Moon Knight
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Moon Knight is an Egyptian-themed comic book superhero from Marvel Comics.
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Publication History
The character was created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin in Werewolf by Night (v1) #32 (August 1975), and has starred in three eponymous ongoing series and several miniseries. Moon Knight's most notable artist over the years has been Bill Sienkiewicz. He illustrated many of Moon Knight's appearances in the "The Hulk" magazine, and also launched the character's first solo series. He stayed onboard for 25+ issues and enjoyed a long tenure on the comic, producing memorable covers for Moon Knight as well. He is widely considered the definitive Moon Knight artist. Writer Doug Moench also had a long, productive run, defining the character with an array of skillfully told, often dark adventures.
During the early 1980s, Marvel experimented with the then-new comic book specialty outlets by turning three of their monthly comic titles into "direct distribution only" titles. These comics were printed on harder paper stock than the newsprint commonly used for comics at the time, were removed from under the aegis of the Comics Code Authority, and were written and drawn with more mature, adult themes. They were only available via subscription or from a direct distribution comics specialty store. Moon Knight was one of the three titles to receive this treatment. (The other two were Ka-Zar and The Micronauts.) The Moon Knight series ended in Moon Knight (v3) #60 with art by Stephen Platt depicting his death.
A new Moon Knight ongoing series was launched in April 2006 by David Finch and Charlie Huston. It will explore the psyche of this character's three alternate personas and a his connection to an Egyptian deity that may or may not be imagined.
Character Analysis
Moon Knight is often criticized as a "poor man's Batman," and the parallels are indeed unmistakable. Both are wealthy vigilantes that take to the streets at night to fight crime. They both rely on creating fear among the criminal element, and both use various themed weapons in combat. They even both come replete with specialized vehicles and well-armed mansions.
However, Moon Knight's origin and personality make him quite distinct from DC comics' Dark Knight. Marc Spector's origins as a ruthless mercenary define him as a unique individual: a man with exceptional fighting skills, yes, but one with sometimes dubious motives and actions who fights to redeem his dark past. Moreover, his multiple personalities (Marc Spector, Steven Grant, Jake Lockley and finally the vigilante Moon Knight) provide the character with a great deal of psychological depth. Maintaining these separate personalities has often taken a huge mental toll on Spector, which offers up an intriguing dilemma of personal identity and motives: Who is he, really? Does he even know? More often than not, Moon Knight remains a mystery, even to himself.
Character biography
Origin
Moon Knight was originally Marc Spector, an American rabbi's wayward son who had become a mercenary. As a mercenary he became a skilled combatant, and befriended the French pilot Jean-Paul DuChamp, who he came to call "Frenchie". While the pair were working for the African mercenary Raoul Bushman in Egypt, he stumbled upon an archaeological dig whose crew included Dr. Peter Alraune and his daughter Marlene. The dig had uncovered an ancient temple whose artifacts included a statue of the Egyptian god Khonshu. Bushman stated his intent to loot the dig; this provoked Dr. Alraune to attack Bushman, a decision that cost him his life. In response to Alraune's murder, Spector challenged Bushman to personal combat; he was beaten nearly to death and left to die in the sub-zero temperatures of the desert night.
Spector was found by nearby Egyptians who worshipped the ancient Egyptian gods and was carried to their temple. His heart stopped, but he did not die. Khonshu appeared to him in a vision, offering Spector his life if he would serve the god on Earth. Spector was returned to life in a haze. He concealed himself within the silver shroud that covered Khonshu's statue and again confronted Bushman. He defeated Bushman and returned to America with Marlene Alraune, Frenchie, and the statue of Khonshu that had seemingly empowered him. With no further communication from Khonshu, he determined that he had hallucinated the encounter; nevertheless, he decided to become a crimefighter. He created a silver cloaked costume, based on the appearance of the shroud he had worn while battling Bushman, and became the Moon Knight.
On his first outing as the Moon Knight, he battled the werewolf Jack Russell, better known as the Werewolf by Night. After this encounter he laid low for a time; during this period the money that he had accumulated as a mercenary had grown into a small fortune, thanks to wise investments on Spector's part. To distance himself from his mercenary past he created the identity of the millionaire Steven Grant, using this identity to purchase a spacious estate; to remain in contact with the common man he also created the identity of taxicab driver Jake Lockley. Resuming his activities as Moon Knight, he battled a number of criminals and supervillains of a bizarre and mystical nature. However, the stress of maintaining four separate identities began to take its toll on his psyche. Marlene convinced him to retire the Grant and Lockley aliases, to sell the statue of Khonshu, and to retire as Moon Knight.
Fist of Khonshu
However, he was soon telepathically summoned to Egypt by the cult of Khonshu who had saved his life. They gave him a small arsenal of moon-themed projectile weaponry, such as throwing discs and crescent-shaped blades, originally designed by Hawkeye during a jaunt to ancient Egypt. Khonshu himself then appeared to Spector and entered his body, giving him superhuman strength which waxed and waned with the phases of the moon. As the direct agent of Khonshu he recovered the statue of Khonshu and joined the West Coast Avengers, but at the cost of alienating Marlene and Frenchie. Khonshu was eventually forcibly expelled from his body by Daimon Hellstrom. Reuniting with his friends, Moon Knight began his career of adventuring anew. He died in battle, only to be once again resurrected by the statue of Khonshu.
Ultimate Moon Knight
Image:Usmmoonknight.jpgMoon Knight first appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man #79 during the Warriors story-arc. He was an active participant of a gang war waged by the Kingpin and newcomer Hammerhead. He didn't really side with anyone; he wanted the Kingpin and Hammerhead to be taken down, yet at the same time he considered Spider-Man to be a nuisance that needlessly put innocent lives in danger.
In the climax of the arc, Moon Knight along with several other characters, ambushed Hammerhead's penthouse. During the battle, he was impaled by the assassin Elektra.
Later, when Elektra was about to kill Black Cat, Moon Knight managed to gain enough strength and subdue Elektra via a moon-blade to head, saving Black Cat before he slipped into a coma.
There was no mention of any supernatural origin to this Moon Knight, although it seemed clear that he was expert with weapons and martial arts. It was also noted that he had a form of dissociative identity disorder; the "identities" of Steven Grant, Marc Spector and Moon Knight all appeared as separate people in a "dream sequence" of sorts. There was also a little girl present in the dream, although whether or not she factors into Moon Knight's psyche remains to be seen.
Powers and Abilities
Over the course of his life as a U.S. Marine, boxer, mercenary, C.I.A. operative and costumed superhero, Marc Spector has become one of the finest hand-to-hand combatants in the world. He is an Olympic-level athlete and excels as a combat strategist. He has employed a variety of weapons of the course of his career, including throwing darts and a truncheon similar to Daredevil's. He is a superb driver and can pilot a helicopter, though he usually leaves this to Frenchie.
At the beginning of his second series, Moon Knight attained superhuman strength which waxed and waned with the phases of the moon. He was also given special weapons by the cult of Khonshu, including bolas, golden throwing darts shaped like scarabs and a golden club in the shape of an ankh that glowed in the presence of danger. Most of these weapons were crafted by Hawkeye (see under "Fist of Khonshu" above).
During his third series, Moon Knight's silver-white costume was improved to include adamantium, and he acquired an array of high-tech weaponry.
Awards
The 1999 miniseries was a votegetter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Limited Series for 1999.