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Moon Knight (2014) (Single Issues)
Moon Knight (2014-2015) #1
Marc Spector is Moon Knight!...Or is he? It's hard to tell these days, especially when New York's wildest vigilante protects the street with two-fisted justice and three--that's right, count 'em--different personalities! But even with the mystical force of Khonshu fueling his crusade, how does the night's greatest detective save a city that's as twisted as he is?
23 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 5, 2014
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,916 books5,775 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
March 10, 2014
I tweeted how I thought this was the best comic I've read in 2014. Here's why:
Warren Ellis' first Marvel launch in years. Usually, he goes for short runs and guesting stints. I hope he stays for a while on Moon Knight; I'm crossing my fingers for at least a year's worth of issues. His take on Moon Knight respects what came before and this first issue acknolwedges all of that as canon; from Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz's first series to the last one by Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev. Ellis takes all of that and integrates it well with a plausible explanation and potential plot point for the future.
The art is amazing. Declan Shalvey is a budding superstar, if he isn't yet already. The color by Jordie Bellaire also contributes to the overall storytelling which made this a total visual treat.
I have a feeling that this will be one of the most well-received comics this year so come aboard so you could say that you were in on from the start.
Warren Ellis' first Marvel launch in years. Usually, he goes for short runs and guesting stints. I hope he stays for a while on Moon Knight; I'm crossing my fingers for at least a year's worth of issues. His take on Moon Knight respects what came before and this first issue acknolwedges all of that as canon; from Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz's first series to the last one by Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev. Ellis takes all of that and integrates it well with a plausible explanation and potential plot point for the future.
The art is amazing. Declan Shalvey is a budding superstar, if he isn't yet already. The color by Jordie Bellaire also contributes to the overall storytelling which made this a total visual treat.
I have a feeling that this will be one of the most well-received comics this year so come aboard so you could say that you were in on from the start.
March 7, 2014
The legendary Warren Ellis begins his first ongoing series in years with a rebooted Moon Knight. Marc’s in New York and has ditched the hood and cloak for a more practical outfit to explore “weird crimes”. His first case – the psychotic former SHIELD agent turned modern day Ripper. Read the full review here!
September 22, 2016
"Daha önce öldüm. Sıkıcıydı, bende tekrar ayağa kalktım."
İddialı bir kahraman, değişik bir kurgu ve tatmin edici çizimler. Sanırım fiyasko gibi başlayan çizgi roman maceram yeni bir soluk kazanıyor. :D
November 24, 2014
boring/cliche, sad white dude feels. disappointing.
February 15, 2023
A breath of fresh air
May 21, 2022
Mr Knight is working with the police to find slasher who targeted healthy strong men at night.
The slasher is atypical as he select strong men and cut away pieces of them.
So Mr Knight go down the underground below the trains and the machines.
There he find the killer, un-remorseful of his doing and deal with him so he would not hurt again.
The slasher is atypical as he select strong men and cut away pieces of them.
So Mr Knight go down the underground below the trains and the machines.
There he find the killer, un-remorseful of his doing and deal with him so he would not hurt again.
October 28, 2015
Warren Ellis nailed one of my favorite comic characters. The mood of Moon Knight is exactly what you want from a weird dude who worships a long dead Deity. Ellis' take on Marc Spector was fresh.
July 4, 2023
abimiz çatlak baya
December 23, 2014
A much darker take than the Bendis run, Ellis morphs Moon Knight into a kind of Deadpool without the silliness. Whereas Bendis kept the character dark in a Daredevil, well-intentioned but cursed kind of way, Ellis goes all, "I've died before." This installment lacks the development of an arc, but works more as little vignettes to get you reacquainted.
July 20, 2015
Not sure how I feel about this. I guess I liked it, but I don't know the character that well. He seemed a little bit too cliche "ott white man angst" for my tastes. I do love the noir feel they've chosen for this, it's just a shame that there isn't an engaging overarching plot.
September 19, 2015
I wouldn't start with this one. There must be better books for people who are new to this character. This was missing something. The character idea was cool, and I liked the art, but the stories were too short and easily resolved.
November 8, 2014
Best moon knight since fist of Khonshu in the 80's. I have been waiting for someone to pick this character up and treat him right. This book does that!
July 3, 2015
I liked it more then people said I would.
July 29, 2015
NOt my usual choice in graphic novel, but it caught my attention and held it. Want to see more of what the knight can do.
November 10, 2019
"I've died before. It was boring, so I stood up."
May 17, 2014
Well-crafted superhero and crime comics! Highly recommended.
March 20, 2022
I'm rereading some of my favorite Moon Knight runs before the series starts up, and while this is a really solid entry, my favorites are still the Lemire and McKay runs, hands down. Ellis usually tells a good tale, though, and he certainly doesn't let down here, although he does turn Moon Knight into a Batman type of character. Even the 'haha, he's crazy' gags are faintly reminiscent of the 'Batman's crazy, right' type storylines, although the 'he's crazy' comments aren't the full extent.
He drives a white Limo with a vanity plate that is his last name - well, Marc's last name - which is a tad too on the nose, but Marc is definitely flaunting his wealth here. The rich white man as a vigilante. Later on, as I've read three issues away from wi-fi, I know there will be drones, etc, so the toys that Batman has.
And then he works with the police, with some squabbles as to if they should be working with him and the higher up quashing dissent, and acting as a Commissioner Gordon type character for the moment, and calling in Moon Knight - sorry, Mr. Knight to get around rules - when he has a case he thinks Moon Knight can help on.
Except this version of the Batman mythos is in fact mentally ill; there is even video referenced where he's arguing with Wolverine, Captain American and Spider-Man - who aren't there, just empty space he's yelling into. And he's an ex-mercenary who's looking for redemption, so disporportionate violence and even killing aren't exactly off the table for him.
So, yeah, the story wasn't about that, though, it was about an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D agent who was denied health care after he was harmed on mission - and how it drove him to save himself even at the expense of others, others who had healthy bodies but chose not to serve their country or actively seek out military service. It was a really good setup: the main story was short enough to naturally go over where Moon Knight's been, who he is, and set up this story and take care of it quickly.
I'm eager to finish the rest of this series.
He drives a white Limo with a vanity plate that is his last name - well, Marc's last name - which is a tad too on the nose, but Marc is definitely flaunting his wealth here. The rich white man as a vigilante. Later on, as I've read three issues away from wi-fi, I know there will be drones, etc, so the toys that Batman has.
And then he works with the police, with some squabbles as to if they should be working with him and the higher up quashing dissent, and acting as a Commissioner Gordon type character for the moment, and calling in Moon Knight - sorry, Mr. Knight to get around rules - when he has a case he thinks Moon Knight can help on.
Except this version of the Batman mythos is in fact mentally ill; there is even video referenced where he's arguing with Wolverine, Captain American and Spider-Man - who aren't there, just empty space he's yelling into. And he's an ex-mercenary who's looking for redemption, so disporportionate violence and even killing aren't exactly off the table for him.
So, yeah, the story wasn't about that, though, it was about an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D agent who was denied health care after he was harmed on mission - and how it drove him to save himself even at the expense of others, others who had healthy bodies but chose not to serve their country or actively seek out military service. It was a really good setup: the main story was short enough to naturally go over where Moon Knight's been, who he is, and set up this story and take care of it quickly.
I'm eager to finish the rest of this series.
July 24, 2018
I would give this issue 3.5 stars - this wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be, but I am willing to try a few more issues before I give up on this storyline. I am not enjoying the artwork at all, but the concept of the plot is intriguing.
comics
May 17, 2022I’m not a huge fan of the art style yet but I do like how Mr. Knight stands in complete contrast to anything else going on in these panels. I am quite intrigued by this plot and character though so I’m excited to keep reading.
January 14, 2019
This is my first dip into Moon Knight and I like him just fine. They keep saying he’s insane but coming off Cosmic Ghost Rider he seems pretty tame. Hard nosed, street level stories here.
March 18, 2022
The explanation of what's going on with Marc's brain is pretty wild. Also love the image at the end with the bird skull and whatnot.
November 18, 2023
Só confirma que dificuldade de diagnóstico, erro de diagnóstico, e a necessidade que a gente tem de ir a vários especialistas pra fechar um diagnóstico é universal.
June 25, 2024
It was good.
October 20, 2024
First time reading this run, issue one was fantastic! Well written and drawn! Interested to see where this goes! Highly recommend!
March 13, 2024
“ive died before. it was boring, so i stood up.”
March 21, 2014
Moon Knight is one of my favorite Marvel characters, and Warren Ellis is one of my favorite comic book writers. So the idea of getting a new Moonie (familiar name for Moon Knight) collection by Warren Ellis had me really excited, especially when the last one by Michael Bendis was bad enough for me to quit in number 6, and it ended up cancelled at number 12.
What Warren Ellis did with the character pissed me off as a fan, but I have to review it from a less personal point of view. Ellis is a very idiosyncratic writer, and when he works with existing characters, he normally tries to make them his own. Examples of that are his 90s runs on Excalibur and Thor, Nextwave or above all his amazing work in Doom 2099, and he does the same here. The problem is that I don’t like his changes here.
To begin, he gets rid of the classic Moon Knight costume and has him wearing a white 3 piece suit with a white hood. That’s a staple of Ellis; previous examples of suit wearing characters are Excalibur’s Peter Wisdom, The Authority’s Jack Hawksmoor and Planetary’s Elijah Snow. This looks like a mix of Snow and Hawksmoor. It looks nice, but it takes away a bit of the Knight’s identity.
He also gets rid of his mental issues. Marc Spector is a sane man now, but with a lot of problems inside his head, just not the ones that he expected. That ties with the twist at the end of the issue.
Spector doesn’t have a team or anyone to help him (well, to be honest he was like that in the previous series too) except a computer AI. It all feels a bit off for this character, but he’s still filthy rich with a penchant for danger.
The first issue is a reintroduction of the character, back to the streets of NY in a less superheroic role and more as if he was a “weird crime” detective. (In the Bendis series, he moved to L.A. What’s with Marvel characters bouncing from coast to coast? Recently, Punisher and Daredevil went to L.A. and San Francisco and Moon Knight returned to NY). It feels like Ellis was channeling his series Fell into Moon Knight.
We get to know a few characters, most importantly Detective Flint, who works in the Freak crimes squad and who feels like a real misstep for Ellis, not because it’s a bad character (can’t say with just one issue), but because for a superhero that tries to get away from being a Batman clone, creating a new character that is a mix of Batman’s Gordon and Bullock feels wrong. I don’t want to see Moon Knight in cahoots with the police, giving them master classes in a back alley. That’s exactly what we get, because as all Ellis’ characters, this Moon Knight is a show off.
Being a cocky bigmouth show off is pretty much an auteur sign for Ellis, but there are moments here that might make your eyes roll, like having him go around in a white limo with custom plates with his name and a moon symbol. One thing is that he dresses all in white for everyone to see him coming, but he also has to carry a huge tuna can with his name?
Anyway, he solves the case which really didn’t make much sense (how could that guy work the body parts on himself without any previous knowledge? come on Ellis, do some work!). Then things get interesting (major SPOILERS ahead). Spector goes to see his shrink who tells him he never had an identity disorder, and that it was all a coping mechanism of his brain to deal with brain damage caused by whatever entity brought him back to life by nesting on his head and that he has been colonized by an extraterrestrial being. This confronts him in the very last panel in a strange and ironic piece that leaves you wanting to read the rest of the conversation.
Declan Shalvey is sidelined by Ellis, sadly that is natural and tends to happen with those superstar writers, but his art is good, dark enough for the kind of stories that this comic will have, and the last pages with a less realistic tone show him stretching his drawing muscle and doing it quite well. Sadly, due to the permanent night setting, most colors are murky, but the drapery Moon Knight shines there, and as much as I’m not a fan of the art, he’s a striking character here.
This is not what I expected. It is weighed down by a few of Ellis’ trappings (He starts once again a comic with a ton of exposition given by phone/internet chatter, something he does A LOT…thanks killik for bringing that to my attention), but the same writing is what sets it apart from most comics, and it’s miles ahead of the first issue from the last Bendis Moon Knight collection.
I just hope the costume will be back and that Marc Spector will still be using his several identities from the past.
What Warren Ellis did with the character pissed me off as a fan, but I have to review it from a less personal point of view. Ellis is a very idiosyncratic writer, and when he works with existing characters, he normally tries to make them his own. Examples of that are his 90s runs on Excalibur and Thor, Nextwave or above all his amazing work in Doom 2099, and he does the same here. The problem is that I don’t like his changes here.
To begin, he gets rid of the classic Moon Knight costume and has him wearing a white 3 piece suit with a white hood. That’s a staple of Ellis; previous examples of suit wearing characters are Excalibur’s Peter Wisdom, The Authority’s Jack Hawksmoor and Planetary’s Elijah Snow. This looks like a mix of Snow and Hawksmoor. It looks nice, but it takes away a bit of the Knight’s identity.
He also gets rid of his mental issues. Marc Spector is a sane man now, but with a lot of problems inside his head, just not the ones that he expected. That ties with the twist at the end of the issue.
Spector doesn’t have a team or anyone to help him (well, to be honest he was like that in the previous series too) except a computer AI. It all feels a bit off for this character, but he’s still filthy rich with a penchant for danger.
The first issue is a reintroduction of the character, back to the streets of NY in a less superheroic role and more as if he was a “weird crime” detective. (In the Bendis series, he moved to L.A. What’s with Marvel characters bouncing from coast to coast? Recently, Punisher and Daredevil went to L.A. and San Francisco and Moon Knight returned to NY). It feels like Ellis was channeling his series Fell into Moon Knight.
We get to know a few characters, most importantly Detective Flint, who works in the Freak crimes squad and who feels like a real misstep for Ellis, not because it’s a bad character (can’t say with just one issue), but because for a superhero that tries to get away from being a Batman clone, creating a new character that is a mix of Batman’s Gordon and Bullock feels wrong. I don’t want to see Moon Knight in cahoots with the police, giving them master classes in a back alley. That’s exactly what we get, because as all Ellis’ characters, this Moon Knight is a show off.
Being a cocky bigmouth show off is pretty much an auteur sign for Ellis, but there are moments here that might make your eyes roll, like having him go around in a white limo with custom plates with his name and a moon symbol. One thing is that he dresses all in white for everyone to see him coming, but he also has to carry a huge tuna can with his name?
Anyway, he solves the case which really didn’t make much sense (how could that guy work the body parts on himself without any previous knowledge? come on Ellis, do some work!). Then things get interesting (major SPOILERS ahead). Spector goes to see his shrink who tells him he never had an identity disorder, and that it was all a coping mechanism of his brain to deal with brain damage caused by whatever entity brought him back to life by nesting on his head and that he has been colonized by an extraterrestrial being. This confronts him in the very last panel in a strange and ironic piece that leaves you wanting to read the rest of the conversation.
Declan Shalvey is sidelined by Ellis, sadly that is natural and tends to happen with those superstar writers, but his art is good, dark enough for the kind of stories that this comic will have, and the last pages with a less realistic tone show him stretching his drawing muscle and doing it quite well. Sadly, due to the permanent night setting, most colors are murky, but the drapery Moon Knight shines there, and as much as I’m not a fan of the art, he’s a striking character here.
This is not what I expected. It is weighed down by a few of Ellis’ trappings (He starts once again a comic with a ton of exposition given by phone/internet chatter, something he does A LOT…thanks killik for bringing that to my attention), but the same writing is what sets it apart from most comics, and it’s miles ahead of the first issue from the last Bendis Moon Knight collection.
I just hope the costume will be back and that Marc Spector will still be using his several identities from the past.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2025
Good, needed more though
January 3, 2015
Kate recommended Moon Knight to me as amazing. I think she had read previous incarnations of Moon Knight(?) and I have not so therein lies the difference. I liked Moon Knight a lot but I don't know if it's amazing exactly.
Moon Knight is pretty gorey at times (meh), and I think there's a lot of back story there that we're missing. I'm a person who really enjoys exposition in a story, mainly because I'm bad at figuring anything out ever, so for a person who likes a little more mystery, then this is good. Or for people who already know what's going on with Moon Knight!
The art in Moon Knight is pretty okay. It's kind of halfway stylized enough for me. I'm not a big fan of superhero art for the most part because it's pretty boring and Moon Knight is visually paced more like a regular superhero but the drawings themselves were more stylized so it balanced out to neutral.
Story-wise this was pretty much six self-contained plots, so no cliffhangers which is pretty okay. I bet it was nice when you were getting it in singles! So there's that. They were pretty striaght-forward killin' dem bad guys stuff. Nothing suuuuuper fancy.
I would buy another one of these, or maybe a bunch of trades on FCBD when my store has everything half price. But I don't think I'm adding it to my subscription list. (This is mainly because my husband already told me I have to cut it out with the adding things to my subscription list and spending 150$ a month on comic books already. What a scrooge.)
Moon Knight is pretty gorey at times (meh), and I think there's a lot of back story there that we're missing. I'm a person who really enjoys exposition in a story, mainly because I'm bad at figuring anything out ever, so for a person who likes a little more mystery, then this is good. Or for people who already know what's going on with Moon Knight!
The art in Moon Knight is pretty okay. It's kind of halfway stylized enough for me. I'm not a big fan of superhero art for the most part because it's pretty boring and Moon Knight is visually paced more like a regular superhero but the drawings themselves were more stylized so it balanced out to neutral.
Story-wise this was pretty much six self-contained plots, so no cliffhangers which is pretty okay. I bet it was nice when you were getting it in singles! So there's that. They were pretty striaght-forward killin' dem bad guys stuff. Nothing suuuuuper fancy.
I would buy another one of these, or maybe a bunch of trades on FCBD when my store has everything half price. But I don't think I'm adding it to my subscription list. (This is mainly because my husband already told me I have to cut it out with the adding things to my subscription list and spending 150$ a month on comic books already. What a scrooge.)
May 21, 2022
Moon Knight is a new to me character and I wanted to get a little insight while watching the tv show, so I decided to pick up this run of the comics. It's so good and dark, much different than most of the Marvel comics I've read. I like getting to explore this side more, and definitely felt some of this book being expressed in the show. Very excited to read more and actually use my Marvel Unlimited account.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews