Vengeance of the Moon Knight: Shock and Awe

Vengeance of the Moon Knight

by Gregg Hurwitz

Moon Knight is back in the Big Apple and looking to pick a fight with the man who chased him out of town in the first place: Norman Osborn. Freed of his demons and armed with an arsenal of incredible new weapons, Moon Knight is finally the hero he always aspired to be - taking out criminals with massive flair and throwing down the gauntlet to his old nemesis. Is Osborn ready for Round Two?

Collecting: Vengeance of Moon Knight 1-6

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Fantasy

Paperback

First published July 21, 2010

About the author

Gregg Hurwitz is the critically acclaimed, New York Times and internationally bestselling author of 20 novels, including OUT OF THE DARK (2019). His novels have been shortlisted for numerous literary awards, graced top ten lists, and have been published in 30 languages.

He is also a New York Times Bestselling comic book writer, having penned stories for Marvel (Wolverine, Punisher) and DC (Batman, Penguin). Additionally, he’s written screenplays for or sold spec scripts to many of the major studios, and written, developed, and produced television for various networks. Gregg resides in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Vengeance of the Moon Knight is a mini-series that picks up directly after the events of Moon Knight, Volume 5: Down South and takes Marc Spector (now going by his alternate personality, Jake Lockley) back to his more heroic roots.
Read: no maiming, torturing, or killing the bad guys.
Hey, cut the guy some slack. He's got a bloodthirsty Egyptian god whispering in his ear!



He's still a wanted man due to his falling out with S.H.I.E.L.D. over the misuse of his SRA card, and of course, Norman Osborn is still stewing that he got away from his Thunderbolts. The cops don't know what to make of this new and improved Moon Knight, but they seem to be reluctantly willing to give him a chance. Osborn? Not so much.

So who do you send to track down a lunatic vigilante?
An even bigger lunatic.

And when Sentry fails to bring him in, Osborn goes to the mutant, Profile, to get results. But the fact that Marc/Lockley has multiple personalities makes him harder to read than your average person, so Profile's attempts end up having mixed results.
Still, due to some spoilery shit, Bushman is back!

And he's not the only familiar face to return, although, he is the only one back from the dead. Frenchie, Ray, Crawley, and (of course) Marlene are all sucked back into Lockley's life. They want to blame Spector for it but, the truth is, they are all a bit mad themselves...



This may not be the best Moon Knight story I've read, but it is certainly a more than adequate addition to the character's mythos. I'm very much looking forward to reading the conclusion to this and finding out what happens next!



Recommended for fans of Moon Knight!

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moon Knight is back in New York after faking his death in the previous series. This is a direct sequel to that series. He's still using his Jake Lockley persona. His fighting style has changed. He's less out for blood and more Batman like, with a lot of cool new gadgets. He repeatedly tells Khonshu to take a hike when he appears. Norman Osborn is pissed so they resurrect an old nemesis to sick on him. I really liked this new incarnation of Moon Knight. It makes more sense that he wouldn't maim and mutilate criminals. Jerome Opena's art is fantastic.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more my style! So yes, yet another Moon Knight book, I honestly can't get enough of this guy! Overall this a pretty standard moon knight series but I think its written pretty decent. Artwork has this very dirty look to it which I think works for this series, that's the nice thing about Moon Knight is that since he's had so many creative teams work on him, the artwork 9/10 times usually fits. Also we actually see Moon Knight interact with other heroes which I thought was executed very well, especially during the time of the Dark Reign line of comics, it kind of reminded me of the Dark Knight Returns comics, in how you see Moon Knight bounce off of other heroes!

[Jaye Berry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moon Knight is back in NYC and now has a code where he doesn't kill or otherwise maim bad guys. He has his mind under control even with his god acting like an insect telling him to kill.

I wasn't a fan. I've read worse comics and Moon Knight runs in general that were awful but this just goes to the stack of "pretty meh shit". A lot of this was just nonsense and not in the good way I like this character to do. It was more like the plot was very thin and poorly done. The confusing art especially during action scenes just had me going ???? A bunch of dudes brought Moon Knight's arch-enemy back to life so he can kill Moon Knight. Then they break into an insane asylum and get all the inmates to fight for them and it was so dumb like why are they doing any of this? Why is any of this.

I liked Spider-man coming in but oh man he really shows up in everyone's comics. Also pretty wild Marvel has a scarecrow too go off. This one wasn't nearly as interesting and the squad of bad guys was also confusing because there were so many that all appeared at once like who are you???

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5
Individual issues rated below -

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1: 3.5/5
Vengeance of the Moon Knight #2: 3/5
Vengeance of the Moon Knight #3: 2/5
Vengeance of the Moon Knight #4: 1.5/5
Vengeance of the Moon Knight #5: 2.5/5
Vengeance of the Moon Knight #6: 4/5

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

High volume sanity and lawfulness!?! From Moon Knight?!? Yes and it still rocks!!

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pacing was odd sometimes and it flowed really weird during some of the fights. It felt a little choppy sometimes. Other than that the art was nice and the story was good enough.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded to 3 stars

Vengeance of the Moon Knight Vol. 1 Shock and Awe collects issues 1-6 of the Marvel Comics series written by Gregg Hurwitz, art by Jerome Opeña, and colors by Paul Mounts and Dan Brown.

Moon Knight is back from the dead with a new outlook on life and a ton of high tech gadgets. No longer listening to Khonshu’s brutal directives, he instead takes the path of a more “normal” vigilante. Heroes are slow to embrace this new Moon Knight, not believing he has changed and Norman Osborne, leader of the Dark Avengers and H.A.M.M.E.R., is furious, resurrecting Moon Knight’s longtime foe Raul Bushman to take him out.

I thought it was an interesting premise but turns out a less brutal Moon Knight with more gadgets who doesn’t listen to Khonshu is just Batman.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt more superheroish. Moon knight back but refusing to kill. Bushmaster return. Lots of fighting. Some a ton of fun, some confusing. New MK suit was sick. Ending wad lackluster. Overall uneven but fun. Not as good as last two volumes.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this volume we see Moon Knight attempting to regain his sanity and toning down the violence. Rather than killing and maiming, he becomes more like Batman and just beats the bad guys up and sends them to the cops. Personally I liked him better than he was crazier, but this was still a good volume. We get to see Bushman return from the dead and assemble an army of psychos from Ravencroft Asylum (including the Scarecrow) in an attempt to take Moon Knight out.

The art was good as well even though I wasn't familiar with the artist.

I'm a huge Moon Knight fan, and this was a good volume starring the character.

[Jithin S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm new to this character called Moon Knight. The comics has a bit of a dark shade, not much. Moon Knight seems basically Marvel's take at Batman with a darker background, some superpower, an 'Alfred' and cool gadgets, minus the 'no killing' policy. Well, in this story he is getting to the 'no killing' policy, even a 'not a single drop of blood to be shed' policy to be accurate, and his biggest challenge is his reanimated nemesis who he had previously brutally murdered. Well, it was entertaining.

[Otherwyrld · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only have vague recollections of reading previous Moonknight but that's okay, because this is a reintroduction of the character which doesn't really require any previous knowledge as you learn all you need to know in this story. The supernatural elements in the story turn this away from a Marvel version of Batman to something that's a bit more intense and weird, especially as Moonknight struggles with the dark side of his psyche that manifests itself as an ancient Egyptian god. I enjoyed the cameos from Spider-Man and the Sentry as well, and the art was good.

[Viola · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

The story's nothing special but Moon Knight is very cool.

[Bekka · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting one, but I would have liked a bit more of the fall out of Osborn finding out that Moon Knight was back. Other than that, I did enjoy seeing Marc try to ignore his more violent urges, as well as Khonshu.
TW for violence, homophobia, sexism, blood, hints at drugs/hints at attempted rape.

[Evan Boyette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iconic

[Terry Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would be easy to take a character like Moon Knight, one with a very rigid character identity, and not want to stray too far. Many writers would toy with the notions of the character enough that they get lauded for being "daring", and quickly return to the blueprints.

What I enjoy most about this opening arc is that the creative duo "dares" to change the character, and find a way to keep him interesting.

This is an exciting book, that understand that action set pieces need not crowd the story, but allow it to advance when it needs it to its part.

[ila · Rating 3 out of 5]

this volume is very character-driven, which is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're writing about an interesting character such as moon knight
the identity of Jake Lockley is fronting the entire time and, as a rule, when he's in costume he decides to no longer kill criminals
i liked how he managed to stay pretty much stable despite struggling with those hallucinations of Konshu (which, by the way, i think were drawn incredibly well! they felt very menacing and creepy)
however, i think that Bushman's fight with mk went by way too quickly and didn't really feel cathartic enough; after all, we're talking about the thing that probably torments the protagonist the most and it felt like they didn't give enough time to truly reflect the impact it has on Jake's psyche

[Max's Comic Reviews and Lists · Rating 2 out of 5]

Madness Returns
Aight my second to last stop on my journey through the world of Moon Knight. This is one of the more popular runs. It tells the story about Marc Spector returning as Moon Knight after his death in the previous Moon Knight title. For the first 3 issues I couldn’t really get into it. There was no focus, clichéd plot lines were everywhere, the art was okay at best, and Khonshu was reduced to the Joker from Arkham Knight. Kill kill kill kill!!!!;!!::&/&/&@/&:. That’s not what Khonshu’s character is all about. But now I see where they got the bird skull thing. Even the goddamn Sentry is teased in the book but but does jack shit for about 4 panels. So ya for about 3 issues or so I was bored shitless. BUT issue 4 came around the book became a non stop action fest. They of course bring characters back and it’s interesting enough, but in the end it really is just action being thrown at you for 3 more issues. Never the less I enjoyed it. The underwear scene is amazing as well. The new Moon Knight suit is pretty dope. I wasn’t on board at first but now I don’t mind the look and concept of it so much. OH YA! Something that was soooo fuckin blatant was the scarecrow knock off. My god you couldn’t have been worse at creating an original look for a character. There was a part in the book where Hurwitz tries to write dialogue for teenagers at a skate park....what the fuck dude. It’s the cringiest shit EVER! And one more thing that I actually liked. Frenchie in one scene reflects on his life as a mercenary. It’s pretty deep because he compares him self to Raoul Bushman. Marc Spector also has a scene like this where he watches a tape about one of his victims.

In the end this book was fine. I didn’t love it. It took 3 issues to get into and when I finally did get interested, there wasn’t really any substance to what was going on. The action was bad-ass. I gotta admit that and the art also improved in my eyes after issue 3. If you don’t care about a deeper more compelling Moon Knight story and just want to see him beat the shit outta dudes, then Boom. Here’s the book. Letter Grade: (C+)

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Moon Knight ever since I first saw him in a Punisher comic. There are similarities to Batman, but the Egyptian motif and multiple personality disorder make him interesting in his own right.

This book is a reboot of the series, so it can be friendly to newcomers. However, there are a couple characters that fans will know immediately that don't get a lot of introduction here. The references to traditional Moon Knight allies and enemies is quite nice. Gregg Hurwitz seems to know the character well.

Moon Knight returns to New York, shedding his main personality and crime fighting style. His internal struggle over this decision is fun to watch play out, especially with the appearances of Khonshu. The appearance of Raoul Bushman strains Moon Knight's decision not to kill any more (the book explains the animosity between the two). The ending was fitting and sets up the next portion of the series.

[Γιώργος Μπελαούρης · Rating 5 out of 5]

i like this knoshu, tiny and weird, and by the end huge and menacing
lunatics, zombies and a moon knight who tries to be by the book?
what is there not to love?
also spidey is in this one
the action and the artwork are amazing too

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing startlingly new here, just classic Moon Knight lunacy!

I dug it!

[Simon Fletcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do we really have to have Moon Knights origin story shoehorned in to yet another story arc?
Some interesting ideas but could have been better.

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a relief after the monotony of the previous series, with its mostly go-nowhere look at Marc's uncomfortable relationship with violence and Khonshu. This series sees Marc fully focused on redeeming himself as a proper hero, and it's hard not to read into it an effort by Marvel to redeem the character by hitting undo on The Bottom.

Some say this is the series that really solidified the comparisons to Batman. This is a properly heroic Moon Knight of limitless funding and technology, with his butler, his secret hideout, his high tech aircraft, his grappling guns... He even fights the Scarecrow. The comparison does seem especially unavoidable, but still the vibe between characters is very different. Mooney is not the brooding but self-assured detective moving within a cloud of mystery and superiority; he's riddled with guilt, fixated on his need to prove himself as a good hero and a decent man, and not above stopping to complain to Spider-Man about how he's looked down upon. Moon Knight operates in a Batmanic fashion, but he still gives off the big B-list energy—a hero struggling with himself.

I give this a four because it was an enjoyable read, a relief after what came before, and it presented a version of the character I liked more than most of the modern takes. That's perhaps a generous rating though, because this so clearly could never be a five-star book, it's too obviously flawed and lacking in areas. It's probably about a 3.5, but an especially enjoyable one.

Issues:
• For some reason this is a complaint that seems to follow Moon Knight across quite a number of artists: the art is often not successful in conveying action clearly. What angle are we looking at? Is he on the ground or is the other guy on the ground? Why did that guy behind him just fall over like something hit him?

• Why does MK now wear a full exo-skeleton of body armor, but his cowl is still not a helmet, and in fact seems to offer no appreciable protection? Who makes themselves bulletproof but leaves their head unprotected, with brightly glowing eyes as targets? And how does the writer make that decision and then throw huge explosions at him, with no explanation of why his head isn't simply blown clean off?

• But when Marc's on the ground getting pummeled by a huge and superstrong adversary, it doesn't seem to harm him appreciably. Sometimes it protects him from tremendous blows, sometimes it just rips and his hair sticks out—whatever the plot needs in the moment. Inconsistency with the details is always tiresome and diminishes the story.

• Where did Marlene's substance go? She was a somewhat complex character previously, but now she's just there... to fill the other side of Marc's bed, more or less.

• The re-introduction of the main antagonist felt... forced and cliched. The antagonist's plan seemed random, unnecessary, and like an intentional reference to Knightfall (that last part I'll call a positive tho).

• And the final battle ends in a way that is... ludicrous to the point of being dark comedy.

• Moon Knight reappears, after faking his own death and fleeing to Mexico to end the previous manhunt, but the government agencies that were previously sending a whole team of villains after him are now content to just say oh he's back, whatever? Why? Maybe Profile can give us an idea? Maybe we'll throw this guy at him? Sure, why not, whatever. It contributed to my sense that the entire previous series was seen as an inconvenience at this point, as far as finding a way forward for the character.

• Moon Knight wears star boxers, not moon boxers? Is this a reveal about how much he looks to Captain America as an inspiration in this redemption phase?

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is roughly contemporary with some really bad Moon Knight comics, taking place around the time of the Dark Avengers. It is clear that this book is written by someone who really cares about the character, and features short retellings of his origins interspersed in the story. That could be kind of filler, but it generally fit something that was going on in the story, and makes this a good jumping on point. It is something of a back to basics story, involving fighting generic bank robbers at first, then tying in to the world at large with appearances by some other heroes and villains tied to Norman Osborne and people being generally suspicious of Moon Knight after he was very brutal quite recently. It's an interesting dynamic, but also just a tad over the top with the Hood being able to resurrect Bushman, which is kind of a ridiculous use of that level of power if you think about it too hard, though it kind of suits the story. It feels just a hint like this was a recycled Batman story with the numbers filed off at times, which is a not uncommon issue for Moon Knight, and so I guess kind of a classic experience as well. It does a good job of fitting a classic Moon Knight story into the contemporary milieu, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to.

[Ronan The Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A continuation of Houston’s run, this was similar in tone and story, but with more of an emphasis on action rather than grim dreariness. The dialogue and art are both improved and clearer here, so I preferred both to Houston’s run.

Marc is still struggling to reconcile his past, and rightfully so. He’s done terrible things, alongside some terrible people. But he’s trying to turn it around, despite “colleagues” casting doubt on his legitimacy. He’s stifling Khonshu for the time being, saving people without killing and maiming culprits, and is showing his friends and allies some respect. He’s doing relatively well for himself, and I guess we’ll see how long that will last.

[The Geeky Viking · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thriller author Gregg Hurwitz does a decent job taking on Moon Knight, and there's scenes here that really work, but as a whole it feels disjointed and a bit scattershot. This version of Moon Knight is kinder and gentler and doesn't kill, but he's fighting against that nature constantly. Things are made worse by the return of his long-time foe, sent by Norman Osborne to take him down once and for all.

I preferred Charlie Hutson's run on the character but Hurwitz steps in and does a decent enough job. The artwork fits the book and more Moon Knight is always a good thing. If you enjoyed this run, seek out Hutson's.

[Christian Oliverio · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if Moon Knight WAS the marvel Batman? Enter Vengeance!

After brutally killing a bunch of bad guys, being driven from New York, and all the shenanigans of the last run; Moon Knight decides it's high time he stops killing people (which he only does in this arc). Still reeling from the consequences of his actions, Moon Knight returns with a vengeance--a less stabby, less psychotics vengeance.

This was a nice conclusion to the previous run, with "Jake" fully redeeming himself. Moon Knight is forced to confront Bushman (the guy who drove him over the edge) again, face the wrath of Norman Osborn (the guy who drove him out of town), and even has a fun conversation with the equally insane Sentry. I really enjoyed him doubling down on his new no-kill rule here, arguing with Khonshu throughout the story. Khonshu is also a lot smaller here, which might signify the smaller influence he has on Jake. It was also interesting seeing him use a 'gun' that fired a non-lethal bolas. Simultaneously a return to roots and a new step forward.

Overall, this was an enjoyable story where we see Moon Knight return to being a hero and have to directly confront his past sins.

[Andrew Garvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Years ago, when I went through a phase of reading a lot of werewolf fiction, I picked up two collected volumes of Marvel's Werewolf By Night. One of the villains in it was the debuting Moon Knight. I remember thinking he seemed interesting but didn't really think any more about him until much more recently, with Disney's announcement of a Moon Knight TV series. Not knowing anything about him, I thought I'd try out a volume that popped up on a couple of 'Best of...' lists online.

This volume was enough to make me a fan. Moon Knight makes Batman look like a lentil-munching, sandal-wearing hippy do-gooder. Tremendous!

Hurwitz' characterisation of Moon Knight as a deeply damaged man with his hands drenched in buckets of blood is surprisingly (if still not very) subtle, and at times, quite deep. His struggle to overcome his violent past and be the good guy, while haunted by the tiny figure of the Egyptian God who remade him, works brilliantly and, at times, is even funny.

The artwork is strong and there's plenty of action, in just six issues (plus reading a few articles online), I felt like I had a reasonably decent grasp of the character's past, his motivations and his actions. I'll definitely be reading more about him.

[Andrei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story featuring a more heroic Moon Knight, who totally changes his approach to bringing down bad guys. More specifically, no killing or maiming, which takes both the police and other heroes by surprise. The inner conflict within the protagonist is interestingly written, although it leaves an open end which isn't closed in the second volume. We also see MK's supporting cast , such as Frenchie or Marlene, as well as the return of a familiar foe. The art is excellent, with lots of action scenes as well as wonderful panels.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moon Knight has a very loyal, but very small, fan base. In this, his seventh (now canceled) series, we get a streamlined version of the hero. Gone is the harder edged, Marvel MAX-style Moon Knight from the 2006 series, replaced with a more heroic Moon Knight.

The story by Gregg Hurwitz moves along at a brisk clip, thanks to decompressed storytelling. Artist Jerome Opena has a gritty style that is well suited to the material. All in all, I would rank this as an empty calorie read. A few minutes after you're done, you feel like you haven't read anything.