By Gregg Hurwitz & Jerome Opeña & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4106-8
Moon Knight is probably one of the most complex and convoluted heroes in comics. There’s also a lot of evidence to support the contention that he’s a certifiable loon…
He first appeared during the 1970s horror boom: a mercenary Batman knockoff hired by corporate villains to capture lycanthropic Jack Russell (AKA Werewolf by Night). Catching the readers attention, he then spun off into two trial issues of Marvel Spotlight and an exceedingly mature (for the times) back-up slot in the TV-inspired Hulk Magazine before graduating to a number of solo series.
His convoluted origin eventually revealed how multiple-personality afflicted CIA spook-turned-mercenary Marc Spector was murdered by his best-pal and comrade Raoul Bushman but apparently restored to life by the Egyptian deity Khonshu: god of the Moon and Justice, or perhaps simply Vengeance…
Over many years the solitary avenger and a select band of hand-picked helpers battled the darker threats more flamboyant superheroes neglected or avoided, ever-vacillating between pristine white knight and bloodthirsty killer-with-a-good-excuse…
At the time of this rocket-paced riot of action and suspense, resurgent villain and American Security Czar Norman Osborn was de facto ruler of America, using Federal power to wage war on heroes who refused to sign The Superhuman Registration Act. Those he couldn’t coerce or crush, he smeared…
As Moon Knight became more obviously frenzied and manic, Osborn framed the outlaw hero for murder ands numerous ferocious atrocities and, in response to seemingly overwhelming opposition, the out-of-control hero faked his own death, moved to Mexico and went about cleansing his ravaged mind and troubled soul.
The first and hardest part of the remedy was to eradicate every vestige of Marc Spector from his wardrobe of personalities…
Collecting Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1-6 (November 2009-May 2010) this spectacular breakneck thriller opens with the return of ‘The White Knight’ to New York City; (mostly) clear-headed and determined to reclaim his name and sullied reputation. That begins with a most public foiling of an extremely violent bank robbery, where, despite the utmost provocation and the watching citizenry’s fervent expectations, the silent Avenger kills absolutely nobody…
The astonished observers – including the hero’s former lover and confidante Marlene Alraune – would have been even more astonished to learn that throughout the shocking struggle a little godling had been whispering in Moon Knight’s ear…
Khonshu is displeased. He wants his chosen agent to exact full and final vengeance and is growing increasingly impatient over this sacrilegious “no killing†peccadillo…
Nights pass and Moon Knight, hunted by cops and Osborn’s agents alike, prowls the streets, quietly thinning out the predators who feed on the weakest members of society. His diligent pruning is interrupted however when the most powerful of Osborn’s super-operatives appears…
‘The Sentry’s Curse’ is that he is nigh-omnipotent, truly crazy and utterly unpredictable. As an old comrade, the golden giant grants Moon Knight a measure of leeway and one last chance, but Osborn is less sanguine about being defied and orders his mystic minion The Hood and telepathic snoop Profile to find and decisively deal with the returned rebel.
Now favouring his Jake Lockley and Steven Grant personas, the repentant paladin is visiting old associates and comrades whilst using his vast financial resources to upgrade the Moon Knight’s armoury. Being an outlaw, he has no problem employing the best criminal scientists money can buy…
The first felonious monster to fall to his renewed crusade is grotesque sin-peddler The Slug, and once again the cataclysmic clash is punctuated by his divine passenger screaming in his ear for blood. That distraction might be why the hero doesn’t notice Profile taking a reading and extracting the one secret that might end his ceaseless war on crime…
After tolerating years of appalling atrocities, Moon Knight eventually killed his greatest enemy and, in a fit of madness, cut off his fright-mask of a face. Now, thanks to the psychic’s reading and The Hood’s dark magic, the one foe Spector could never handle is dragged howling from his grave to pick up where he left off in ‘The Bushman Cometh’…
The resurrected psychotic immediately hits the ground scheming and whilst Moon Knight wastes time trying to convince Spider-Man that’s he’s back – but he is also better – Raoul orchestrates a bloody raid on horrific sin-bin Ravencroft Asylum.
With fellow maniac Scarecrow, Bushman turns an institution full of criminal madmen into murderous slaves and even augments his army of the living damned with a cadre of autonomous and atrocious menaces such as Herman the German and The Great Wall…
Never reticent, Bushman then unleashes his foul forces on sleeping Manhattan in the sure and certain knowledge that unremitting carnage and slaughter is bound to bring Moon Knight running…
With the city under siege even Spector’s oldest – and most betrayed – friend sees the need for action, and with “Frenchie†Du Champ once again piloting the awe-inspiring Moon Copter, the resurgent Knight takes on the entire legion of loons with devastating if non-lethal force under an unforgiving ‘Full Moon’…
The battle goes into overwhelming overdrive in ‘Past is Prologue’ as Bushman finally confronts his ultimate antithesis, but as the chaos escalates the screaming of Khonshu for his chosen one to cross back over the line and fulfil his blood-letting destiny is almost too much for any mortal to resist.
…And even after resoundingly defeating his physical foes and restoring some semblance of sense to the city the gory god still calls and, at last, ‘Knight Falls’…
With covers by Leinil Francis Yu and eight stunning variants by Alex Ross, David Finch, Yu and Francesco Mattina, this high-octane, explosively all-out psycho-thriller is compellingly scripted by Gregg Hurwitz and captivatingly illustrated by Jerome Opeña, Jay Leisten and Paul Mounts who combine to create one of the most memorable and enjoyable reboots of recent years.
Fast, dark and savagely entertaining, Shock and Awe is pure electric entertainment for testosterone junkies and Fights ‘n’ Tights fanatics.
© 2009, 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.