Charlie Huston/David Finch/Danny Miki
Marvel
Moon Knight is one of those fringe B-List characters who can wow you a few times, then be uninteresting most of the time. it was nuts to make him an Avenger, because basically he's Batman without the capability to work well with others. but left alone, he can be a little iffy sometimes, and mostly better left with cameo appearances, not a full-fledged ongoing series. that being said, the Doug Moench/Bill Sienkewicz run of the '80s seems to be the defining period of the character.
apparently, someone at Marvel (would that be you, Mr. Joe Quesada?) thought this soldier-of-fortune/avenging-knight-of-an-Egyptian-god shtick still had some legs in it, so they brought in crime fiction writer Charlie Huston to pen a few stories. if this is gonna be a successful experiment like Brad Meltzer over at DC, that remains to be seen.
the new series serves as a re-introduction for casual readers who Moon Knight is, but at the same time keeping his previous timeline intact. we find Marc Spector (who used to have to two other aliases and a gazillion multiple personalities) a broken man, doing nothing but pop pills and brood all day. he has apparently lost all hope to live, abandoned by his girl and his friends, and subsequently has no desire to continue the work for his god, Konshu.
he even talks to Konshu, blaming him for his ills, because he feels abandoned. even his ex, Marlene thinks years of doing the superhero thing made him completely lose his marbles (if not his balls). having died and resurrected a couple of times can do that to you (that, and being demoted to the D-List and not being invited to superhero Christmas parties).
"uh ... you mean, like Iron Man?"
this six-issue arc devotes its energies to getting Spector back into the game, and practically reintroducing himself to his supporting cast. Spector apparently seems to have been in a daze for a long time, as he discovers his driver/pilot/sidekick Frenchie is ... gay.
that should make you choke on your italian sausage
long story short: somebody tries to kill Frenchie, Spector is galvanized back into action. so why didn't anybody try to do this earlier? the villains of the piece are the new Committee, children of the previous one, who instead of whacking Spector while in a vulnerable state, try to toy with him and recruit him to their cause, before giving up and finally giving him a thumbs down. if there's one thing we've learned over the years on how NOT to get things done, its by forming a committee.
the Committee hires the Taskmaster, the ultimate mercenary, whose "special power" is his ability to mimic anyone's skills, to kill Moon Knight. Taskmaster doesn't usually indulge directly in these pursuits; he prefers training the bad guys in the Marvel universe. however, the new Sony Bravia came out and he needed the fast cash to avail of the post-Christmas price slash at Best Buy.
"H-D-T-V, babyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!"
so Marlene, despite being an ex, knows what to do in emergency situations, and brings an injured Spector to his secret lair in Long Island (what th-?) where he has a storage facility of vehicles, weapons and costumes (what th-?, again).
to the Batc- ... eeep! wrong Cave!
here we have a Lambda-class shuttle taking off from - oops. wrong movie set.
Moon Knight goes off and does the avenging work he does so well, not to mention, reciting the slogan he learned by rote.
"gimme a V, gimme an E, gimme an N, gimme ... ah what the crap, just say it!!!"
Taskmaster, like most teachers, is big on the theories and sorely lacking on the practical execution. once Moon Knight gets back into the cowl, he's toast.
at least he has a sense of humor
Huston leaves us a twist wherein we are left to ponder whether Spector was indeed jumpstarted by the events around him, or whether ... his fractured brain concocted all of this crap.
i have no doubt Finch's art fits the bill here. its just that i can't help seeing his previous works, Ascension and/or The Darkness, in most of it. at least the New Avengers have bright colors. that being said, i managed to snag his autograph for a couple of my books, and wonder if he was undergoing chemotherapy (really, he slightly resembles the ex-KGB agent who claimed he was poisoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin's minions, but with a bright, unpoisoned smile of course).
gratuitous violence? what gratuitous violence?
now that we got one more psycho hero loose on the streets, let's see if the next storyline keeps us interested.
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issues read: #1-6
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