{"id":25665,"date":"2022-04-15T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2022-04-15T08:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=25665"},"modified":"2022-04-14T16:15:59","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T16:15:59","slug":"moon-knight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2022\/04\/15\/moon-knight\/","title":{"rendered":"Moon Knight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Moon-Knight-Shock-and-Awe.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"499\" height=\"755\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13411\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Moon-Knight-Shock-and-Awe.jpg 499w, https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Moon-Knight-Shock-and-Awe-150x227.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Moon-Knight-Shock-and-Awe-250x378.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Moon-Knight-Shock-and-Awe-198x300.jpg 198w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 499px) 100vw, 499px\" \/><br \/>\nBy <strong>Gregg Hurwitz <\/strong>&amp; <strong>Jerome Ope\u00c3\u00b1a <\/strong>&amp; various (Marvel)<br \/>\nISBN: 978-0-7851-4106-8 (TPB\/Digital editions)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Moon Knight <\/strong>is probably one of the most complex and convoluted heroes in comics. There&#8217;s also a lot of evidence to support the in-world contention that he&#8217;s a certifiable loon\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>He first appeared during the 1970s horror boom: a mercenary <strong>Batman<\/strong> knockoff hired by corporate villains to capture lycanthropic <em>Jack Russell<\/em> (AKA <strong>Werewolf by Night<\/strong>). Catching the readers&#8217; attention, he then spun off into two trial issues of <strong>Marvel Spotlight <\/strong>and an exceedingly mature (for the times) back-up slot in TV-inspired <strong>Hulk Magazine <\/strong>before graduating to a number of solo series.<\/p>\n<p>His byzantine origin eventually revealed how multiple-personality afflicted CIA spook-turned-mercenary <em>Marc Spector<\/em> was murdered by his best-pal and comrade <em>Raoul Bushman<\/em>, and apparently restored to life by Egyptian deity <em>Khonshu<\/em>: god of the Moon and Justice, or perhaps simply Vengeance\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>Over many years the solitary avenger and a select band of hand-picked helpers battled darker threats more flamboyant superheroes neglected or avoided, ever-vacillating between pristine white knight and bloodthirsty killer-with-a-good-excuse\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>At the time of this rocket-paced riot of action and suspense, resurgent villain and American Security Czar <em>Norman Osborn<\/em> was de facto ruler of America, using Federal clout to wage war on heroes who refused to sign <em>The Superhuman Registration Act<\/em>. Those he couldn&#8217;t coerce or crush, he smeared\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>As Moon Knight became more obviously frenzied and manic, Osborn framed the outlaw hero for murder and numerous ferocious atrocities and &#8211; in response to seemingly overwhelming opposition &#8211; the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153out-of-control\u00e2\u20ac\u009d hero faked his own death, moved to Mexico and went about cleansing his ravaged mind and troubled soul.<\/p>\n<p>The first and hardest part of the remedy was eradicating every vestige of Marc Spector from his wardrobe of personalities\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>Re-presenting <strong>Vengeance of the Moon Knight<\/strong> #1-6 (November 2009-May 2010), this spectacular breakneck thriller opens with the return of <em>&#8216;The White Knight&#8217; <\/em>to New York City; (mostly) clear-headed and determined to reclaim his name and sullied reputation. That begins with an extremely public foiling of a brutally violent bank robbery, where, despite utmost provocation and the watching citizenry&#8217;s fervent expectations, the silent Avenger kills absolutely no one\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>Astonished observers &#8211; including the hero&#8217;s former lover and confidante <em>Marlene Alraune <\/em>&#8211; would have been even more astonished to learn that throughout the shocking struggle, a little godling had been whispering in Moon Knight&#8217;s ear\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<br \/>\nKhonshu is displeased. He wants his chosen agent exacting full and final vengeance and grows increasingly impatient over this sacrilegious \u00e2\u20ac\u0153no killing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d peccadillo\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>Nights pass and Moon Knight, hunted by cops and Osborn&#8217;s agents alike, prowls the streets, quietly thinning out predators feeding on society&#8217;s weakest members. His diligent pruning is interrupted when the most powerful of Osborn&#8217;s super-operatives appears\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8216;The Sentry&#8217;s Curse&#8217; <\/em>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: ordering mystic minion <em>The Hood <\/em>and telepathic snoop <em>Profile<\/em> to find and decisively deal with the returned rebel.<\/p>\n<p>Now favouring his <em>Jake Lockley <\/em>and <em>Steven Grant <\/em>personas, the repentant paladin is visiting old associates and comrades whilst using vast financial resources to upgrade Moon Knight&#8217;s armoury. Moreover, as an outlaw, he has no problem employing the best criminal scientists money can buy\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>The first felonious monster to fall to his renewed crusade is grotesque sin-peddler <em>The Slug<\/em>, 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&#8217;t notice Profile taking a reading and extracting the one secret that could end his ceaseless war on crime\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;s reading and The Hood&#8217;s dark magic, the one foe Spector could never handle is dragged howling from his grave to pick up where he left off in <em>&#8216;The Bushman Cometh&#8217;<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>The resurrected psychotic hits the ground scheming and whilst Moon Knight wastes time trying to convince <strong>Spider-Man<\/strong> that&#8217;s he&#8217;s back &#8211; but is also better &#8211; Raoul orchestrates a bloody raid on horrific psychiatric sin-bin <em>Ravencroft Asylum<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>With fellow maniac <em>Scarecrow<\/em>, Bushman turns an institution full of criminal madmen into murderous slaves: even augmenting his army of the living damned with autonomous, atrocious menaces such as <em>Herman the German <\/em>and <em>The Great Wall<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>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\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>With the city under siege even Spector&#8217;s oldest &#8211; and most betrayed &#8211; friend sees the need for action, and with<em> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Frenchie\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Du Champ <\/em>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 <em>&#8216;Full Moon&#8217;<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>The battle enters overwhelming overdrive in <em>&#8216;Past is Prologue&#8217; <\/em>as Bushman at last confronts his ultimate antithesis. Chaos escalates and 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6And even after resoundingly defeating his physical foes and restoring some semblance of sense to the city the gory god still calls and, at last,<em> &#8216;Knight Falls&#8217;<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>With covers by Leinil Francis Yu and 8 stunning variants by Alex Ross, David Finch, Yu and Francesco Mattina, this explosive all-out psycho-thriller is compellingly scripted by Gregg Hurwitz and captivatingly illustrated by Jerome Ope\u00c3\u00b1a, Jay Leisten &amp; Paul Mounts who collaboratively create one of the most memorable and enjoyable reboots ever.<\/p>\n<p>Fast, dark and savagely entertaining, <strong>Shock and Awe <\/strong>is pure electric entertainment for testosterone junkies and Fights &#8216;n&#8217; Tights fanatics &#8211; and a relatively uncomplicated introduction to the character currently bewildering TV streaming service viewers&#8230;<br \/>\n\u00c2\u00a9 2009, 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Gregg Hurwitz &amp; Jerome Ope\u00c3\u00b1a &amp; various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-0-7851-4106-8 (TPB\/Digital editions) Moon Knight is probably one of the most complex and convoluted heroes in comics. There&#8217;s also a lot of evidence to support the in-world contention that he&#8217;s a certifiable loon\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 He first appeared during the 1970s horror boom: a mercenary Batman knockoff &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2022\/04\/15\/moon-knight\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Moon Knight&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[244,75,32,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alpha-flight","category-crime-comics","category-csi","category-spider-girl"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-6FX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25665"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25668,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25665\/revisions\/25668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}