‘Moon Knight’ Gets Professional Help for New Series
Phillip Morgan ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Moon Knight has always been one of those characters that can’t quite catch a break, as well as one that a great deal of writers has no idea what to do with. Some try to push him as “Marvel’s Batman” and rob him of his own unique identity, whereas others dive a little too far into the “possessed by Khonshu, the Egyptian Moon God” aspect and stray from the horror/noir detective beats at the core of his persona. That being said, The Night’s Greatest Detective has been on the rise lately, following a critically acclaimed six-issue run by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey and a superb follow-up by Brian Wood and Greg Smallwood. It looks like Marvel realizes what Moon Knight is capable of in the right hands. Now writer Jeff Lemire (Extraordinary X-Men, Old Man Logan, All-New Hawkeye) is teaming up with returning artist Greg Smallwood to catapult Moon Knight back into the spotlight.
Judging by the teased cover (shown above), the new series will kick off with Marc winding up in an mental institution, which raises all sorts of question about his ever-unstable mental state, but Lemire was pretty vague in an interview with comicbook.com, only saying, “this new series will explore identity, mental health, and mysticism, but at its heart is a story about friendship.” His description of the asylum in question does give off a One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest vibe, complete with abusive doctors and a haunted house-like atmosphere, along with reassurances that the story won’t “be a preachy polemic on the issue of mental health,” and that it has plenty of “humor, heart, and horror” to go around.
Even more interesting is Lemire’s quip, “if you think the hospital is bad, wait ‘til you see what’s waiting for him outside,” along with his desire to “write one of the best Moon Knight stories ever, one that breaks new ground and shows readers a Moon Knight they’ve never seen before.” It sounds like Lemire’s in it for the long haul, eager to craft the definitive contemporary Moon Knight run a la Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye or Mark Waid’s Daredevil—or even his own ground-breaking run on Animal Man for DC Comics. Based on Greg Smallwood’s teased interiors, this could be one of the most surreal and brutal runs on Moon Knight in the character’s history (which is saying a lot), and it’s high time The Night’s Greatest Detective got his due.