Moon Knight #196 Review/SPOILERS

[Prof. Warren]

There were a number of really excellent books out this week: Thor #2, Venom #3, Black Panther #2, Multiple Man #1 and Sentry #1 to name a few but I have to give a special shout out to Moon Knight #196.

Writer Max Bemis continues to make this one of my favorite current reads. He's teamed up again with the guest artist from last issue, Paul Davidson, to finish off the two-parter featuring new villain The Collective.

As the previous issue ended with Moon Knight becoming absorbed into the hive mind entity known as The Collective, this issue largely takes place within that strange shared mindscape. Marc is given the tour of the mad world inside of the Collective by the scientist who initiated its creation. Instead of being a sterotypical baddie with sinister plans, Maurice actually wants Marc, with his skill set as a crimefighter and his experience with multiple personalities, to bring some order to the chaos of the Collective.

As they're no limits inside the Collective, Marc is able to summon an array of other selves, other variations on his Moon Knight persona, to wage epic battles in every corner of the Collective's mindscape. When this still leaves the Collective as a rampaging beast in the real world, Marc has to figure out how to get to the core of the Collective's dysfunction.

I won't spoil any more story details but I really enjoyed this two-parter. I don't believe I've ever encountered Davidson's art before but he was a perfect fit for this story, lending it an appropriate level of surrealism while still playing it straight as an action story. He also is adept at conveying the dry humor of Bemis' script.

Bemis has been on the book since 188, and nine issues into his run, I think it's one of the best runs MK has ever been blessed with. I imagine it's not for everyone. Bemis has a particular sense of humor and there's a definite quirkiness to his approach to MK but, for me, it works. I love that there's a playful, weird energy to it and that it seems to occupy it's own strange corner of the MU. It's a book that you just can't imagine there ever being an event tie-in with. It's an entity unto itself. When it came out, Tom King's Vision series was described by some (maybe even by King himself, I can't recall) as being Marvel's "Vertigo moment" and Bemis' Moon Knight feels like it falls under that banner as well.

Another favorable thing I have to say about this run is that it's introduced two new villains right off the bat - the Sun King and The Collective - and they've both been great and feel very specific to Moon Knight's world. You couldn't put them against another hero like, say, Daredevil and have the conflict make sense. A lot of writers, when they take over a book, claim that they want to add to a character's rogue's gallery but yet they rarely live up to that promise but Bemis has effortlessly given Marc two new adversaries that feel like they could easily be regular staples going forward.

I don't know what the general reaction is to this run but I'm an enthusiastic fan and I hope it keeps going for awhile. #200 is just around the corner so I hope something big - or at least something special - is planned for it. I imagine that, post #200, the impulse will be to relaunch with a new #1 and a Fresh Start but whether any renumbering occurs or not, every effort should be made to keep Bemis on board for as long as he has MK stories to tell.

[Tazpocalapse]

Yeah i enjoyed this issue as well. I really like how Bemis is balancing the different aspects of MK and making it mesh well.