Huston’s Moon Knight is always a good read. It is a shame that we are nearing the end of Huston’s run on this title. Huston is going to be a tough act to follow for the next writer. I’m confident that Moon Knight #11 is going to be an enjoyable read. Let’s do this review.
Creative Team
Writer: Charlie Huston
Artist: Mico Suayan
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: We begin with a beaten and bloodied Moon Knight in the sewer at the mercy of Midnight. We then flashback to Marc threatening The Profile if he doesn’t tell Marc where he can find Midnight. The Profile gets all sarcastic about how Marc won’t beat him up since he has so many questions in his head that he wants the Profile to answer. That even includes question that Marc doesn’t even know he has yet. Marc gets irritated and begins to beat the crap out of The Profile and, once again, demands that The Profile tell him where he can find Midnight.
We cut to Marc getting into his Mon Knight costume. Terry loads the cannons on the Moon Copter and comments how Jean-Paul lost his legs and that Terry’s mom has already lost one son. That she won’t be losing another.
We flashback to Marc talking to Marlene at her office at the museum. Marc tells her that his mind has become clearer and that he wants her to be with him. Marlene scoffs at Marc and tells him to leave. Marc retorts that he just told her how he feels. Marlene responds that Marc just told her what he wants and not what he feels. That she is not interested in any more late-night phone calls, or being spied on or having to deal with a man who acts like a spoiled, selfish teenager.
Marc angrily rams one of the museum’s swords into Marlene’s desk and exclaims that he told her what he wants. Marlene says that Marc just proved her point. Marlene’s new boyfriend then enters and asks Marlene if she is ready to go. Marlene says she is ready and leaves the room.
We zip back to the present where the bloodied Moon Knight is getting back to his feet. Midnight gloats about how he is going to tear out Moon Knight’s spine. Then after he kills Moon Knight, that Midnight is going to torture and kill Marlene. Moon Knight puts on his spiked gauntlets and attacks Midnight.
We cut back to The Profile telling Marc that Midnight is in the sewers. That he is in his father’s old hideout. Marc tells The Profile that he can go now. The Profile spits out like he is going to leave just so Marc can track him down again and beat him senseless again for when Marc has a question that he already knows the answer to.
The Profile says that he is supposed to keep doing this until Marc gets the courage to ask the question that he really wants to know. The Profile says screw that plan and that he is going to answer Marc’s question right now. That she doesn’t love Marc anymore.
An enraged Marc lunges at The Profile and grabs him by the neck. The Profile then says that she could love Marc, again. But, only if Marc does what The Profile tells him to do. The Profile comments how Marc assumed it was enough for him to resume beating up new bad guys and that Marlene would do the hard part.
The Profile says that Marc expected Marlene to love him again and that he wouldn’t have to ask her for anything. The Profile says that Marc is pissed that Marlene has chalked him up as the same old selfish prick he always were. And that the whole time, all he ever had to do was just tell her how he feels. The Profile says that shouldn’t be any harder for Marc to do than it is for him to admit that Marc likes hurting people more than he likes saving them.
We cut to Moon Knight telling Terry that he doesn’t need a gun to take on Midnight. However, Moon Knight does say that if anyone comes out of the sewer other than Moon Knight to blow them all to hell.
We cut to Marc approaching Marlene and her boyfriend outside of the museum. Marlene tells Marc to grow up. Marlene’s boyfriend puts his hand on Marc’s shoulder to push him away. Marc puts Marlene’s boyfriend in a submission hold. Suddenly, Tony Stark appears at the entrance of the museum and asks Marc if he could be of any assistance.
We then shift back to the present with Midnight in a modified Moon Knight outfit. Moon Knight is tied to a large clock. Midnight says it is time to rip out Moon Knight’s spine. End of issue.
Comments
The Good: Moon Knight #11 was wonderfully paced. Huston gives us an excellent combination of strong character work and brutal action. Moon Knight #11 was a powerful and emotional read as Huston finally tackles the Marlene/Marc situation in earnest with this issue.
Huston’s dialogue was incredible. The amount of character development that Huston has pulled off with Marc Spector has been spectacular. The interaction between Marc and The Profile and between Marc and Marlene is pretty intense.
The scene with Profile and Marc was fantastic. This is the type of raw intensity and emotion that Huston regularly brings to this title. The Profile just slices Marc to his very core with the brutally honest answers to why Marlene no longer loves Marc. And Marc’s reaction is that of a caveman. Marc is a purely instinctual and primal creature who desires that he get everything he wants regardless of other people’s feelings.
The Profile continues to verbally spear Marc by adding on top of everything that Marc is the type of person who enjoys hurting people more than helping them. That Marc is only a “hero” so he can inflict pain and misery on people.
I love the handling of the relationship between Marlene and Marc. Marc comes across as a beast who views Marlene is his property. That just him saying that he wants her is enough for her to come back to him. And the violent anger that he immediately exhibits when Marlene rebuffs his advances harkens back to the dark side of their relationship in the past.
Huston has managed to tap into what makes Marc Spector such a captivating character. Marc is pure emotion. Marc is more than a collection of primal urges wrapped up in flesh. Huston uses the scene between Marc and The Profile and the scene between Marc and Marlene to show the reader that Marc is not a good guy. He is not a nice person. He isn’t a traditional hero. The reader may not always like Marc, but we are totally fascinated by his character. Marc Spector’s personality is like a grisly car wreck that you can’t take your eyes off of.
The Profile is a wonderful literary tool that allows the writer to give the reader plenty of insight into various characters. Plus, The Profile is just a cool character that opens up plenty of possibilities when introduced into a storyline.
Huston delivers a good hook ending that leaves our hero in a dire situation. We should certainly in store for one nasty, brutal and vicious final fight between Midnight and Moon Knight with the next issue.
Mico Suayan serves up some solid artwork on this issue. I still enjoy Finch’s style of art a bit more for Moon Knight, but Suayan still does a good job on this title.
The Bad: The flow of Moon Knight #11 was rather poor. I know what Huston was trying to achieve with how he framed the story in this issue. And I dig starting an issue in media res. I also dig cutting back and forth between present day scenes and flashback scenes.
Having said that, I feel that Huston went a bit too far with it in this issue. We hopped around between scenes in the present and past too often and it came across as far too disjointed. It gave Moon Knight #11 a schizophrenic and muddled feel to it.
The Initiative storyline is horribly misplaced in this issue. The Initiative plotline felt incredibly awkward and has absolutely no place in this issue at all. If feels shoehorned in and completely forced. The scene with Tony Stark appearing out of absolutely nowhere was just weird and it broke the flow of the story.
Huston already has created an incredibly complicated and textured storyline on Moon Knight. Huston has more than enough plotlines running around in Moon Knight that he didn’t have to introduce this unnecessary Initiative plotline into the mix at the tail end of his run on Moon Knight.
For me, even though Moon Knight exists in the 616 universe, he should be treated as separate from the rest of the 616 universe. Moon Knight works the best when he gets to operate on his own in his own little warped and dark corner of the universe.
Overall: Moon Knight #11 is another solid read. Huston continues to impress me with his work resurrecting Moon Knight’s character within the 616 universe. It is a shame that Marvel still does not have a replacement for Huston and that Moon Knight appears headed for a hiatus of an undetermined length of time. If you haven’t been getting Huston’s run on Moon Knight, then definitely pick up the trade paperback whenever it comes out.