By Eric Drumm
Moon Knight's personal war with himself rages on in May's MOON KNIGHT #10. Just getting back on his feet, Moony has a brand new nemesis to go along with his new lease on hero life--his former sidekick Midnight. Knowing Moon Knight, it's sure to be a strange and bloody one feud.
Written by acclaimed novelist Charlie Huston and welcoming new artist Mico Suayan with MOON KNIGHT #9, the sick and twisted world of Marc Spector gets murkier with every issue. Leaving the series with issue #13, Huston has created a dirtier Moon Knight than we have seen before. Knowing he is dealing with a fractured man, Huston's approach to the character was a frantic labor of love.
"These things are a lot more work than they look like," he says. "I think the popular perception of creating comics is of a bunch of overgrown adolescents bouncing ideas around the Marvel bullpen and pulling out the ones they think are coolest and going to work. The truth is that it's rather more like tweezing the wings from dead flies and transplanting them to disabled flies born without wings. If that makes sense. There's just an enormous amount of detail work involved in crafting a 22 page comic that develops character, moves plot, allows for the requisite amount of action, fits with Marvel continuity, and is, in fact, reasonably cool. It's fun, but it's most certainly work."
The series started out with a broken Marc Spector cursing the day Egyptian god Khonshu brought him back to life. However, through true grit, purpose and a dash of crazy thrown in, Spector is on his way to being the Fist of Vengeance once more. Huston sees Moon Knight as Spector's true calling, saying, "In terms of how I interpreted the original Doug Moench Moon Knight in the scripts I wrote, this is a title that's all about Spector trying to make that comeback. He's battered and past his prime and everything is hard. But being Moon Knight is the only thing that seems to give his life meaning, so he keeps dong it." Spector will need every bit of this drive to get through what's coming.
His former sidekick, Jeff Wilde, the short lived hero Midnight, was transformed into a cyborg and then thought killed by the Secret Empire during the
Spider-Man storyline "Round Robin: The Sidekick's Revenge." With bodies, and parts of bodies, showing up all over New York City, a resurfaced Midnight is calling out to his former partner and leaving a trail of death for Spector to follow. Just back in the game, Moon Knight has not only himself to worry about, but his supporting cast as well. Knowing both Spector the man and Moon Knight the hero, Midnight can strike against Moon Knight's former partner Frenchie or lost love Marlene Alruane. Will we see more of them as "Midnight Sun" continues? Huston says yes. "Frenchie and Marlene and the rest are the middle of the map. I think MOON KNIGHT is a team book. The periods in MK's past where writers approached him as a solo act and ditched the supporting cast were always far less interesting to me."
With new enemies popping up while still putting his mind and body back together, Marc Spector has a long road to recovery, and it will not be a nice trip. "I don't think you can take the title as we've established it now and make it sunny," says Huston. "The next writer will put their own stamp on the characters and stories and style, but I think it's safe to say MOON KNIGHT will remain a dark title sticking to the underbelly of the Marvel U."
"Midnight Sun" continues with a little visit from the
Punisher in MOON KNIGHT #10 by Charlie Huston and Mico Suayan on sale May 9.
