As a kid, I loved (adored!) Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz’s Moon Knight book. It was absolute dark-hero bliss, and everything I wanted Batman to be but, at the time, what Batman simply wasn’t. Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s Moon Knight book is at least the seventh “reboot” of the title since the first one, and now this one is ending at #12. I haven’t loved this run, but I haven’t hated it, either. And at least it was different. Previous reboots have tried to make the character into various levels of dark/violent/psycho. They haven’t all been bad (but several were), but those that weren’t bad weren’t all good, either.
THE TOP FIVE MOON KNIGHT RUNS
5. Early Appearances. Moon Knight started in 1975 as a guy with parachute sleeves who hunted Werewolves. Designed by Doug Perlin, the character had a ways to go appearance-wise, and he wasn’t developed very much in these early appearances. Still, even in these developmental early days he
If you buy a collection of old MKs, make sure it also reprints the covers…
immediately stole the show; he was one of those side-characters for whom you’d buy a comic just to see him. See: Werewolf By Knight #32-33; Marvel Spotlight #28-29; Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider Man #22-23.
4. Moon Knight Vol. 6 (ongoing). This is Bendis and Maleev’s complete reimagining of the character. It’s fresh, it’s different, but it just isn’t as innovative as what Moench did thirty years earlier.
3. Moon Knight Vol. 5 (2006) #1-13. Charlie Huston came the closest to matching Doug Moench in terms of writing about a character rather than a concept, and it didn’t hurt that he had David Finch on the art. But this is a very, very dark and psychological comic. Be warned.
2. The Hulk! Magazine (backup features). The first glimpses of Moon Knight sold comics, so they made him a back-up feature in the oversized, overpriced Marvel magazine. These stories were more in depth, and we got to learn a lot more about the character. The stories were also ahead of their time in terms of their depth and weight. Moench wrote them all, and Sienkiewicz drew most of them. Clearly, they are the masters of Mark Spector. See: Hulk! Magazine #11-15, #17-18, and #20.
1. Moon Knight Vol. 1 by Moench and Sienkiewicz, issues 1-25. This was the first book to be pulled off the newstands due to low volume sales and sold only directly to comic book stores. Even that couldn’t save it, and the book died at issue #38. I’m only including the first 25 issues because after that the book did begin to wane significantly. Also, I’m recommending you actually go purchase the individual issues or that if you buy a collection you make sure it’s got Bill’s amazing covers. Whenever this book came out, I’d hang it on my wall. Just about every cover was frame-able art.
THE WORST MOON KNIGHT SERIES OF ALL TIME
Just for giggles, I’m making naming Shadowland: Moon Knight #1-3 here. Because I can’t miss a chance to call out anything with Shadowland in the title. Worst event ever.
