Moon Knight, Vol. 1: From the Dead

Moon Knight, Vol. 1: From the Dead by Warren Ellis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Moon Knight, and his alter ego, consulting detective Mr. Knight, take on a slasher, a sniper, ghost punks, some kind of nightmare creature, kidnappers, and a cop that wants to replace him.

For years, I dismissed Moon Knight as a lame Batman ripoff. After Aaron told me this was the best thing he's read on Marvel Unlimited so far, I had to try it.

Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey have crafted six awfully fucking great issues of Moon Knight here. Each of the six issues is a self-contained story that explores Moon Knight's psyche as he takes down criminals who threaten people in the night. Ellis' writing is as crisp as ever. Declan Shalvey's art reminds me of David Aja's on Hawkeye and the coloring perfectly sets the tone. Moon Knight and Mr. Knight are uncolored rather than white, making them stand out against the rest of what's going on.

Moon Knight's alter ego, Mr. Knight, is actually my favorite part of the book. A white suited man with a white mask working with police as a consulting detective is a pretty slick angle on the character. The Moon Knight identity is more of a lethal lunatic version of Batman, more akin to the Christopher Nolan Batman than the Batman of the comics.

My notions of Moon Knight being a Batman ripoff were dispelled in this volume. Batman wears dark colors to hide in the dark. Moon Knight wears white so his enemies see him coming. Pretty bad ass. I also like the notion that Moon Knight is brain damaged and cycles between the four aspects of Khonshu.

It's a damn shame that Ellis and Shalvey only did six issues of this. I'd read years of Moon Knight comics if they were of this quality. I hereby admit this volume of Moon Knight to the pantheon of great comics put out in the last ten years. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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