“When the Music Stops”: Conclusion of the two-part story that began with “A Box of Music for Savage Studs” (MK, issue 31). Lenny, “war chief” for vicious gang leader Shank, sees his personal struggle intensify after one of the strongarmed and potentially vigilante shop owners (Lewis) fights back against the Studs (led by Shank). This story ends on a note of momentary hope, grace, making its two-part arc especially impressive for a comic book.

“Cancer”: The jaded attitude of a brilliant-but-cold doctor (Dr. Steele) prompts the brother of a dying cancer victim (Joseph Fixler) to take drastic actions, actions that draw the attention of Steven Grant/MK. Sad, grim (it almost feels MK-writer reactionary) tone throughout this issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Exploding Myths” (#33): The social-ills/moralistic (and still timely) tone of “Cancer” (MK, issue 32) carries over into this issue, with an overly ambitious reporter (Joy Mercado) pushing a small-time criminal (Druid Walsh, a Vietnam vet) to a big-scale extreme, forcing MK and the fanged skull-inked behemoth (Walsh) into a fiery conflict atop the Twin Towers. Good story, eerie end-image.

“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).