im super interested in moon knight but not sure where to start/which runs are good or not, what would you suggest reading??
YES PLEASE READ MOON KNIGHT
Moon Knight is kind of easier to get into than a lot of heroes i think bcs hes had less comics and not.. all of them are worth reading and the ones that ARE are generally short ANYWAY
where you want to start is with the 2014 run by Warren Ellis
its only six issues and you can get it in a single collected volume (called From the Dead)
its a collection of six short stories about Moon Knight and highlights the best of the character. what you need to understand about Moon Knight is that while hes what youd consider a “street level hero” his comics (or the best ones at least) tend to be laced with the gothic and supernatural. his stories are often dark, sad and without real happy resolution. he is a deeply unhappy man with a traumatic past trying to make sense of a fractured, unstable life and the Ellis stories really highlight that.
also they are... unbelievably beautiful
i wont even post some of the best art because i would not want to spoil how breathtaking it is
after Warren Ellis’ six issue run the 2014 book was followed up by eleven issues by different writers (going from #7-#17) which are in the same theme of Ellis’ work and while they arent... on the same height of writing and artistic excellence theyre still pretty good
but whats most important is the 2016 book by Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood
discounting Watchmen, which is my favourite thing ever because of a lot of reasons, this is my favourite comic ever written. it is... incredible.
the Lemire book is 14 issues and a single story and probably resonated more with me than anything else. like just anything else
2016 Moon Knight has Marc Spector waking up in an asylum with no idea how he got there, being told everything about his life is a lie -- leaving him to unravel the truth about himself and his identity. it is about trauma, mental illness, and learning how to accept that while your mental illness may be a permanent part of you, it is something you can learn to live with. its about having DID and the ways in which that can be a good, loving part of you. its about recovery and hope.
it is beautiful and heart-rendering and i think one of the most exciting and different things ever done in comics
if you get through both of those and want more, then i would actually recommend going all the way back to the original Moon Knight from 1980! it is.. a mixed bag, a lot of it is old and weird and very dated but a lot of its also dazzlingly beautiful, helped by Bill Sienkiewicz’s incredible visuals. i would recommend just skipping through it and finding issues that grab you -- the episodic nature of it makes this pretty easy.
i also think its a really fascinating book... like Ellis’ run, it tends to be short stories, often supernatural and gothic and sad, dealing with the futility of life and the difficulty of Marc’s relationships and his fractured identity and trauma. a lot of the time theres no happy ending, only the attempt to try and do the right thing, if you can figure out what that is.
after that, it gets more... difficult...
Marc Spector: Moon Knight (1989) -- a mostly fun and decent follow-up to the first Moon Knight book. more traditionally superhero-y. dated and silly but enjoyable
Moon Knight (2006) -- unreadable garbage
Vengeance of the Moon Knight (2009) -- its okay. has some fun issues.
Moon Knight (2011) -- total waste of fucking time, Bendis at his absolute worst. ruins everything good about the character and does a lot of shitty nonsense
Moon Knight (2016 #188-#200) -- after Jeff Lemire finished his beautiful and moving piece about coping with mental illness and learning to accept yourself, they handed the book to Max Bemis, who proceeded to write a pile of fucking unspeakable fucking trash that i would not wipe a dogs arse with. avoid at all costs.
and he hasnt had anything since Bemis’ run got cancelled earlier this year! we can only hope ... he gets something else...
anyway all this is a lot of information to say read Warren Ellis and Jeff Lemire and see how it goes. those are the best and even if you dont ever care about anything else theyre some of the best comics ive ever read, period.
