Moon Knight # 8 - Midnight Sun, Chapter 2: The Dead Don't Stay

Dang Moon Knight is just depressing. I love Charlie Huston's writing and David Finch's artwork is phenominal. But holy crap, Moon Knight needs to lighten up. I get it that he's gone through some hard times. He lost it all and now is trying to work his way back. But he's being such a jerk to everyone else in the process. It's like he's trying to push everyone away. It was a little hard to see his interaction with Captain America since this took place before his death. I did think it was gold when Marc told Cap that he and Stark should just get a room and leave everyone else out of their "war."

What's nice is we have some hardcore action here. Moon Knight is not holding back. He shouldn't since he is fighting for a spirit of Vengeance. What bothers me a teensy bit is the fact that he's pretty much a nut-bag. I don't know if Khonshu is actually talking to him now. He has in the past, sort of. And the appearance he takes and things he "does" is kinda whacky. Moon Knight never really had a fully stable mind, but now it's like it's about to completely shatter at any moment. That's what worries me. I want Moon Knight to stick around again. I want him to keep kicking butt but I don't want him to just be a psychotic vigilante. We've seen enough of those. Maybe he just needs Marlene back into his life to help him relieve some tension.

Moon Knight is no merciful vigilante...... and Captain America doesn't like that. That's why he's showed up at his door step to tell him to stay out of the Civil War, but Moon Knight tells him to leave and take the war with him! And while this is going on....... Khonshu is telling Moon Knight to just kill Cap!

Moon Knight ends up taking his aggression out on criminals.... Mercilessly

As if this isn't enough for one issue, there is still a deranged killer leaving clues (in the form of bodies!)for Moon Knight.

I can see why Marvel has revived Moon Knight, and I'm glad that they did...... CAUSE HE'S A PSYCHOPATH!!!

One of the reasons I like this series so much is that Charlie Huston takes the material seriously, but at the same time has no delusions about Moon Knight's current position in the Marvel Universe. One police detective that helps him with some info comments "Other cops get maybe Spider-Man. I get the king of the rejects." I hated Moon Knight's last on going comic book that was in the ill fated Marvel Knights team book. I cannot express how much I hated his characterization in that book. He was like a rich goofball that was excited to back up Daredevil's new team.

Huston had the right idea for Moon Knight's relaunch. The first story arc started with Marc Spector at the bottom, and he built him back up to being Moon Knight again. The character of Spector has always been on the edge of being mentally unstable when written properly. What else would you expect from a guy that has multiple personalities and worships the Egyptian God of Vengeance?

Now this second story arc brings MK in the current happenings of the Marvel Universe. Well that's not entirely true. So far this story arc takes place before Civil War #6 & #7, which explains why you see the recently deceased Captain America on the cover. I must say that I was more impressed with Huston's take on his main character meeting up with the leader of the Civil War resistance then most other writers have done in their own books. Almost every other writer has had their main characters show up Cap and Iron Man when meeting them concerning Civil War, and that's not what happens here.

Old Moon Knight fans should really be reading this story arc however. So far someone has been committing gruesome murders and leaving not so subtle hints that it's connected to the Midnight Man... and us as readers are given hints that it could be much more then that.

Spector is also plagued by having Khonshu (God of Vengeance) always talking to him... in the form of a faceless Bushman. Of course Marc is the only one who sees this... and the reader is never sure if it really is Khonshu, or if Spector is just crazy. Personally I hope it is never revealed to us either way. I enjoy not knowing.

Now, while some writers treat readers like they are complete morons by having dialog that just doesn't make sense to convey information to the reader. Good examples of this is having the hero explain their powers to the villain during a fight. Huston does the exact opposite... but he goes a little to far. He gives the readers a little to much credit on knowing who all these characters are. The reader clearly knows their is some connection between Moon Knight and the killer... but their is never any explanation as to who the Midnight Man is, or his son. It would be very beneficial to new readers if he found some way of letting them in on the history of Midnight Man. That would make the current story arc seem all that much more important to readers who aren't familiar with old Moon Knight stories. A good example of this is when Marc is surprised by someone at a crime scene, he yells out Mogart only to realize it's a police detective named Flint. No explanation is given to why he yelled out that name. Old MK readers however will know that Mogart is actually Midnight Man's real name. If new readers would have known this, they would realize that Marc isn't an idiot and already has an idea on who the murderer was... and is a little obsessive about it. There are even more implications that this has... but just in case they're planning on actually revealing this in the series I won't spoil it here.

David Finch's art has really improved through out the series. Some of his panels in the earlier issues were sometimes confusing and you weren't exactly sure what was happening. He has left that behind him now and really hit his stride. His style really fits the violent world that Charlie Huston is writing perfectly.

Although I'm greatly enjoying this series thus far, I don't find it very new reader friendly. Everything is in place, all the ingredients are here... Huston simply has to do some mild adjusting and this series will end up being great.