Moon Knight Reloaded: Counterpoint

Part 3 of 3: Under the Hood

Regarding Moon Knight #13: KUDOS to Charlie Huston for not only illustrating the "Old Testament" attitude we were speaking of earlier, but also for seeming to back up my next point.

Denny O'Neil, who wrote Batman in the 60s and edited Batman in the 80s, famously declared that Batman disguised himself as Bruce Wayne, not the other way around. He also said lots of other rubbish like Batman is impotent and he never caught his parents' killer, but that's an outraged rant for another day.

As Batman has Millionaire Bruce Wayne (and on occasion, Matches Malone), so Moon Knight has Millionaire Steven Grant and Jake Lockley (and Marc Spector, and Khonshu, and in the Ultimate Universe, a little girl with no eyeballs). Pretty much the primary way writers express the "Moon Knight is CRAZY" concept is by emphasizing his many identities.

Um...yeah. What say we leave the multiple-personality shtick to Bruce Banner, ok?

So who's really under the hood, Mr. Moon Knight? Jake Lockley?



You can't fool us. That's just how you pose as your own stoolie to the get the word on the streets. Steven Grant?



Nah. That's how you infiltrate high society and finance your operations. Are you the Avatar of Khonshu?



Nice try. You'd have to be an idiot to fall for that one. But are you Marc Spector, ruthless mercenary and killer?



I submit that Marc Spector was dead inside long before he started wearing a cape. I submit there is nobody under the hood. And that may be even scarier.

A man who has no sense of self at all. Every face he shows is a tool, a step to carry on his mission. He is unknowable, because there is nothing there to know. He's a blank slate; only the mission of vengeance matters. I find this direction intriguing. However, it requires the supporting cast to carry the emotional load. Fortunately we have Frenchie and Marlene, and perhaps Doc's idea of "The Moon Knight Family" has a use after all. I say if you're going that way, the answer is move him into the realm of The Shadow rather than Batman. The earliest days of The Shadow, mind you, not the radio bastardization--back when he was an unknowable force operating behind the scenes, as his agents wondered just who that manipulative bastard was who gave them their marching orders and saved them from certain death.

Well, readers? What's your counterpoint? Who is this Moon Knight, and why has he endured this long?

Moon Knight Reloaded: Counterpoint

Part 2 of 3: How do you solve a problem like the Moon Knight?

Villains. Moon Knight. This is an uphill climb. Still, Daredevil had pretty much nothing in the way of bad guys until Frank Miller stole Kingpin & Punisher away from Spidey and threw in a couple of hardcore assassins. What then can we steal for Moon Knight, who spent a lot of his career fighting a mercenary, a bunch of corrupt businessmen, and a werewolf?

Let's free associate. Moon...Knight...wolves howl at the moon...phases of the moon...moon sign, Sun sign, rising sign...knight to queen's bishop 4...Egypt...disguises...false faces...vengeance. Hmmm.

A vigilante who dealt vengeance on "criminals" with intense random violence. He was a crazy man, who only appeared during a full moon. He was...a LUNATIK.



But that was just one face, one phase, of a more complicated man. Another face was a suave sophisticated fellow, Harrison Turk.


But his true self was the evil wizard king Arisen Tyrk, arch-enemy of...the Man-Wolf.




Not bad for a start. We can do better. In Moon Knight's first solo story in Marvel Premiere, he fought the lame-ass "Conquer-Lord" (less said about him the better), who put him in a chessboard deathtrap. Let's remove everything from that last sentence except "chessboard." We can steal a page from Alpha Flight (who'd notice?) and bring in...the BRASS BISHOP and his CHESS SET.




Oh dear. They're a little TOO "Batman" don't you think? King Coal?! Overknight?! Its a wonder they didn't have a guy named Pawn Cocktail. We are getting closer though. It's nice to have MK go against a group, have him outnumbered, make him the underdog. Yes...a team. Ya know, for a guy who isn't supposed to play well with others, he did manage to be on two super-teams. First a cup of coffee with the Defenders. Then a brief stint with the West Coast Avengers.



Hey that's weird. He was on both teams just long enough to fight ZODIAC.

A-ha. now we're getting closer. Corrupt businessmen criminals, colorful outfits, ruled by the movements of the Sun and Moon. Now, all we need is someone to lead them. The world doesn't need another robot double of Nick Fury's brother though.

Fortunately, I have found another candidate. A real mastermind. Cruel and sadistic. Likes disguises. Always looking for vengeance on the world that created him. And best of all he looks like a GOD DAMN WEREWOLF.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you
the MAN-BEAST.




Man-Beast, or Super-Beast. The Bastard Son of Wundagore Mountain. Evolution gone wrong. Tough enough to go mano a mano with Thor and Adam Warlock. Smart enough to create an army of animal-men (say...aren't most of the Zodiac animals?). His first words were "I live...AND I HATE!"

But why lead the Zodiac? Why not? Look at this guy's history. Put all of his insane plans together and you've got a guy whose sole motivation is f*cking with people for the hell of it. He fancies himself the modern-day Satan (back when Warlock was the Counter-Earth Jesus). He disguised himself as the Hate-Monger for a whole year in the 70s, and why?! BECAUSE HE COULD. Don't believe me?



Ok, I admit it. My number one reason is still that he's a FRICKIN' WOLF MAN. Wolf man + Moon Knight = GOLD. You can't argue with science, folks.

Oh and what's that Egyptian deity with the head of a dog? Oh yeah, that's right: SET the Lord of Evil.

PS: Just to have some more Egyptian trappings around, steal OZYMANDIAS away from the X-Books.



Cheers. In part 3 we look at Moon Knight's "multiple personality" shtick and see if it's worth saving.

Moon Knight Reloaded: Counterpoint

Part 1 of 3: "Bite Me, Doc"



Adding more Batman trappings to Moon Knight? Is he gonna be a parody character forever?

There is one thing Doc and I are agreed on: Moon Knight is Old Testament. From Marc Spector's rabbinical dad to Khonshu the Egyptian god of vengeance, Moon Knight is all about an eye for an eye. This is how he can stand apart from the other street-level Marvels wandering New York City. He doesn't need colorful bank robbers, Spider-Man has that covered. He shouldn't be beating up mobsters, that's daredevil's job. Playing bodyguard for cash? There's at least 5 guys who've done the "Hero for Hire" bit. And the Punisher took all the guns.

Let the punishment fit the crime. With Moon Knight, killers get killed. Thieves have something precious taken from them. Combined with his crazy reputation, all the other Marvel heroes think he's that dude from "SAW."

That said, wreaking Mikado-like vengeance on petty criminals will get boring after a while. So this m.o. is just in the background. What epic battles should a Moon Knight have?

Quick, name as many Moon Knight villains as you can in 10 seconds.

Time's up. Right now you're amazed MK was ever popular. He's got fewer quality bad guys than Daredevil! He's gotten by for decades on a COLD look and Batman's gimmicks.

What are the building blocks of his rogue's gallery? In the next installment, we look into the past to find themes for the future...

Moon Knight Reloaded: The Moon Knight Family

Ok so me and Thad were talking and as often happens, a character comes up who we feel could use some working over. As usual Thad and I were of 2 diffent minds of how to do it so we are presenting our ideas here.

Here's Mine, The Moon Knight Family.

Moon Knight was basically created to be Marvel's Batman and I think there is nothing wrong with that. I just want to carry the idea as far as possible. He has the cool look but no real personality. He's Marvel's resident crazy guy. Like...all those other crazy guys...

I think he needs a stable of guys to help him on his mission and give him life. The same way Batman is energied by Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, Catwoman and Oracle.

He already has Alfred in the form of Frenchie and a slew of cool gadgets like the Moon Copter.

He needs a Nightwing and a Robin. I nominate Silver Sable and Darkhark.

He's had dealings with both and Sable proved her skills by being able to capture the Moon Knight once and setting him up to stand trial in some banana republic or some crap. Everyone likes Darkhawk too and I can't tell you why. He flies, throws stuff and has a funky amulet and a cool helmet. I think he reminds me of that masked rider guy from Team America (the comic, not the movie).

At this point he needs a Batgirl but I'm going away from the theme slightly by using the Ethos of Moon Knight himself. The instrument of the Egyptian God of vengeance needs a mummy but Marvel is lacking in decent mummies these days soooo, I'm giving him this guy:

Yes, it's Frankenstein's Monster and yes, he is choking out Iron Man. Good enough for me...

After that all the man needs is to fall in love with the absolute wrong kind of girl and he's done except for his villains which I'll let Thad suggest.

Here's the wrong kinda girl though:

He needs Sabra as a bad girl pal and I'll post some semi relevant stuff about her from the Marvel site, leaving out a bunch of stuff about her joining all this mutant stuff. She was much more interesting in Union Jack's limeted series.

Ruth Bat-Seraph is an Israeli national who, along with her family, was taken to
a special community by the Israeli government when her genetic mutation
manifested. Bat-Seraph was subsequently studied and eventually became a member
of the Mossad's Super-Agent program. A highly trained special operative and
police officer, which became her cover identity, Bat-Seraph has since lost her
first-born son in a Palestinian terrorist bombing.

I give you all the Moon Knight Family!