This month kicks off the new Marvel Comics on-going monthly series ‘Moon Knight’. ‘Moon Knight’ is the mentally unstable ex-mercenary Marc Spector. Left to die outside an Egyptian temple, Spector believes he was resurrected by the ancient deity Khonsuh to be his supernatural avatar on Earth.
In Brian Michael Bendis’ new book, Mark Spector has gone west to test his luck in television. He has sold his story “Legend of the Khonshu” as a syndicated TV series to air in “every civilized country in the world”. Of course this is just his day job. When he is approached by Captain America, Wolverine and Spider-man to investigate the new Kingpin of Crime in Los Angeles, he is forced to hop into action.
It seems like there may be a lot to like in this book, but I’m not really seeing it yet. The writing in this story is not great. Of course when you get to the end you understand why some of the dialogue from Cap, Spidey and Wolverine seems out of character, but not great writing is still not great writing. When it comes to Bendis I’m a fan, but I know he doesn’t always hit the mark. Perhaps ‘Moon Knight’ is just one book too many for him right now.
As much as I didn’t care for the story in ‘Moon Knight’ #1, Alex Maleev’s art work disappointed me that much more. Every panel looked flat with no depth, and every character seemed to have a sinister sneer that took away from each character. It seems like Maleev is trying to do John Romita Jr. characters and like Bendis he missed the mark. The thing about Maleev is that I loved his artwork in Spiderwoman and Daredevil, but not so much in Moon Knight.
Should you pick up this book? I’d say pass. There are a lot of other great stories being told (like Fear Itself) and honestly the $3.99 price tag seems a little steep for what you get from ‘Moon Knight’ #1.
