MOON KNIGHT #1

“THE MACABRE MOON KNIGHT!”
Writer: Doug Moench | Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz | Inkers: Bill S. & Frank Springer
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski | Colorist: Bob Sharen | Editor: Denny O’Neil
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: The diabolical mercenary Bushman raids an archeological site in Egypt along with his second-in-command, Marc Spector. The lead archeologist is killed by Bushman, but Spector lets his daughter, Marlene, escape. Bushman exiles Spector into the desert as punishment and he apparently dies beneath a statue of Khonshu, the Egyptian God of Vengeance. But he awakens later that night as Marlene looks on, and adopts Khonshu’s visage to hunt Bushman. Bushman is beaten, but escapes.

In the following years, Spector amasses a fortune and assumes the identity of Steven Grant and then Jake Lockley, as well as that of Moon Knight. Then, in the present day, Bushman arrives in New York to work his way into organized crime. Moon Knight tracks him down with the intent to kill him, but Marlene convinces him to spare the villain and leave him for the police.

Continuity Notes: Issue 1 retroactively introduces the Egyptian backstory and the concept of Khonshu to Moon Knight. Going forward, these elements will be revisited and developed by Moench and succeeding writers.

MARVEL PREVIEW #21

“THE MIND THIEVES” | “VIPERS”
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Bill Sienkiewicz & Tom Palmer
Additional Inking: Bill Sienkiewicz & Dan Green | Colors: Steve Oliff*
Editor: Lynn Graeme

The Plot: (part 1) At Steven Grant’s mansion, Marc Spector receives a box containing a corpse. Moments later, the mansion is firebombed by a mystery assailant. Having recognized the corpse as that of an old CIA ally named Amos Lardner, Moon Knight travels to a CIA facility in Montreal where Spector and Lardner had spent some time together. There, Moon Knight tussles with the same bomber, who escapes.

The next day, Spector meets with the facility’s director, who informs him that Project Cobra, the CIA mind control initiative which had led to Spector’s resignation, was shut down and its overseer, Charles LeBlanc, quit as well and returned to Paris. Spector orders Marlene to book a flight to France for Frenchie and himself.

(part 2) In Paris, Moon Knight confronts LeBlanc but their conversation is interrupted by Amos Lardner’s brother, James. Moon Knight stops the younger Lardner from killing LeBlanc and chases him out of the building. With Marlene driving his car, Moon Knight pursues Lardner until both vehicles crash. Moon Knight, Marlene, and Lardner are taken away by LeBlanc’s men.

HULK! MAGAZINE #17, #18, & #20

”NIGHTS BORN TEN YEARS GONE” | “SHADOWS IN THE HEART OF THE CITY”
”A LONG WAY TO DAWN”
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Bill Sienkiewicz
Inks: Klaus Janson (#17-18) | Colors: Olyoptics® | Editor: Rick Marschall

The Plot: (issue 17) A serial killer called the “Hatchet Man” buys a hatchet and mask and murders a nurse, the ninth in a string. Jake Lockley learns that the latest victim had a note pinned to her body, threatening “Lisa and her lover” and realizes who the Hatchet Man is. Later, Steven Grant explains to Marlene that ten years ago Marc Spector found himself hunting an unstable fellow mercenary named Rand who killed a nurse. Spector beat Rand, but caused him some brain damage in the process.

Marlene insists on helping Moon Knight draw out the Hatchet Man and dresses as a nurse. She walks a path proscribed by Moon Knight and sure enough, the Hatchet Man assaults her. But the police arrive and open fire, winging Marlene. Hatchet Man escapes with her and Moon Knight gives chase into Central Park, where his quarry delivers a hatchet to Marlene’s back. As the Hatchet Man escapes, Moon Knight vows vengeance on him, invoking his real name: Randall Spector.

(issue 18) Leaving Marlene with the police, Moon Knight pursues his brother deeper into Central Park. Hatchet Man kills a wino and takes a nurse’s assistant hostage. Moon Knight saves her, but is injured in the process. Hatchet Man then escapes into a rocky ramble. Moon Knight unmasks himself to appeal to his brother, but the Hatchet Man charged madly at him. Unable to properly counter the attack due to his wound, Moon Knight dodges instead. Hatchet Man is impaled on a gnarled tree branch.

Moon Knight travels to the hospital, where he is informed that Marlene is in critical condition and may not survive the night.

HULK! MAGAZINE #15

“AN ECLIPSE, WANING” | ”AN ECLIPSE, WAXING”
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Bill Sienkiewicz & Bob McLeod
Colors: Steve Oliff | Editor: Rick Marschall

The Plot: (story 1) Steven Grant pays a visit to his friend Jason, an amateur astronomer, at Jason’s estate on the night of a total lunar eclipse. But as they prepare to view the eclipse, Grant catches sight of three hoods approaching the house. He excuses himself, changes to Moon Knight, and finds one of the thugs, incapacitating him, but is unable to locate the others. After a fruitless search, Moon Knight is knocked unconscious by a lumbering behemoth during the full eclipse. Eventually he comes around and returns to Jason’s home as Steven Grant.

(story 2) Bruce Banner has traveled to upstate New York to keep the Hulk away from populated areas on the night of the total lunar eclipse. But Banner unknowingly wanders into the grounds of an estate, where he comes across three men preparing to rob it. The men chase Banner into the woods but he transforms into the Hulk and takes two of them out. The third escapes and Hulk goes looking for him but instead, at the height of the full eclipse, he runs into a caped figure and slaps him unconscious, then walks on, pleased to see the moon returning to normal.

Continuity Notes: Grant notes that Marlene was unable to come to Jason’s because “…she's free to live her own life” and goes on to imply that she's on a date. Up to now we always saw Marlene lounging about in Grant’s bedroom, dressed and otherwise, and they were clearly a couple. But based on these thoughts, apparently they have what’s sometimes called an “open relationship”.

HULK! MAGAZINE #13 & #14

”THE BIG BLACKMAIL” | “COUNTDOWN TO DARK”
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Bill Sienkiewicz w/Bob McLeod (#14)
Colors: Steve Oliff | Editor: Rick Marschall

The Plot: (issue 13) In a framing sequence, the mysterious Lupinar is briefed on Moon Knight by his assistant, Smelt. Meanwhile, Steven Grant leaves to deliver $250,000 to the Chilean ambassador’s terrorist friends in exchange for the missing Horus statue. But first Grant changes to Jake Lockley and visits his contacts, Gena and Crawley, for information. Soon after, Moon Knight makes the exchange and then follows the terrorists to see them ambush an armored truck. Moon Knight switches to Marc Spector and aids the villains to ingratiate himself with them.

Elsewhere, the Mayor of New York City receives a ransom demand complete with the threat of nuclear attack. Spector realizes that the terrorists have stolen uranium from the truck. Before he can take any action, however, someone dressed as Moon Knight, working for Lupinar, appears, ready to expose Spector. And back at his headquarters, Lupinar is shown for the first time in full, revealed as a wolfman.

(issue 14) Spector tackles the ersatz Moon Knight and both are gunned down by the terrorists. The imposter is killed, but Spector plays possum and changes into costume. The terrorists split up, so Moon Knight hitches a ride atop one car while Frenchie follows the other. Eventually Moon Knight’s car takes him to Lupinar’s home, where Moon Knight confronts the villain. As the pair duels with fencing sabers, Frenchie calls the federal nuclear response team to recover the stolen plutonium from the terrorists he had followed. With his nuclear threat canceled, Lupinar impales himself upon Moon Knight’s blade.

HULK! MAGAZINE #11 & #12

”GRAVEN IMAGE OF DEATH!” | “EMBASSY OF FEAR!”
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Gene Colan & Tony Dezuniga (issue 11);
Keith Pollard, Frank Giacoia & Mike Esposito (issue 12)
Editor: Rick Marschall

The Plot: (issue 11) Moon Knight witnesses a murder, then becomes embroiled in a chase around the city involving a key stolen by the murderer, the hijacked taxi cab of Jake Lockley, and a statue of the Egyptian god, Horus, which has been replaced with a fake. Finally, Moon Knight’s investigation leads him back to the mansion of Joel Luxor, who was murdered earlier in the evening, and where Marlene is now at the mercy of Crane, Luxor’s ex-partner turned killer.

(issue 12) Moon Knight rescues Marlene, who’s been shot in the arm, from Crane. They fail to find the Horus statue, but learn that Chilean ambassador Alphonse Leroux has it. Days later, Steven Grant and Marlene attend a gala at the French embassy, where Grant introduces himself to Leroux and expresses interest in acquiring the statue. Leroux invites Grant to his embassy at midnight, but Moon Knight arrives first, learns Leroux is in league with terrorists, and disables Leroux’s guards. At midnight, Grant shows up and tells Leroux he will pay half a million dollars for Horus, but only on the condition that Moon Knight deliver the money to Leroux’s terrorist allies.

MOON KNIGHT: THE GUEST APPEARANCES

The MARVEL SPOTLIGHT stories were published in 1976. The HULK! magazine stories, which we’ll begin to cover next time, came out in 1978. But from 1977 – 1979, Moon Knight had a handful of appearances in other series, chronicled by writers other than his creator, Doug Moench. In a nutshell, these are those tales:

DEFENDERS #47 - 50
“NIGHT MOVES!” | “SINISTER SAVIOR!” | “RAMPAGE”
“SCORPIO MUST DIE!” | “A ROUND WITH THE RINGER!” (excerpt)
Writer: David Kraft | Penciler: Keith Giffen | Editor: Archie Goodwin

Co-Plot: Roger Slifer (#47) | Script: John Warner (#47)
Inks: Klaus Janson (#47 & 51), Dan Green (#48), Mike Royer (#49),
Keith Giffen w/Mike Royer, John Tartaglione, & Dave Cockrum (#50)
Letters: John Costanza (#47 & 50), Annette Kawecki (#48),
Irving Watanabe & Mike Royer (#49), Bruce Patterson (#51)
Colors: David Kraft (#48-49), Don Warfield (#50), Phil Rache (#51)

The Plot: Moon Knight becomes involved with the Defenders as they attempt to rescue their friend, Jack Norriss, from the clutches of the villainous Scorpio.

My Thoughts: I haven't read much by David Kraft, but I have at least read his run on the original SAVAGE SHE-HULK series. These issues read nothing like SHE-HULK, so I'm guessing that perhaps Kraft is emulating the style of previous DEFENDERS writers here (I've never read any of DEFENDERS outside of these five issues). The story is dark, the script is ponderous and the dialogue is occasionally unnatural. The characters, good and bad alike, all seem very disenfranchised with the world and even depressed and generally unhappy. This isn't typical Marvel "soap opera"-style angst -- it's the adventures of a bunch of mopey sad sacks. These are not fun comics, and I doubt I'll ever read them again.

(Also, what's with all the weird references to beer strewn throughout these issues?)

Artistically, Keith Giffen performs an acceptable Jack Kirby impression, but his work looks best when inked by Klaus Janson in a more traditional style. Also, Giffen seems to have misinterpreted Moon Knight’s ability to glide on his cape as the power of flight, showing him zooming around an enclosed room alongside Nighthawk several times.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #28 & #29

”THE CRUSHING OF CONQUER-LORD!” | “THE DEADLY GAMBIT OF CONQUER-LORD!”
Writer: Doug Moench | Artist: Don Perlin
Letterers: Irving Watanabe (#28) & Debra James (#29) | Colorist: Irene Vartanoff
Editor: Marv Wolfman

The Plot: (issue 28) Moon Knight thwarts a break-in in Manhattan, unaware that the thieves are a group of corrupt police working to frame the mayor for a man named Mr. Quinn, a.k.a. Conquer-Lord. A pair of cops find their defeated fellows and, unaware of their dishonest proclivities, believe Moon Knight has turned against the police.

After a run-in with the honest cops, Moon Knight begins to investigate the break-in further and learns that Quinn is looking to install his own puppet mayor via the upcoming election. Moon Knight changes to his secret identity of millionaire Steven Grant and, with his secretary Marlene, heads to a ball at the mayor’s mansion. But Conquer-Lord shows up as well. Grant changes to Moon Knight, but the villain uses Marlene as a hostage and escapes. Seconds later, a servant announces that the mayor has been shot.

(issue 29) Medics arrive to tend to the mayor, who was tagged by a stray bullet when Moon Knight thwarted Conquer-Lord’s assassination attempt. Frenchie flies Moon Knight back to Steven Grant’s mansion, where Grant finds his new valet, Merkins, spying on him for Conquer-Lord. Grant allows Merkins to escape, then follows him to Conquer-Lord’s hideout, where the villain has Marlene in a death trap. Moon Knight enters the building, takes out Conquer-Lord’s men, and defeats the villain himself, rescuing Marlene.

WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #32 & #33

”THE STALKER CALLED MOON KNIGHT!” | “WOLF-BEAST VS. MOON KNIGHT”
Writer: Doug Moench | Artists: Don Perlin & Howie Perlin
Letterers: Ray Holloway (#32) & Debra James (#33)
Colorists: Phil Rache (#32) & George Roussos (#33) | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: (issue 32) In Northern California, the werewolf, Jack Russell, is beaten within an inch of his life by the mysterious costumed Moon Knight. As they struggle, Russell flashes back to the chain of events which led him to this moment. Then, once more in the present, Moon Knight’s pilot Frenchie kidnaps Russell’s girlfriend and sister, while Moon Knight knocks the werewolf unconscious.

(issue 33) The werewolf comes around as Moon Knight ferries him back to the Committee, and another fight breaks out. But the sun rises and the werewolf reverts to Jack Russell, allowing Moon Knight to defeat him again. That night, the Committee observes Russell’s transformation into the werewolf and pays Moon Knight for his services. But Moon Knight takes pity on the werewolf and sets him free, and the pair takes out the Committee members. Moon Knight observes from a rooftop as the werewolf wanders away.

Continuity Notes: As this is the werewolf’s series, there are several references to his ongoing sub-plots to be found. Last issue he nearly killed a little girl and mauled his best friend, Buck, into a coma. Meanwhile, a Detective Northrop is on the way to Haiti with a lead on tracking down an ex-werewolf named Raymond Coker. And in Haiti, Coker, on the trail of a pack of zuvembies, is directed by a voodoo witch to seek out Jericho Drumm, a.k.a. Brother Voodoo. Also, apparently Jack’s girlfriend, Topaz, has latent psychic powers.

MOON KNIGHT: THE EARLY YEARS

In 1999, Marvel published a Moon Knight limited series entitled HIGH STRANGENESS (though the covers of all four issues mistakenly billed it as “HIGH STRANGERS”). The story was published weekly and I was in college at the time, branching out a bit in my Marvel reading, so I grabbed issue 1. I know I had heard of Moon Knight, but I really knew next to nothing about him. I liked his costume, though, and the series was drawn by Mark Texeira, an artist I appreciated.

Well, I was hooked immediately on the character as written in that story by his creator, Doug Moench. The funny thing is that now, having not read the mini-series in over a decade, I don’t really even remember the plot. But I fell for the trappings of Moon Knight more than the story: he’s an ex-soldier of fortune turned wealthy playboy with numerous secret identities, he resides in a sprawling mansion with his beautiful live-in girlfriend Marlene and his confidante/pilot, a fellow ex-merc named Frenchie, and he goes out at night in his stealth chopper to fight crime as the Moon’s Knight of Vengeance, to atone for his dark past.

In short, the guy is awesome.