Moon Knight is the Marvel comic that Warren Ellis was born to write. Possible the only thing that could make it better would be if it was on the Max line of comics but thankfully it doesn’t need to be to work as well as it did! Ellis has had a lot of hits over the years and his work has always had a darker slant, so taking over a man brought back to life that embodies four distinct personalities of a God is going to be right up his ally.
Better than any previous NOW! rebooted issue #1, this one is the perfect lead into the series. Moon Knight has a long and rich history which is touched upon as a refresh for older readers as well as a quick introduction that lets you know who he is without resulting to a retelling of his origin. It does so without gimmick and lends itself well to the questions of who Marc Spector is and why does he do what he does.
Right off the bat we get a more noir version of Moon Knight that is working as a freelance consultant for the police. Since he’s rich, he is quite literally working for free lending his skills to the police on their stranger cases. He has an in on the force and he’s using his vast wealth to help fight crime in style. The dialogue is strong, witty, and intelligent.
This is the type of noir work Moon Knight was meant to fit into and I have a feeling we’re going to get a definitive cohesive version of the character emerge from Warren’s work that has never been shown on a page before. While the nature of the character allows him to be written in different ways, the very first issue has drawn me into the mind of Spector in a way that no other version prior has been able to do. I am honestly excited for the future of this book.
Declan’s job in illustrating this makes me appreciate it even that much more as it looks as gritty as it is written.
Throughout the story we see Mr. Knight helping the police chase down a man after those who are in great shape, killing them, and taking the pieces for himself. A serial killer? Not quite, but a madman nonetheless. It’s not quite a twist but it’s a different kind of villain that you usually see in Marvel and Moon Knight is the different kind of hero that we need to deal with problems such as this.
Not only am I a huge fan of Warren’s work in general but love the direction he’s taking the character. He plays into the multiple aspects that make up Spector and even finds a way to point fun at his mental instability from the most recent run.
I’ll be first in line to pickup the second issue on its release! A total surprise, but ‘Moon Knight’ came out of the blue to absolutely take the spot of my favorite comic this week.
MOON KNIGHT #1
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Declan Shalvey
