Customer Reviews

Essential Moon Knight, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
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Moon Knight is said to be Marvel's answer to Batman, though they're really not that similar. Yes, they both use modified helicopters from time to time, are rich in their secret identities, have capes, and no superpowers to speak of, but that about ends it. This collection picks up Moon Knight's first appearances in Werewolf By Night (as a bad guy who eventually turns good), then a couple of issues of Marvel Spotlight, two appearances with Spider-Man, and then it finally hits the good stuff.

The best Moon Knight stories were the ones buried in the back of The Incredible Hulk Magazine, a slightly popular attempt by Marvel to cash in on its television sensation when he was on the air. Why they put Moon Knight solo stories in the back I'll never understand, but I'm glad they did. Because the magazine was more geared toward an adult audience, the stories were sometimes gruesome and more gritty than the standard comics fare of the time. Granted, they aren't that shocking given today's comics, but at the time they were powerful. Moon Knight's story really develops best in these small solo tales. As a matter of fact, their inclusion was the prime motivating factor for me to buy this collection. I remembered the stories from when I was a kid, but due to the odd size of the Hulk Magazine, few collectors kept up with it, thus sending most of the stories into oblivion. Now they are back, and looking good. The collection is worth it just for those tales alone.

The collection closes out with Moon Knight's first limited series. Marvel did a good job with the character here, though they'd really put him through the wringer in his ongoing series years later. Fortunately, we're spared his embarrassing appearances in the West Coast Avengers stories. He always worked best as the gritty, silent fighter (yes, another comparison to Batman).

With the revival of the character in April 2006 just around the corner, this is a great way to get familiar with one of the better second-stringers Marvel has. I've always thought this character could have taken off if treated better. This Essential Collection is actually one of the few that lives up to the name. It really IS essential.

Moon Knight is an awesome character. He has so many dimensions and a lot of potential. The writers however seemed intent on not utilizing this potential as well as they could have. As I read each issue I wrote little mini-reviews of them and my thoughts on them. I also addressed things about the series as a whole that annoy me. It might sound like I hate it but while some of it is just plain bad I liked them enough to keep reading. I also wrote these for my blog so I tried to take a bit of a comedic approach when writing them.

Moon Knight rules and I am going to keep reading. I'm trying to read my way through volume 1 so I can start reading the 2 and 3rd series again where he really starts to shine.

Werewolf by Night #32-33 - This is the first comic he's ever appeared in. It features him as a villain at first and then later he redeems himself. This story is okay but since I had no interest in the Werewolf or any of his friends I found myself skimming till I got to the parts about Moon Knight. I also thought The Committee were lame villains.

Marvel Spotlight #28-29 - Here Moon Knight fights a guy named Conquer Lord. He gets all his dialogue from the book "What to Say if Your Evil". He's really lame and I found this story to be pretty stupid.

Spectacular Spider-Man #22-23 - I forgot what happened in these issues. I think Spider-man acts like a jerk and they fight some lame dude named Cyclone if I remember correctly.

Marvel Two-In-One #52 - Here he teams up with The Thing. They fight some dude named Crossfire. He's pretty lame, apparently someone Moon Knight knew before he was MK. Honestly in all these issues Moon Knight is pretty one dimensional. He has no depth to him he just flies around in a helicopter and acts like a rip off of Batman. We get to see his cross identities a bit which is what helped me like his character but he wasn't fully developed yet. Also may I add The Thing must be an idiot. He rides in a cab driven by Moon Knight's cabbie identity Jake Loceky all the way to the warehouse the bad guy is in. Moon Knight shows up inside and they beat the bad guy. Then he goes outside and Jake just happens to be there waiting for him. Hmmm he couldn't possibly be Moon Knight no way, all cabbies like to sit outside warehouses in bad parts of town for several hours, yes hours they get knocked out at one point.

Hulk Magazine #11-15, 17-18, and 20 - Here is where Moon Knight started to get good. It took some patience on my part to get this far but I did. The first story was a mystery that wasn't to bad. My main issue is it lasted way too long. However the second arc is where it really shined. The artwork got gritty and the story was just great. It profiled a serial killer who was obsessed with murdering nurses. It got inside the killers head and the plot twist is good, even if predictable. It explains more about Moon Knight's past. That was the kind of Moon Knight story I had been looking forward to.

Marvel Preview #21 - This one was about guys who have neural emitters in their brains that causes them to go psycho and their strength to increase. It's alright but too long and boring.

#1 - The origin is explained. Not a bad story. Bushman is a wicked villain but he gets captured a little too easily. The Khonshu aspect is neat but my problem lies in that they changed his origin later. In this story he is powerful according to the phases of the moon because he got bit by the werewolf in the first issue he's in. Later they changed it to when he dies he's brought back by Khonshu and gets his moon powers from that. They tried to keep the super natural elements, besides the werewolf, out of Moon Knight. It's not until many issues into his series that they even scrap the surface of it.

# 2 - The Slasher - Sounds interesting at first, it's about a killer who murders hobos and it turns into a mystery. It's fun for awhile but the bad writing really gets to me. It's like they had these great ideas and couldn't figure out how to do them. Anyways in this issue he randomly decides to tell everyone he's Moon Knight. Know how most heroes try to avoid that? Well not Moon Knight, hell no he tells everyone.

# 3 - Midnight Means Murder - Another cool cover with a stupid story. It's about an art collector who steals crap for cheap thrills. It also takes like 5 seconds to figure out who he really is. Then he gets shot with rubber bullets by Moon Knight's dumb girlfriend and falls into a river. Gee he's not coming back.

Speaking of his girlfriend let me touch on her for a second. Her names Marlene and guess what? Marc Spector*Moon Knight* was the reason her father was murdered. He was apart of a raid on an archeological dig for ancient Egyptian artifacts. Bushman and Marc's crew took everyone hostage and stole all their stuff. So Marlene's dad puts a gun to Bushman's head and Marc stops him. Then Bushman rips the guys jugular out with his teeth. So after seeing that you'd imagine Marlene might not like Marc very much. She acts like she's pissed off at him for like 5 minutes and then when Bushman dumps him in the desert and leaves him for dead after Marc disobeys him she feels bad for him. Then she becomes his girlfriend and always acts like she's horny for him all the time. A lot of sense that makes.

# 4 - A Committee of 5 - A bunch of assassins go after Moon Knight. He pissed off the Committee by jacking their money during the werewolf issue. They explain in this issue that Frenchie, Moon Knight's partner, is a member and he talked them into hiring Marc Spector for the job. He pretended he came up with the Moon Knight costume to trick them and that the whole thing was really just a big sting operation. Anyways the assassins suck and end up killing each other like morons. Also let me make a quick note that they love to make him look like he's in more peril then he really is on these covers.

# 5 - Ghost Story - Ghosts my ass. This is about some crazy bank robbers who end up getting double crossed by one of their mates. They chase him to his parents old house and end up getting messed with by the guys Mom. There's no ghosts in it at all despite the cool cover. It turns out to be a skeleton in a chair with a shotgun attached to a string that fires when you open a door, original...

# 6 - White Angels - Okay let me make a simple request for a moment here. For the love of god make a cover that reflects what happens in the story, it's not hard. They knew however if they did that no one would buy the issue because nothing interesting happens at all. The cover has a Skeleton hand, that's cool, Moon Knight getting his ass poked by a voodoo needle, and fire. There's none of that, not even fire. It's just a story about this asshole rich white guy who uses voodoo myths to scare a bunch of black people into helping him traffic heroine. It's funny they added these black kids into it as sidekicks so it doesn't appear racist. It also marks my final straw with characters need to announce everything they do as their doing it. I can see your reaching for your radio you don't need to say it out loud you moron.

# 7 - The Moon Kings - This was a two part story I actually liked, what a surprise. It's about these guys who poison the water supply in Chicago and the drug convinces everyone their on the moon. That's not all however, it also makes them see everyone around them as demons, called the Moon Kings I guess. Anyways the ring leader dresses up like a werewolf and convinces everyone that they're werewolves too. Then in the mean time he makes ransom demands. Moon Knight ends up getting poisoned and almost run over by a train.


# 8 - Night of the Wolves - Here's another cool cover that makes the story seem like it contains more then it really does. Anyways in the second part Frenchie has had the water and his girlfriend. Both of them go crazy. Marlene especially who gets tried of Moon Knights four personalities and wants to kill him. Honestly it surprises me the plan worked so well, I guess no one drinks bottled water in Chicago. Anyways Moon Knight gets attacked by Marlene and after dealing with her he takes out the ring leader in like 4 seconds cause the guy was a pussy. The story hardly does the cover justice, made it look like he goes nuts or something.

# 9 - Vengeance in Reprise - I both like and dislike this story. The parts of the story that play on Moon Knight losing it after trying to keep himself going with multiple personalities is cool but the Midnight Man returning part was lame and very Saturday morning. Bushman is in it too for like a second and he just goes "ha ha ha you'll never catch me Moon Knight" and runs off after springing a trap. But back to the part of the story I care about Moon Knight has four personalities.

Marc Spector, a mercenary for hire and who he was before Moon Knight, Steven Grant, a millionaire identity he uses to get himself into high brow places and to show why he has money, Jake Lockey, a cabbie who he dresses up as to get street info, and Moon Knight, which we can guess what he does. The issue I've always had with this is everyone calls him what they want to and he yells at them "Rawr I'm Jake Lockey now don't call me Steven". Like really does it matter you ass? And then he says all 3 live at the same address. Gee no one who knew Marc Spector before this is gonna figure out he's Steven Grant by looking at him. Also no ones gonna piece together that three guys who look a lot alike are all seen leaving the mansion separately and not together. Their also never seen together. There's actually a part in a later issue where he puts on a fake mustache and compliments himself on how much better his new disguise is, what a douche. I guess since he throws his secret identity around like it's nothing he doesn't need to worry.

Anyways back to the rest of the issue. Midnight Man steals Moon Knight's Khonshu statue and breaks it in front of him. This makes Moon Knight go nuts cause he thinks all his power lies in the statue, which makes no sense being as how he knew it was from the werewolf bite. Anyways it turns out the Midnight Man got deformed cause like a moron he stuck his face under a pipe leaking out toxic crap and now his face looks all saggy. So long story short it turns out Bushman hired Midnight Man to lure Moon Knight to a sewer chamber and then, here comes the plot twist, he betrays Midnight Man floods the chamber and leaves them all to die. Wow gripping.

# 10 - Too Many Midnights - This is the last issue in the book, and the last one I'm gonna do for now. It starts where the last one left off. Long story short, he escapes the chamber that's being flooded with water and goes crazy cause the statue was broken. He lives on the street for awhile, in his costume with no mask mind you, until some of his friends find him. Then he becomes mentally sane again after Marlene shows him a statue. She tells him it's the real one and the one the Midnight Man stole was made out of plaster. Which makes a lot of sense cause there's no way that asshole could have lifted that out of the mansion by himself. Then he asks her if she had the copy made after the real one was broken. That's really a stupid question cause that'd be pretty hard without any pictures of it or the real thing there as a scale reference. I might add though that he ran around with the head of the statue talking to it while he was crazy he didn't notice then it was a fake? What an idiot.

That's my issue by issue breakdown of this volume of Moon Knight. As I said before I love Moon Knight and while this volume isn't full of winners by any means and suffers from some pretty cheesy writing I still recommend it. It's a steal for the price too.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, there is a lot of sincere flattery in the arts. You need look no further than all the Da Vinci Code knockoff novels to know that once a winning formula is discovered, others jump on the bandwagon. In the comic book universe, Batman has always been one of the more successful characters, so it is not surprising that Marvel came up with their own take on the Caped Crusader. In fact, the only surprise seems to be that it took so long to occur, but when it did, they at least got it right: Moon Knight may have started as something of a Batman clone, but good writing made the character stand out on his own.

Originally introduced in Werewolf by Night as a hired hand for a crime organization called the Committee, Moon Knight soon switched over to hero status. The full origin would take years to relate (not until he got his own comic), but it involved mercenary Marc Spector being almost killed in the Egyptian desert. Through means that may or may not be supernatural, he came back from the brink of death in front of a moon god called Khonshu; Spector takes this as an omen and adopts his Moon Knight identity.

Actually, he adopts two more identities as well; Steven Grant the playboy millionaire and Jake Lockley the streetwise taxi driver. Using these multiple guises, he is able to play whatever role is necessary to fight crime. In the early issues, Moon Knight does not have any true nemesis on the scale of Dr. Doom or Lex Luthor, but he does have the Joker-like foe known as the Bushman. The Bushman may have a similar look to the Joker, but personality-wise, he is completely different, a sadistic criminal who has adopted his appearance to strike terror into his adversaries.

The similarities to Batman are obvious: both are masked heroes with a wealthy alter-ego who operate principally at night with no real superpowers. The differences, however, are also significant. Despite his seemingly split personalities, Moon Knight is a more well-adjusted person than his model, capable of having friends and a lover; unlike Batman, he finds crime fighting to be a crusade but not an obsession. Also, the adversaries Moon Knight faces are typically as human as he is; he doesn't contend with more bizarre characters like the Riddler or Penguin. (By the way, I'm not knocking Batman, just noting the differences).

This volume covers Moon Knight's early appearances and the first ten issues of his own comic. It's with his own comic that he really hits his stride, with stories that are gritty but usually not too grim. Doug Moench's writing is well-complemented by the art of Bill Sienkiewich, especially when Klaus Janson inks. I won't say every story in this collection is perfect, but there are also no clunkers: overall, this rates a high four-stars and is one of the more worthwhile Essentials books.

I discovered Moon Knight thanks to a good friend of mine in high school. I collected the 1989 series (which ran for 60 issues) and began working my way to collect issues from his previous two series. Still, I knew I would never be able to afford getting all the back issues. Years later, I have all but stopped collecting comics - when I heard that Marvel was planning to release an Essentials featuring Moon Knight. I jumped on ordering the book, and am very happy with my purchase.
It was really neat to follow this character mature from a minor adversary of the Werewolf by Night to a full-fledged Marvel superhero within the pages of this volume. Whether you are a new fan curious about the character, or an old fan looking to wax nostalgic, you are in for a treat. Plenty of great entertainment to be found in this Essentials collection. Highly recommended.

The good thing about this collection is that it not only has some of the classic Siekienwicz material (back when he drew in his Neal Adams style), but it also has some material that would be largely unknown by many readers today--the early material, including the Werewolf By Night appearances and the Spectacular Spider-Man appearances. There is some really good material included in this collection, and it is appropriately named, if you're a Moon Knight fan.

In the late 1970, Marvel was revamping its line. They were offering readers new and seconary stars in their own books...like such marvel characters Power man (Luke Cage), Iron Fist (started in their Fist of the Dragon magazine), The Punisher, Werewolf by Night, Dracula (Tomb of Dracula), Ghost Rider (started in Marvel Showcase), ROM, and even Howard the Duck


Most of these books, if bought today in the collector's comic book shops, would cost thousands. Marvel in an intelligent business move created the Essental series. A wonderful way to buy classic comic books in a black and white format (most over 500 pages) at a price you can afford. Some would rather have color, to those I suggest think of these as Black and White Classics uncolorized.

Moon Knight was a character created in the comic book Werewolf by Night by writer Doug Moench (who was also a writer for Batman in 1970s). This character seemed to be a Batman (DC comics character) clone. However it worked for Marvel.

Then Knight was a backup feature in Hulk magazine which is where Artist/writer Bill sinkiewicz took Moench work to the next level.. Later, the Knight Mythos was fully established in his own book. He may have seemed like Batman. However he wasn't-he had depth of his own. He was gritter than Batman.

This essential volume covers this beginnings of Moon Knight...in his guest appearance in Werewolf by Night and Spiderman, His back up feature in the Hulk Magazine to his own comic. Some of the reprint from the Hulk book seem grainy and dark--but still worth your time

I can't wait until volume two , that is when Sinkiewicz took over the writing and the art work.

This volume is a great collection

Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

Let me start by saying that i hate essential books because they are in black and white and i love great and colorful art and while i'm a huge comics fan i have a hard time reading alot of comics from the 70's because i find the stories too simple and lacking depth, i mean most story archs of that era were one or two issues so of course the stories weren't as deep back then, So really the only reason i picked this up was because i picked up a few recent Moon Knight trades and was pretty confused so i wanted to read up on his back story and boy i'm glad i did. Surprisingly i couldn't put this book down! The writing is excellent for its time, and i can't believe with stories this good that Moon Knight is still a B-List under rated character, who is just now getting some recognition. Several artists and writers contribute to this collection and they are all great.
The story collects the first ten issues of MK's first series and also his first appearances in Werewolf by Night, and also collects some rare stories printed in the Hulk magazine.
If you're looking to get into Moon Knight this is pretty much the only place to start. If you're not big into older comics, i still highly recommend this because the writing and art are great and i think the book is very dark and mature for its time. And if like me you don't like the black and white reprints, i still say give it a shot, the story makes up for no color.

this collection of moon knight's early adventures is a action packed read from start to finish. Its great to finally have them in one volume. cant wait for volume 2 where we get to see more magic from doug moench and denny oneil(of batman fame)

first off you get the first apperance of moon knight in werewolf by night number 32 from the 1970's..then all the hulk magazine stories,as well as the first 10 issues of the regular series..a great buy indeed.

ive always been a big fan of moon knight from the start..thru the 80s series..various specials, limited series, the 90's series..right up to the edgy new series... fantastic reading all around..

ill admit, at first i wasnt big on these collections because they were strictly black and white..but after seeing moon knight in black and white it worked..it gives the books a creepy,macabre feeling that works well for moon knight.. you also get the bio of moon knight from the handbook of the marvel universe as a bonus...not a bad way to spend 12.00 (thats what the guy at my comic shop charged me)

Moon knight is often compared to batman..and sure they are similar in context..but moon knight has his own flavor such as his bond with the god of the moon his love for marlene..his multiple identies..and who can forget his street informer..crawley? a classic !

some of the stories in moon knights career border on the supernatural, the occult, the occasional super villian, and some old fashoned detective stories..combined with tons of action, suspense, and other surprises along the way..great reading ahead..

marvel has also stated that a live action moon knight television series is being put into production. im excited about this..moon knight has so much potential..

i have these actual issues ive collected over the years..but this essential collection is a great deal..because sometimes id rather read this volume ,then handle my vintage books..

bottom line, if your new to moon knight and want the complete story..by all means check it out..you wont regret it. if your like me who wants to preserve your vintage books...this is a no brainer..

make mine marvel!

Adding to the ongoing "Essential" Marvel trade paperback series that reprints comics from the early issues of key titles, Moon Knight Essential features the work of Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz in a high point for both them and the Moon Knight character. The book reprints Moon Knight's first appearance in the highly sought after "Werewolf by Night" #32-33 and then continues on with his appearances in "Hulk" magazine which were later released with the 1980 ongoing Moon Knight series as special editions #1-3. The remainder of the book features issues #1-10 of the 1980 Moon Knight solo series, which explained the origin of not only Moon Knight, but also the necessity and circumstances giving rise to his four identities (Marc Spector, Steven Grant-Millionaire, Jake Lockley-Street Wise Cabbie/Informant, and Moon Knight). There's a brief interlude with a few issues devoted to a team-up with Spider-Man to fight Cyclone and the final issue of the reprinted series (#10) features the return of Bushman, Moon Knight's arch-nemesis from his mercenary days in Africa. With Marvel's 2006 re-release of the Moon Knight series this book is a great way to get up on character that for the most part was considered a long-standing member of the Marvel "B-List."

Moon Knight often receives criticism as the Marvel response to Batman, but Moon Knight proves to be a far more psychologically compelling character due to his ongoing struggle to balance his four competing identities and the ongoing ambiguity as to whether or not he actually receives power from an ancient Egyptian moon god, which he believes resurrected him.

Because the reprints are black and white reading can pose somewhat challenging at times especially when dark letters appear over a colored backgrounds. Overall a great read and for some, maybe an invitation to return to what was probably an overlooked yet dynamic character.

Yeah, It's a fun read. I TOTALLY agree with people who say MK is "Marvels Batman" but that doesn't mean it's not a good read (After all Batman is a good read too)
I remember the "Hulk Magazine" when I was a kid but I did NOT remember the artwork being so great!The only thing I didn't go for was that I LIKED the whole "Werwolf by Night" Origin. (He was cool) when they said that Frenchy (aka Alfred) was a member of the evil Commitee so MK could "Brilliantly" infiltrate it by revealing his secret Idenity I was just like..."huh?"
Anyway read it, take it for what it is...
Fun