Thanks to the recommendation of @fletcheris, I decided to read this comic/graphic novel in my quest to read all the Moonknight content available until Marvel makes a Season 2 on Disney +. My thoughts on this story? Just… Woah.
For starters, I loved the opening of the story with the vampire fight. Never would have imagined I’d see vampires come across Moon Knight/Mr. Knight’s path as is often shown dealing with criminals who bring harm to others during the night. Though, this entire situation makes sense as vampires, if not familiar with being turned or simply have no care for those around them, will cause harm to others to satisfy their blood thirst.
Also, I loved that he chose to let the victims of these vampires live as they are not at fault for being in the new condition that they are in. Something that Mr. Knight emphasizes throughout the text that he wouldn’t ever fault anyone for simply being what they are. Rather, it’s their actions that define that.
I enjoyed the whole idea of Mr. Knight creates the Midnight Mission for anyone that needs help throughout the night as well as the matter that he is like a priest (Moon Knight/Mr. Knight refers to himself as a “high priest”) as he is exorcising the evildoers who harm those “who travel at night”. On that note, I enjoyed the mentions of the Moon System’s Jewish heritage as well as the bouts of religious extremism and its impact on those who have it regarding how they view the world and interact with others.
Lastly, I truly appreciated the fact that all alters were mentioned as well as the fact that the therapy sessions were cohesive with the rest of the comic/graphic novel (something I felt was lacking in the previous one I read).
Wish I could say more than this but I would hate to spoil anything for anyone. Therefore, if anyone has read this, let me know your thoughts and what comic do you recommend I should read next?
Link to comic:
Kindle: https://amzn.to/45sVJNf
Amazon.com: Moon Knight Vol. 1: The Midnight Mission (Moon Knight (2021-2023)) eBook : MacKay, Jed, McNiven, Steve, Cappuccio, Alessandro: K
This story tells the tale of an up-and-coming opera singer, Christina Daaé, who gets entangled in a love triangle with the mysterious ghost of the Paris Opera House (who also happens to be her mentor) and a young man whom she has known since childhood. As the story progresses, topics such as love, obsession, and humanity become more prominent to the reader.
Upon reading the prologue, I was shocked to discover that the Phantom of the Opera was based on events that occurred (or what was believed to have occurred as it was never confirmed whether the Opera Ghost was real or not). It should be known by the reader that the author goes back and forth between the events of the book to how it occurred. (FYI: According to the author, the character of “Christina Daaé” was based on a real opera singer and her circumstances following the events that took place at the Paris Opera House during her time there).
While this story follows the obsessive love that the phantom/Erick has for Christine (which I’m not denying at all), I feel that Raoul (at least in the book) was just as guilty for this as the first half of the book consisted of trying to get in proximity of Christine even though she’d tell him that she would talk to him later as she needed rest. On note of this, Raoul would then take it her no as “oh, she only said that in front of others and is actually wanting to talk to him after she said she’d talk to him once she had rest”. And each time something didn’t go his way with her, Raoul would end up having a hissy fit as he lamented how a vixen of a woman could lead him on when early in the chapters he mentioned that he couldn’t marry a woman like her—guessing his has to do with his high status (This could truly go on).
Nevertheless, all the three main characters (Christine, Raoul, and Erik) were all so well written as there was more to them than the public displays they held amongst others. For example, Christine, a beautiful and talented opera singer, loved mingling with people wherever she traveled and hearing what they had to say as it reminded her of his childhood. Also, one would easily look at the successes she’s had throughout the book and think she’s the happiest person in the world when that’s far from the truth. I could only imagine how her story might’ve differed if she was able to properly heal before these events with both men had occurred.
This book has become one of my personal favorites. Probably in my top ten list of favorite books to be exact and that’s just because I’ve read a lot of books in my life already.
Links to book:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3MqWXlR
Amazon.com: The Phantom of the Opera (Signature Editions): 9781454954590: Leroux, Gaston: Books
WARNING: ⛔️‼️⚠️ Might have some spoilers. Proceed with caution if you haven’t read or aren’t familiar with Moon Knight yet and don’t want it spoiled.
This is the first Moon Knight comic that I decided to start with as I heard it was to be a basic introduction of the character(s) as a whole (can confirm that this is done regarding the superhero/vigilante persona).
With that in mind, I would like to start off by saying that I was so amazed with the amount of Moon Knight tech that was available (ex: self-driving limo and helicopter being the most out there; however, the limo did make an appearance at the end of reason 1 when Jake Lockley was finally introduced to the audience). Had no idea how many gadgets he actually had and could therefore see why some would compare Moon Knight to DC’s Batman.
Also, the violence in this was crazy and made me see why some fans felt there wasn’t enough of this on the Disney + series (I personally didn’t find anything wrong with this but to each their own).
Finally, I truly enjoyed the amount of psychology mentioned and used in the text by the characters. Particularly, how Moon Knight/Mr. Knight uses these techniques to try to reason with the people he deals with during a show down or crime investigation.
The only let down I could say I had about this comic/graphic novel was the lack of scenes from Marc Spector and his alters (Steven Grant and Jake Lockley). Though, I know the whole point of various volumes is to get the reader reeled into reading the next part.
Link to comic:
Amazon.com: Moon Knight Vol. 1: From The Dead eBook : Ellis, Warren, Shalvey, Declan, Shalvey, Declan, Shalvey, Declan: Kindle Store
While I have always been a Batman fan, I’ve recently become interested in learning more about his second Robin (a.k.a Jason Todd) that eventually comes to be known as the Red Hood. Hence, why I wished to start with the comic that gives an outline to his story as Red Hood.
Upon reading this, I was shocked to learn that this Robin was disliked by some fans at the time of this series to the point that they chose (based on a vote poll that was conducted by DC at the time) to kill him off—and in a gruesome way for the time (yes, I’ve heard/seen some of the ways the Joker torment Jason in Batman: Arkham Knight and Batman: Under the Red Hood). All because he wasn’t like Dick Grayson/Nightwing.
Like children, Dick and Jason aren’t supposed to be the same person because they are two different people. Was Jason a bit more rebellious than Dick? Yes, there’s no denying that. But the reader (especially those reading this comic as it came out) should be aware that this rebellious nature is coming from an orphaned kid who lived on the rough side of the neighborhood (and in Gotham at that). Bruce was aware of that and never really seemed to fault Jason for it as he was quite familiar with the situation—to the point that he was willing to help Jason in his quests to find his father’s killer and eventually his birth mother.
While some might say that Jason Todd was Batman/Bruce Wayne’s greatest failure… I can’t say that it’s for him being negligent/neglectful towards him as he was trying to be respectful of his teenage ward’s life and in the choices he made. Yes, Bruce says that he brought on Jason Todd due to Batman needing a Robin. Though, I think Bruce also brought on Jason because he saw himself in him and because things went well with Dick Grayson that he wanted to experience that again.
Despite a few inconsistencies and repetitiveness, this comic was a great read to introduce readers like myself to Jason Todd (who I wish had been in more media—like Batman: The Animated Series—to show the gap between Dick Grayson and Tim Drake (guess Jason was hated so much that they didn’t want to risk it) as it gives a great foundation on his character as Robin (and eventually his origin story to Red Hood). Looking forward to reading more about the complexities and characterization of Jason Todd.
Links to book:
Kindle:
Amazon.com
Paperback:
Amazon.com: Batman: A Death in the Family The Deluxe Edition: 9781779509178: Starlin, Jim, Aparo, Jim: Books
Rating: 5/5 ⭐️ (If I could give it a higher rating, I would 😁)
Spicy : 4/5🌶️
Emelle is back! Her goal? To save her three handsome genfins from the Culling. A set of trials that could lead to their death if not successful at working together. On top of this, she also has a fae prince still out to get her, his princess who isn’t as she appears, a lamussa fae who claims to be her mate, and a fae rebellion on the horizon.
Nevertheless, none of this will prevent her from doing what needs to be done in making sure her guys come back to her, safe and sound.
Finally got around to reading the second part of this series… and just…wow!!!
While one has the book summary to go from when deciding to read a novel or not, it cannot be said how and what will happen based on or surrounding those said events.This was the case for this book in the best way possible.
I don’t want to spoil the story too much by getting into any of that, but I will say that there’s a lot of depth that takes place between the characters and the world building. Though, it’s the characters that amazed me more as I got to learn more about some that were briefly introduced (ex: Princess Soora), characters that I thought I already knew (ex: Ronak), and met some new ones altogether (ex: Okot).
Also, enjoyed the fact that we (the readers) got to leave the island where we first met Emelle’s guys and explore more of the fae realm where the events of the Culling Trials take place. Some of the issues within these events are similar to those mentioned in the Hunger Games as well as occurred in a few other well-known stories; done so in a way that seems familiar but also like its own thing.
Seems this series has only gotten better since the first book. Therefore, I hope this will be true for books 3-5.
The second comic in Hutson’s series takes place sometime after the ending of the first comic. Though Marc is officially Moon Knight again, there’s still a lot of work ahead to get to the point where he was at in his prime.
While Marc is back to Moon Knighting (with Khonshu continuing to appear to Marc as Bushman ever taunting him), he has a few heroes (Spider-Man, Captain America, The Punisher, and Iron Man) coming in to check in on him that he’s not crossing any lines. As this is going on, a person from Marc/Moon Knight’s past makes an appearance in the hopes of taking Marc’s progress and bringing him back to square one (which consists of breaking him physically, mentally, and emotionally).
Despite the first part of the story starting off strong, the latter of it gets lost when Marc is facing the mysterious villain Midnight, who was supposedly once his sidekick; it didn’t help that the artwork on the last section of the comic changed completely (making it incohesive with the rest of the story). At one point, it seemed that three events were going on that made it hard for me/the reader to understand which event was going on in real time and which of the other two were flashbacks/memories.
Nevertheless, the story eventually gets back on track (despite the changing artwork that failed to follow the stories up until that point). What really made this story interesting from the previous part (as well as the comics I’ve read so far) is that we finally get some Jake Lockley and Steven Grant appearances. Albeit in therapy but it’s a start. So hopefully they’ll be in the next part of this series.
