Shadowland: Moon Knight

Shadowland

by Gregg Hurwitz (Writer), Jeff Parker, Bong Dazo (Illustrator)

Who is the Shadow Night? Daredevil, the former defender of Hell's Kitchen turned leader of the ninja death cult known as the Hand, summons the villainous Profile to take Moon Knight out of the picture for good. To complete his objective, the Profi le enlists the aid of a mysterious figure - a second avatar of Khonshu, the Shadow Knight! Displeased with Moon Knight's new, less deadly methods, has Khonshu fi nally decided to replace Moon Knight in order to get the blood he requires? With the Shadow Knight hunting him down, Moon Knight must cling to his sanity if he hopes to save Daredevil and himself from the darkness of Shadowland! Plus: The classic first meeting of Moon Knight and Daredevil!

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

166 pages, Hardcover

First published March 9, 2011

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 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

In an effort to read all things Moon Knight and after spotting this on Marvel Unlimited, I decided to dig in.



Now, I'm not a huge Daredevil junkie, but even so, I was aware of the general Shadowland storyline. For those of you who don't know, DD decides to take over The Hand and use it for good. <--ha!
Naturally, it backfires spectacularly and he ends up EVIL (complete with the glowing red eyes) and possessed by something called The Beast. This isn't anywhere near the whole story, but it does show you Moon Knight's part in the resolution.



There's actually not much Daredevil at all between the pages. Mostly, this is about Marc...sorry, Jake dealing with the fallout from his turning his back on Konshu while trying to be a true good guy and live a (relatively) normal life with Marlene. Of course, his past pops up in a very dramatic way in an effort to bring him back into the fold of everyone's favorite god of Vengence.



And since there were only 3 issues of Moon Knight, Marvel padded this out with the 2 Thunderbolt issues that dealt with the Shadowland stuff. Shockingly, this wasn't a bad thing!



I would never have given the Thunderbolts title a second look, but after reading these? I'm intrigued! This was actually really good.
So yeah. Luke is in charge of the Bolts (for whatever reason) and they get pointed toward some of the ninja bad guys. It's not a necessary story, but I liked the writing.



The more I think about it, the more I liked this. It didn't change my life, but I didn't regret spending my time on it, either.
Recommended for MK completionists.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a good story locked away in here. It just needed room to breathe. There's way too many story elements packed away in this 3 part story. It loses all the emotional impact and there should be a lot of it given all the things that happen to Moon Knight. Part of it is the Shadowland elements I think. They feel shoehorned in given all of the personal things that happen to Moon Knight. Bong Dazo can draw Moon Knight well, but he can't draw human faces well at all. BTW, the Shadow Knight is wearing Moon Knight's costume from the Disney+ show with all the mummy wrappings.

[Nicolo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moon Knight is always an interesting character. Like the moon has phases, he has a lot of alternate identities with a personality of its own. Much of the conflict in a Moon Knight story stems from the internally from the character as each personality seeks to assert himself, often at the detriment of his support group.

This hardcover collects the Moon Knight miniseries that ties in into Shadowland, a Marvel crossover event that has the hero Daredevil falling from grace and into the arms of an actual devil. I’ve never read any other chapter of it, but it can be inferred from the pages that touch into Shadowland that Moon Knight has a pivotal part to play. But before that critical moment, Moon Knight has to face someone who is his dark reflection. Someone whose life he tainted and twisted because of his choices both as Marc Spector and as avatar of Khonshu, the good vengeance.

My rule of thumb regarding crossover tie-ins is if it’s from the main writer of the event, then it is a crucial part of the story. In this case, it is not, so it can be ignored. If you’re reading it as a Moon Knight fan, you will get an incomplete story. Still, it isn’t a total waste since it includes a classic Moon Knight tale from the original creative team of his first ongoing, Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz. But that alone won’t it worth your while to pick this up at regular price.

[Frédéric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hurwitz uses Shadowland as a bogus pretext to deconstruct—or destroy?—the latest developments in MK's psyche. Right or wrong? You be the judge.

The introduction to Shadowland is forced, and the transition between issues 1 and 2 is incomprehensible to anyone who isn't following the main event. What's more, the use of Marlene's pregnancy to make him go crazy again is easy and lazy, it should have been given more time and the emotional impact more stressed out.

Otherwise, it's fairly well told but let down by artwork that is ill-suited to the MK universe.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, its Moon Knight so that gets a one star boost by itself. Not a great story but much better than you might think. I read this with not having read the Shadowland story. That might have made it better. Greg Hurwitz captured the many personalities of Moon Knight nicely. Bong Dazo did a nice job with the art as well.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

This I didn't care for. It felt like it was tacked on to this crossover and wasn't that good even as a standalone. I don't want to get into spoilers here, but I will say a new character shows up, Shadowknight, and attempts to take Moon Knights place as the avatar of Khonshu. The identity of Shadowknight was just confusing and never explained well enough for me. It also didn't really seem to fit into the overall Shadowland story. I'm a huge Moon Knight fan, but this wasn't one of the better Moon Knight stories.

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A messy story with a few good parts. Didn't love that we had to add on the loss of a baby on top of things, felt cheap and not earned. I also didn't love the switch of events to try there best to tie in with Shadowland, especially since Shadowland is a giant piece of shit. So overall, just messy with a few cool fight scenes and ending to a family member. Rest? MEH.

A 2 out of 5.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some of the appropriate dark thoughts/motivations/actions on display here to let us know this is a Moon Knight book, but the writing feels a little ham-handed - rushing to move plot points along, and the characters all feel two-dimensional (like the writer is *imitating* someone else, rather than finding his own authentic voice). The art is downright confusing, never quite knowing who's who or doing what.

The climax of issue 2 is worth it, but the resolution of the storyline is super-lame. Ugh.

OTOH, the Thunderbolts is a solid read, with a fascinating array of characters and a great premise for how the team is formed from villains held on the Raft. I like Jeff Parker as a writer - Underground is a great read - but I'm usually a little disappointed with his execution. Not here.

2 stars for Moon Knight, +1 for the redeeming quality of the Thunderbolts issues.

[Jaye Berry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading all of Moon Knight's comics really has me in the trenches. I've looked into the abyss so many times and the abyss looked back at me.

I don't know anything about this Shadowland storyline besides what this one told me: Daredevil has been corrupted by the Hand and is taken over by a beast. There's also like 30 other things going on in very little time and it was so????? Bad?????

Evil Daredevil hires someone who gets someone to go after Moon Knight by making up a bunch of shit (and it works so good for him ig). This shadow knight is similar to Moon Knight but is also someone from his past. Someone who is supposed to be dead and none of this is explained of course. The bad guy was shooting lightning out of his eyeballs and killing people and leaving notes in blood for Moon Knight and it was ridiculous. We really never even see Daredevil and then get very little context when it brings in the other comic parts. Like I know I was the one reading just this and not the rest but damn. So many things were left unfinished and not just the parts you would think but the things specific to the Moon Knight subplots. But I absolutely do not want to read anymore from these people so.

Side side plot of Marlene being pregnant then getting attacked but don't worry she's still super sexy with her tits out!! At least pretend the single female character is an actual character not just a sexy prop for manpain. How else do we randomly hurt him hmmm yes his unborn child!!!! So many levels to how disgusted I am that a bunch of dudes thought any of this was a hit plot point.

Then Moon Knight is having an identity crisis and fighting with his bird daddy and it really just kept going. Despite this he was such a dull character with no personality here. There was no flavor.

The art was hideous. Absolutely disgusting and it looks like it smells funny. Looking at this art feels like someone is laying a pile of wet jeans on you and you can't escape. I never want to see Khonshu drawn like this again... ever. He was a damn pigeon.

Can't think of a single redeeming quality besides this was short. I should have known this would be shit, I already read another shitty Moon Knight run by this author lol.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biggest problem with this volume is that it's largely incomprehensible. In Shadowland, Marvel told a deeply interconnected story. We get bits and pieces of that here, but there's no attempt to tell us the whole story, either in the text of the three issues or with extra information in this collection.

The other problem with this volume is its muddy storytelling. This seems to be a frequent problem in Moon Knight stories. I don't know if it comes from the often muddy artwork or an attempt to create a feeling of unease with off-kilter storytelling. In any case, it just makes the stories hard to follow, and that's definitely the case here, where I could too rarely tell who was doing what to whom (or why).

There's the kernel of a good Moon Knight story here, and one that should have strong repercussions. Unfortunately, it's largely occluded by the crossover and the muddiness. Or, I suppose one could say, it's eclipsed.

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 Stars


These three issues tie in with other Shadowland issues that include other heroes and villains. Didn't really enjoy these the way I seem to be enjoying some of the other Shadowland issues.

Individual issues rated below -

Shadowland: Moon Knight #1: 1.5/5
Shadowland: Moon Knight #2: 2.5/5
Shadowland: Moon Knight #3: 3/5

[Shane Stanis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 part series. Some good twists, but I found it a bit tough to follow. Definitely an optional tale.

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

In what will be the last of my efforts to understand this odd character, I read Gregg Hurwitz’s short run on Moon Knight. I pulled a rookie move and failed to research what “Shadowland” was, so inadvertently found myself reading a mini-series from the middle of a large cross-comic event. It’s sort of like picking up LOST in the middle of season 3 for two or three episodes–difficult to follow or evaluate character motives and no context for the larger actions of the characters (like, why is Daredevil evil now?). That said, the art in the series is fantastic, and Hurwitz makes great hay from the recurring theme of Moon Knight as haunted by the ghosts of gods and those he’s killed.

[Alex Sarll]

Bonkers vigilante Moon Knight continues his attempts to resist the murderous urgings of his patron deity Khonshu, who unfortunately now resembles a balding Big Bird. So Khonshu does the 'feign interest in someone else to breed jealousy' trick, dallying with MK's little brother, who now has laser eyes because of Gulf War Syndrome. In case that's not tasteless enough, MK's girlfriend announces she's pregnant just in time for the brother to beat her into miscarrying. Also, it has some unnecessary connections to the anticlimactic Daredevil crossover of the title, and an artist who really doesn't fit the character. What I'm getting at here is, this is quite poor.

[A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol) · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Book source ~ Library

Something something about Daredevil, something something about Shadow Knight something something about Moon Knight.

My first Moon Knight graphic novel. This may not have been the best way to go about it. However, comics are so convoluted it’s hard to know where to start with them all. Anyway, it’s a bit confusing, but I think I managed the gist of it. Except for why Daredevil was even in this. I wasn’t all that impressed. Not crazy about the artwork either. I was left feeling very meh at the end.

[TJ Shelby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easily the lamest Moon Knight story I've ever read. Only reason this gets two stars is the art is great. Kudos to Bong Dazo for that. Seriously, though, the artist's name is Bong...

[Jake Victrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

if u take this our of context of the main shadow land story line it's not half bad...

[Tommy Grooms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shadowland: Moon Knight is incidental to the larger Shadowland event, which appears to have frustrated a lot of reviewers; but I think that speaks more to the frustrating nature of comic events generally rather than anything deficient with this miniseries. I've only read Doug Moench's and Bill Sinkiewicz's 1980s Moon Knight run so I can't speak to how in keeping this story is to more recent Moon Knight comics, but I loved it. The art is *gorgeous* (the closest comparison I can think of Gabriel Rodriguez's work in Locke and Key, which is high praise), the Moon Knight tropes of multiple personalities and questionable sanity are used to great stylistic effect, and there's exploration of Marc Spector's history that's used well to drive the present story: unless you're just not a Moon Knight fan, I'm not sure what more you could want! There is also a reprint of one of my favorite Daredevil team-ups of all time, where Moon Knight helps him take down the Jester. If I have any complaint, it's that all the newer elements introduced or brought up in the Moon Knight mythos appear to have been so neatly resolved that they would have trouble being used again.

[Ming · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kinda dull, and really peripheral to the main event. Honestly, there's zero reason for the character to even get involved in Shadowland, and what he does pretty much amounts to a cameo side quest. The main plot here seems to be going for pathos, but is skipped through too quickly to make much impact at all. Fight scenes seem to take priority.

Some reviews state that the Thunderbolts Shadowland issues are included; perhaps that's in a later printing. The hardcover I read had a reprint of the first DD/Moon Knight meeting from decades ago, which was wordy and tiresome to get through. This is followed by an extremely detailed character history, which was even more tiresome to get through - and showed how awfully-written the character has been over the years. Apparently, his brother has been killed by him at least 3-4 times - basically making a mockery of any sort of emotional impact the preceding story arc had, because, well, we can see how even this story is a retread of old ground.

[Jimbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moon Knight was a favorite of mine although the character has gone through so many versions of himself that he has been hard to follow in the whole Marvel Universe.

This storyline is barely, and I mean barely attached to the Shadowland storyline. Daredevil hires someone to take out Moon Knight, we find out it is someone pretending to be Khonshu the Egyptian god that Moon Knight is attached to.

The stories really are about Marc Specter fighting the Shadow Knight and his own inner demons regarding the blood sacrifice that Khonshu demands for his help to take down the Beast that resides within Daredevil (Which Moon Knight has nothing to do with in the long run).

IF you are a Moon Knight fan, this is a good story. If not, then you might skip it as part of the whole Shadowland storyline.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always liked Moon Knight. He is a C-lister, but I enjoy this multiple personality, schizophrenic cat. He is way out of his gourd here, and we even see the resurrection of his Marc Spector personality. This story weaves in and out of the core Shadowland mini-series, and can not really be read alone. It works as a stand alone read until he infiltrates Daredevil's Japanese looking temple. The artwork is a little more cartoony than I like for this character. Moon Knight needs a dark, scratchy type of artist. Dave Finch and Bill Sienkewicz did him best.

Moon Knight No. 13, from 1981, features a Daredevil/Moon Knight team up and is provided here to pad out the page count in the paltry, overpriced offering. It has four issues at $19.99 MSRP. Lame. This is a fairly enjoyable read, but it's a skimpy book at that price point.

[Darkcharade · Rating 5 out of 5]

A welcome and much needed return to form for Moon Knight. The last few collections have been rather lackluster but this one really delivers on the character. Pitting him against Shadow Knight really created a sense of growth and movement for a character that's been hollow for awhile now. This is part of a larger Marvel story but this collection focused on the points well without bogging you down in the overall arc and leaving you confused with unresolved story points.

[ISMOTU · Rating 2 out of 5]

This miniseries puts Moon Knight through the ringer but in some cliché ways. And with yet another attempt to create an opposite number to Moon Knight it just kind of falls flat. The revised history between Marc Spector and his brother Rand isn't particularly innovative. The constraints of a tie-in to a bigger event series often make it difficult to tell meaningful stories, the creative team here do make real stakes and changes to Moon Knight's situation but it just didn't really work for me.

[Arthur Cravan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not my favourite Moon Knight, & I didn't fully grasp that this was a minor crossover thing until DD goes noticeably AWOL, but it was kinda interesting. Also cool they showed that comic from '81 in the back - funny how so much changes so little.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

So corny. Super super super corny. Can of Green Giant. Stephen King told some children to go hang in a field and kill all the adults. CORN.

[Ondra Král · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nezajímavé

[Mer Mayhem · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty bad. The art was redeemable in parts, at least. 1.5/5.

[Gabriel · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am giving this a one star because there is awful, disturbing, unnecessary and excessive violence against women in it.