Essential Moon Knight, Vol. 2

Essential Moon Knight

by Doug Moench (Writer), Jack S. Harris, Steven Grant

Black Spectre, Stained Glass Scarlet, the White Crusader, all pale before the light of the Moon Knight! The Fist of Khonshu dives headfirst into third world terrorism, costumed clownery and cold-blooded cultists with their hearts set on the blood of his long-time co-star, Werewolf by Night! Also guest-starring Daredevil, the Thing and Brother Voodoo! Plus Marc Spector's mercenary missions and the mysteries of the Moon God himself! Featuring behind-the-scenes secrets of Moon Knight's creation and supporting art by some of the industry's best, past and present!

Collecting: Moon Knight 11-30

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book, American

608 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2007

About the author

Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok. Moench has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics and many other smaller companies; he has written hundreds of issues of many different comics, and created dozens of characters, such as Moon Knight. In 1973, Moench became the de facto lead writer for the Marvel black-and-white magazine imprint Curtis Magazines. He contributed to the entire runs of Planet of the Apes, Rampaging Hulk (continuing on the title when it changed its name to The Hulk!) and Doc Savage, while also serving as a regular scribe for virtually every other Curtis title during the course of the imprint's existence. Moench is perhaps best known for his work on Batman, whose title he wrote from 1983–1986 and then again from 1992–1998. (He also wrote the companion title Detective Comics from 1983–1986.)

Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.

Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second installment from the Moon Knight Marvel comics series, one character I never knew that existed until I came across the first essential collection which was a bit uneven. This collection is far more the series knowing what it wants and is. The art is good and the writing is excellent.
These comics are over 40 years old so any PC thinking is missing the point completely these comics are a mirror of a past and enjoyable as such.
The leading character is a former mercenary whose life was saved by an Egyptian moon god and he battles evil to make up for his past together with Frenchy his helicopter pilot, Marlene the woman who saves him everyday. He sports 3 identities one of whom is a billionaire of course.
I still have not really figured out what Moon knights special powers are but he is an excellent fighter and is apparently quicker than the average human.
At times he feels like the Batman, but Moon Knight is a different creature altogether.

Really enjoyable even in these B/W essential collections, they work very well in this format.

[Amanja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish. I made it through issue 20 but have decided to not continue this run. I was fine trying to power through when it was just boring and confusing but it started to also get kinda sexist and racist and I just don't want to keep trying, it's not gonna get better.

In the first book of this run moonknight was underdeveloped but had an interesting team behind him. They've strayed away from that format and focused just on moonknight but what the eff are his powers anyway? For someone reincarnated by a moon god he has shockingly few powers. Let alone moon powers. He has a truncheon that can randomly become other tools and moon shaped throwing blades. And a cape that apparently can be used as a glider, but only once. He's basically batman... but incompetent. He frequently loses battles but it's not played for laughs. He gets real butt hurt about it, whining about how all the other superheros will make fun of him. ( like they even know who he is!)

The last straw for me was him sending his wife (? Her character relation to him is maybe not entirely clear) to be a sex slave to the villain he's pursuing. She is clearly not into it but it is strongly alluded to that she is forced into having sex with this man while she waits for moonknight to show up. How her being used and abused helps anyone is never fully demonstrated and is a far departure from her saving moonknight's life in the first book.

Overall this was a chore to read at best and infuriatingly dated at worst. It gets more than one star though because bill seinkiewicz is an all star artist and deserves his due.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The real delight of this collection for me was watching Bill Sienkiewicz’s artwork slowly transform from his beginnings as a competent Neal Adams clone to the beautiful expressionist style he’s more famous for now. Great stuff.

If it wasn’t for the handful of fill-in issues by other creators this would be a 5 star book for me.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good stuff. Some of the stories are very much the standard of the time (melodramatic, a little overwritten) but most of the art is classic. It does look like Bill Sienkiewicz is doing his best Neal Adams impression, but even at that it's great art. And there are some really good stories mixed in too. This series works really well in black and white. It's a cross between the Marvel Supernatural stories and the Marvel superhero stories of the time, which is a pretty cool combo.

In this volume the whole split personality thing has been eased up on, which is a huge plus. The plot device is still there, but Moon Knight doesn't seem to be going crazy on every other page like he has in some past stories.

Overall a really strong volume.

[Jens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first 30 issues of Moon Knight were among the best that was published in comics. The stories by Doug Moench were generally not groundbreaking but offered solid action-adventure/pulp entertainment, with the occasional gem (such as "Hit It," which is included in this collection). What raised the series far beyond the norm was the incredible art by Bill Sienkiewicz, which was far ahead of its time.

As with all of Marvel's Essential collections, the 20 comics collected in this volume are in black & white. Sienkiewicz's art however doesn't lose much if any of its effect by being reprinted without the color. Instead, it actually gains a certain moodiness and appeal.

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un altro ottimo Essential, decisamente siginificativo nell'osservazione dell'evoluzione dello stile di disegno di Bill Sienkiewicz, specialmente da quando inizia ad inchiostrarsi da solo. Anche per Doug Moench, scrittore delle storie, si può notare come cerchi di asciugare la storie per permettere la maturazione di Sienkiewicz disegnatore. Certo, alcuni diranno che col bianco e nero si perdono molti effetti del colore originale. In alcune storie, come nei numeri 14 e 24 in cui appare Scarlet Faserina, può anche essere vero, perché l'uso del colore all'epoca era spesso funzionale allo stato emotivo che si voleva ricreare nel lettore.
Nonostante questo piccolo difetto (forse) il raffronto tra le storie di Moench e Sienkiewicz e alcune di altri autori che intervallarono la serie, come ad esempio il 16 di Harris e Cowan od anche il 21 disegnato da Alcazar, Tartaglione e Camp ma scritto dallo stesso Moench, mette in risalto quanto l'arte di Bill S. sia decisamente superiore.

Dal punto di vista dell'evoluzione del personaggio Moench cerca di discostarlo dal Batman di cui in origine era la versione Marvel, pur mantenendone alcuni stilemi, quali villain grotteschi o terribili quali Arsenal e Morpheus, femme fatale quali "Stained Glass" Scarlet ed ovviamente il ritorno del buon vecchio Werewolf by Night, in Italianon Licantropus.

Quindi per quanto mi riguarda questo essential vale oltre le 4 stelle che sono il voto che comparirà, anche se non arriva a 5.

[UltraHero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike Batman, he isn't perfect, sometimes he loses a fight & sometimes the bad guy gets the upper hand. I thought that made him more interesting & the stories better. He has way too many secret identities but that's part of his journey to define himself. He fights all sorts of random villains: terrorists, mercenaries, street criminals & a few costumed guys. I liked his first moon-copter better than the 2nd one.

You really got your money's worth back then, individual issues were longer & the stories while mostly had plenty going on. I like that his fights were more than just 1 panel, unlike modern comics. Also seeing the old way they colored panels with the ink brought back memories.
These aren't the best comics ever written but they are good vigilante comics.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note this score mostly just reflects issues 21-23, as the previous issues I read in the Moon Knight Omnibus and the following issues are in the Moon Knight Epic Collection Vol. 3, which in color. Though I prefer colorization, the black and white renditions of these stories hold a charm that reflects the 70’s Marvel horror ethos. The stories across these issues are fun, but they are not of the quality readers can find with later Moon Knight writers and could disappoint anyone expecting a more modern Moon Knight.

[Jordan Risebury-Crisp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Essential Moon Knight 1 a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. You could track the development of Moon Knight and the supporting cast through the book as subsequent issues were published.

What became clear, from reading the first few issues of this collection, is that Moench must have felt like there had been enough characterization and it was ok to write rather standard, sometimes turgid, stories issue after issue.

In this 20 issue collection, there's only 1/5 that really stand out and are memorable. The regular guest / filler artists and writers also breaks the tone of the series too.

I'm not in any hurry to track down Essential 3 as Sienkiwicz departs the title by the end of this collection and his art was it's only redeeming feature.

[Professor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately I came in on Volume 2 and not Volume 1, but it was an interesting read nonetheless-Moon Knight goes back and forth from more supernatural/super powered threats and things like terrorists, but I enjoyed how he never seems to have a real handle on the superhero game, unlike, say, someone like Batman, who ALWAYS at least thinks he knows what he's doing. The multiple identity thing is also and interesting feature. I can't say I loved the character or the books, which suffer from some "eh" art (or is it just art that works poorly in black and white) and a few "eh" stories (the one with the terrorist army of right and leftist forces working together was pretty weak) but when it's good it's different and very enjoyable.

[Franklin Arbour · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps the only Bronze Age Marvel Essentials book to suffer from lack of color. The draw of Moon Knight (this period) was definitely Bill Sienkiewicz's art. Moon Knight's bottom of the totem pole status and relatively mature readership gave its art department a lot of room to experiment. It is disheartening to see Sienkiewicz's beautiful water colors and oils rendered as black and white line drawings. What we're left with is a Bronze Age Batman deconstruction that doesn't quite leave the reader wanting more. The tone, however, still holds up, and it's interesting to see how the authors struggled (and, sadly, usually failed) to create a mature book under the relaxed-but-still-heavy thumb of the comic book code.

[j_ay · Rating 4 out of 5]

astounding, classic art by Bill Sienkiewicz, but mediocre stories.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

The original Moon Knight, Batmanesque, stories.