I have absolutely loved Moon Knight. This title has been an incredible read. Huston flat out “gets” Moon Knight and writes the best Moon Knight since Doug Moenich. Finch’s artwork fits this title like a glove. I fully expect Moon Knight #3 to be just as rockin’ as the first two issues. Let’s hit the review.
Creative Team
Writer: Charlie Huston
Penciler: David Finch
Inker: Danny Miki
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: The issue starts with the Profiler giving a slide show presentation on Marc Spector to some mysterious committee. The Profiler tells the committee that Marc Spector, Jean-Paul Duchamp and Bushman were all close friends who fought in Iraq during Desert Storm. That during the war, they found time to take carte of some personal business. On one personal mission, they went to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt to a new discovered set of chambers. The three go to Egypt to ransack these chambers. Chaos ensues and the doctor heading up the excavation dies and his daughter is in distress as the source of dispute. Bushman takes one side and Spector and Duchamp takes the other side. Spector and Bushman fight and Bushman kills Spector. Spector dies in the tomb. Then the Egyptian god of the moon, Khonshu, brings back Spector as its avatar on Earth. That is when Spector became Moon Knight. From then, everything changed. Spector took on various personalities: Marc Spector (a mercenary), Steven Grant (millionaire philanthropist), Jake Lockley (a cab driver) and Moon Knight. That these personalities are why Spector was so wildly misjudged when the committee’s predecessors first tried to recruit him.
During these scenes with the Profiler talking to the Committee, we see Marc arrving at Frenchie’s restaurant to meet with him. We see that Frenchie has lost both his legs from the knees down. Frenchie has two prosthetic legs from the knees down. There Frenchie introduced Marc to Rob who is Frenchie’s partner. Yeah, Frenchie is gay. (Ooookay. That is a seriously big change to that character.) Understandably, Marc is stunned. Frenchie tells Marc that all the women he had in the past were simply beards. Marc angrily snaps that they were friends and that Frenchie should have told him. Frenchie then tells Marc that Marlene knew that Frenchie was gay. That Marc was the only person he didn’t tell. Marc asks Frenchie if he asked him here just to tell him that he is gay. Frenchie then responds that he did not ask Marc here. That Crawley told Frenchie that Marc wanted to see him. Marc is pissed at Crawley. Marc gets up to leave and tells Frenchie that he is nothing but a liar.
We cut back to the Profiler telling the Committee that in recent times, Khonshu’s influence waned. This enables the Profiler to “see” Spector and to profile him. That accurately profiled, Spector could be given a new reason to live. The Profiler’s plan is first, isolate Spector from his remaining means of support. Then provide a catalyst. An incitement to violent action. Then things will move very quickly after that. A simple matter of action and reaction. We then see some thug punch out Rob and then attack Frenchie. The thug pulls off one of Frenchie’s prosthetic legs and proceeds to beat Frenchie bloody with the leg.
We then cut to a badly injured Frenchie in a hospital bed with Rob by his side. Marc enters the room and shakes Rob’s hand. Marc then leaves. We then see Marlene arrive at Frenchie’s room. We then shift to Marc walking into an alley and confronting the thug who attacked Frenchie. Marc pulls out a sword from his cane and impales the thug’s face with the sword. Marc then repeatedly stabs the thug.
We shift back to the Profiler tells the committee that the profile is completed. One of the committee members then admits that he has already executed one of the final phase contingencies. The Duchamp contingency. The Profilers calls the committee member an idiot. The impact of executing the wrong contingency at the wrong moment means that they have now given Spector a reason to live again. A reason other than the one they planned to give him. That they have resurrected a killer to the bone for the third time. The head of the Committee then says activate Contingency T. Suddenly, the committee member who activated the Duchamp contingency is killed by two pens through his eyes. And…intro the Taskmaster. End of issue.
Comments:
The Good: Hudson comes through with another great issue! Moon Knight #3 was well done. Hudson finally reveals Moon Knight’s origin and some back story in order to familiarize new readers with this character. I liked the way that Hudson weaved in the origin story through the Profiler while playing out the meeting between Frenchie and Marc at the same time.
The meeting between Frenchie and Marc was well done. The fact that Crawley set up the meeting in order to get the two men back together was exactly what I was expecting. And Marc’s reaction to Frenchie revealing that he is gay and that Marc was the only person he did not tell was spot on. Marc isn’t mad that his best friend is gay. Marc is infuriated that his best friend would lie to him for all these years. It is completely understandable that Marc feels hurt and betrayed by his old friend.
Hudson’s penchant for violence is well displayed in the scene where Frenchie gets mercilessly beaten by his own prosthetic leg. What a brutal and fantastic scene. And the scene where Marc gets his revenge on that thug by repeatedly stabbing him was powerful and emotional. You can feel Marc’s rage. There is no doubt that Marc is nothing more than a killer to his very core.
And the big hook at the end of the issue was the appearance of the Taskmaster. I like this character and cannot wait to see the Taskmaster lock horns with Moon Knight. It should be one brutal fight.
I like the Profiler. He is a wonderful character that is highly entertaining to read and has plenty of potential. One of the best parts about this character would be all the various descriptions and hidden secrets that he sees surrounding ever person that he looks at. I hope we get to see plenty of this character in the future.
Hudson has done an excellent job developing and writer all the different characters. Hudson clearly understands their personalities and does a solid job crafting their own individual voices. The dialogue is well done and makes this comic an enjoyable read. But, what is really impressive about Hudson is how well he can tell a story without using any words at all. Hudson goes 4 pages at the climax of this book without a single word. Frenchie being attacked, Marc at the hospital to see Frenchie and then Marc getting his revenge on the thug and then being reborn once again with a reason to live. All of this was incredibly portrayed emotionally and with great impact all without a single word. That is the sign of a great writer and a great artist.
This leads us right to David Finch’s art. Finch has done an excellent job on Moon Knight. That he can use his art alone to convey the emotions and feelings in that 4 page climax without the benefit of any dialogue is impressive. Finch conveys to the reader Marc’s rage, insanity and chaos that dwells inside of him. We can feel Marc’s shock when he finds out that Frenchie is gay. We can feel Marc’s betrayal as he walks away from Frenchie. Finch’s style matches the mood and tone of Hudson’s story. I couldn’t imagine another artist handling the art chores for this title other than Finch.
The Bad: Obviously, the big bomb in this issue is that Hudson makes Frenchie gay. I’m really not too sure how I feel about this. Usually, I strongly dislike when a new writer takes an old and established character and radically alter them in a manner that is completely inconsistent with their past behavior and character. Like when the TMK Legion of Super Heroes made Element Lad gay and revealed that Shvaughn Erin was actually a transsexual. It was such a ludicrous change with two characters that had absolutely nothing to do with their established history and personalities. Radical changes like that make zero sense and appear to be done by writers lacking talent so they have to resort to some type of nonsensical retcon of a character just for shock value. Anything done for shock value rarely is a good or long lasting idea.
Now, the Frenchie being revealed as gay isn’t on the same level of idiocy as the Element Lad/Shvaughn Erin storyline. However, I do think it was mainly done for shock value and to make Moon Knight more “cutting edge.” Having said that, personally I could care less if Frenchie is gay or not. As long as it leads to a good storyline, then I’m ok with it. I would not have made this move, but it is possible that a man Frenchie’s age and in his line of profession would keep his homosexuality in the closet.
Overall: Moon Knight #3 was another fantastic issue. Hudson and Finch deserve a lot of credit for delivering a solid read issue after issue. Moon Knight is one of the top 5 comics on the market right now. This title will not appeal to readers who shy away from overly dark, depressing and violent comic books. However, to everyone else, this is a comic book that you need to give a try. I think most of you will enjoy it.