Broken Frontier

Marc Spector is confronted by one of his greatest evils while begging for redemption at the feet of Lord Khonshu, but he gets interrupted when an old friend pays him a visit.

This new series continues to drag the good name of Marc Spector through the mud for the sake of telling an effective story. I don’t think I have ever read a more oppressive and unapologetic series than this one here, and you get the feeling that writer Charlie Huston has stripped Moon Knight right down in order to build him back up again to make a glorious return to greatness. Well, if that’s the case then I am hoping he cuts to the chase real soon because I don’t know how much I can take seeing this poor guy down on his luck.

In the opening scene of this issue, Marc is reeling after learning the fate of his good friend Frenchie. He’s completely unhinged and he is so pitiful looking while begging for redemption on his knees. It’s come to the point that he can’t distinguish between reality and fantasy, and before he can bat an eyelash a gory effigy of Bushman sporting a skinned face pays him a visit. It turns out that Lord Khonshu is playing a cruel trick on Marc, as he chooses to reveal himself through the Bushman. He tells Marc that he has never left him and once assurances have been made, Marlene shows up unannounced and interrupts the proceedings. She’s fuming at Marc and thus blames him for Frenchie’s predicament. Some harsh words are exchanged between them, but their argument is cut short by the unexpected arrival of a troublesome foe.

Now as I mentioned earlier, this issue is so unapologetic in terms of tone and scope. So of course it takes a writer with enough gumption like Huston to tear down a hero in this manner in order to examine him. I can’t say I expected the character to be written as darkly as he is portrayed here, but that isn’t such a stretch given Charlie Huston’s background as a crime novelist. He’s been known to craft his stories around seedy locales and fill them with morally corrupted characters, and much of that formula is utilized here in Moon Knight. So far this formula has painted a much different interpretation than what was originally established with the 80’s series, but Charlie has borrowed many plot elements from that run to infuse his opening story arc.

One of the other key aspects to the series so far is artist David Finch’s contributions to the overall look. I can’t think of a better artist to be helming this type of material and he seems so at home on this book in doing so. I never thought he was the appropriate choice for New Avengers and I think his gritty style is the perfect foil here for most part. I have mentioned this before, but David employs a style that uses many close-up panels to convey his storytelling abilities, and I don’t think it works all the time for my tastes. I just wish he would pull back some more on his panels and use the close-ups more sparingly. This would make his work more appealing for me and less distracting as I am reading the issue.

I think at this juncture the series seems to be going in the right direction. It’s certainly a much darker take on the character than I expected, but there are a number of key factors going here to make this incarnation of Moon Knight a fair comparison to the classic 80’s run. We’ve had four issues now to take this all in and both writer and artist have gut-punched the readers with an unflinchingly gritty portrayal, and I am wondering how much we can take of this. I know I am a glutton for punishment so you can bet I’ll be back for the fifth issue.