Marvel Comics has a new MCU project on the way, which means a new Marvel-Verse is also on the way! This time it’s Moon Knight’s turn to get the introduction, experience giving MCU fans an understanding of who Moon Knight is in the comics. It’s essentially a smattering of the character’s early days and more modern stories, giving readers a taste of what inspired the MCU television show.
Collected here is Moon Knight’s two-part origin in Werewolf by Night #32-33, Moon Knight (1980) #13, Moon Knight Annual (2019) #1, material from Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #220. All in all, this is a decent introduction to the character starting with his goofy origin, a team-up with Daredevil and Spider-Man to show he’s not all bad, and finally a look at the godly element that has become more prominent in modern Moon Knight tales.
For a recap of all the Marvel-Verse books, be sure to read our reviews for Marvel-Verse: Moon Girl, Morbius, Thor, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, Shang-Chi, Captain Marvel, Deadpool & Wolverine, Iron Man, Venom, Thanos, and Black Panther — each one features various stories from the title character’s history.
The opening two-part story is all kinds of goofy with flowery captions by Doug Moench and good art by Don Perlin. Moon Knight is brought in to capture a werewolf by a bunch of rich jerks who likely do very illegal things. Somewhat comically, Marc Spektor is given the costume so as to capture the werewolf and even given the name. The character actually thinks the costume and name are dumb but goes along with it to get paid $10,000. In a rather clunky series of scenes, Moon Knight fights the werewolf and captures him, but then at the last second realizes the werewolf isn’t that bad and lets him go. The story is well worth reading for the language Moench uses that’s super fun and downright silly by today’s standards.
That time Moon Knight fought Kang…and won!
Credit: Marvel
Next up, Spider-Man teams up with Moon Knight to take down a bunch of criminals. They’re hosting a competition to see who can steal the most stuff and of course, Moon Knight is in the top three. It’s all a ruse, however, and Spider-Man is in on it. It’s a convoluted plan written by Michael Fleisher with art by Bob McLeod, but it’s fun nonetheless.
The Daredevil adventure written by Doug Moench with art by Bill Sienkiewicz is about as kooky as the Spidey tale. This story features the duo teaming up to stop the Jester. It’s a good vehicle to get the two heroes talking, fighting by accident, and eventually showing what they’re best at.
Wrapping up this book is the Moon Knight Annual originally published in 2019. Written by Cullen Bunn with art by Ibrahim Moustafa and Matt Horak, this story sees Moon Knight fight Kang across time and space. Opening with Kang robbing a Moon Knight from 2,500 B.C., we soon learn he’s after ancient artifacts that connect to the powers of Khonshu which also give Moon Knight his abilities. Soon, Moon Knight of our era is fighting to acquire the artifacts before Kang can get them. It’s a super fun jaunt through different eras in history and the various Moon Knight heroes that were active at the time. The book is slick as heck with great art and good character design for all the Moon Knight characters throughout time.
Marvel-Verse: Moon Knight is a nice surprise for the Marvel-Verse series of trade paperbacks. It not only reveals Moon Knight’s kooky side, but also the more modern version involving gods and incredible abilities. This collection also brings Moon Knight down to the street level with Spider-Man and Daredevil team ups. All in all, it’s a smattering of Moon Knight history, but it’s a great start.
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