#the bottom

The art in this is pretty damn good. Crisp, east to take in, and filled with detail. My god the detail. This art style speaks heavily of the comics of the time where new art styles were pushing away from the incredibly heavy handed style of the 90s.

We open on a picture of New York City on a random portion looking at all the buildings that anyone an look at and immediately think "Ah, New York".

We immediately get Marc monologuing and new readers learn that Moon Knight is not your typical Hero.

"Someone has to do this... The other guys, the 'World Savers', they got their own jobs to do. A giant monster pops out of the ground in the financial district? Call the Fantastic Four. Magneto trying to wipe out the human race? X-Men on the job. Invasion of alien vessels? That's what the Avengers are for. That leaves 'THIS'. Daredevil? What's he gonna do, Brachiate from Hell's Kitchen to Spanish Harlem? Spidey? He's got his hands full with all the B-List Super-Villains. So someone has o do this. Someone has to do the FUN stuff."

Yup. This pretty much is the lot of Moon Knight. He isn't an Avenger level hero. He isn't even local to a specific area (yet). He isn't Daredevil or Spider-man. He goes around getting into the nasty fights that most heroes leave to the streets or cops.

And we get our first look at the man. I've never been a fan of the incredible over muscled hero design that came out of the 90s and lasted through much of the early to mid 2000s. But there is something about the costume itself that is beautiful. The silver cuffs that calls back to his werewolf fighting days. The defined hood, the cape that just has no real shape. And the eyes! This is our first official glowing eyes Moon Knight (We'll get to that later with the updated tech).

I'm also weak when it comes to downwards shots that look like they are going up while falling.

And look at that Moon Copter up there! Classic. Just Classic....

We now get up close shots of the criminals shoot at one another from cars. I do love the details in the faces. It's not pretty, but it isn't grotesc. It's human. I really appreciate the art.

Now we see one guy lean out the window to shoot his gun and suddenly his gun goes flying from his hand. He looks up and fear strikes across his face.

"People want to know. How can I live like this? The risks? The blood I've spilled? The times I've descended into Madness?"

We see Moon Knight stomp down into the first car, crashing it and flipping it. He tumbles through the air towards the second car.

One guy is pulled from the side window and tossed into the street, leaving the Driver stunned and alone.

"The times I've died? Hell... How can I live like this?"

A hook comes down and catches the hood of the car, ripping it up and causing the driver to crash into the first flipped car.

"How could I live any other way?"

Moon Knight lands in the street and prepares to check for anyone with fight left in them.... With his knuckle spikes.

"Avengers... I was an Avenger. Hard to be taken seriously in this town if you were never an Avenger. Sent me to the west coast B-Team. Hawkeye thought that was funny. Me in L.A."

A man pulls his gun and fires at the approaching Moon Knight only to get his hand crushed under a well done boot.

That leaves the other driver and his gun.

He fires, but it's hard to hit a silhouette when you've been in a car crash and just puts a hole in that nice cape. Moon Knight is not pleased.

"Hawkeye thought a lot of things were funny. 'Let me get this right, Moony. You work mostly at night? And you dress all in white? Har-dee-har har.' Thought that was a riot. Told him I don't wear the white to hide myself."

Ready for it? Here it comes. This is where the classic line really sets in and defines our Modern Moon Knight.

"I wear it so they'll SEE me coming. So they'll know who it is. 'Cause when they see the white, it doesn't matter how good a target I am."

"Their hands shake so bad, they couldn't hit the Moon. But I never told him the other reason. I never told him that a priest doesn't change the color of his investments to suit himself. No. He wears them proudly. PROUDLY, in his god's service. Some people get it. When I told Frenchie the Moon 'Copter had to be built crescent shaped, he almost quit. But he didn't ask why. He knew it was to praise my Lord Khonshu.To thank him for making me his blade of Vengeance. To thank him for letting me do this. The Fun Stuff."

Moon Knight nicely puts the criminals into slumber town and dramatically ascends back into his Moon Copter in the rain while the lighting crashes around him.

He leaves behind two crashed cars on fire blazing in the street with criminals curled up into balls in the gutter. The cops and fire department have arrived to clean up the mess.

Now this? This is an action opening worthy of a movie. Dramatic, introduces the hero and his standings with his past, his ethics, his struggles, and lets the reader know what to expect.

The issue? We've come out of the 90s and they leaned heavily into the Ankh and Egyptian worship that a King-Tut Revival had taken the world by storm. We are going to get a LOT of Khonshu and Moon Worship talk in these runs. Jewish Moon Knight? He isn't going to have much to say in this and I didn't know this was an issue at the time, because I was not familiar with Judaism or with OG Moon Knight at the time.

I'm going to say it here so I don't have to keep harping on it - I strongly disagree with the direction of Moon Knight and his religious takes in these runs. He's Jewish. The leaning into him worshiping Khonshu as his one God is wrong. Let's see if they surprise us at ALL by mentioning his Jewish upbringing.

What I want you to take in these comics is the mental place Marc is falling into. The crumbling of his relationships and the way it will slowly push us towards what Lemire had to take up and fix. Consider this run the start of the path to Lemire.

In fact, this next panel is ripped on by Smallwood and is also a call back to Sienkiewicz.

"No, being a part of a team was never for me. But that doesn't mean you have to go it alone. That doesn't mean you don't have help. Friends. A Home. A church."

This part is especially painful knowing where things ended up. And we can consider all of this to be "Marc Vision".

Marc vision of a perfect life he had.

An action movie moment of stopping the bad guys. A heroic exit to his loyal friend who aids him any time he needs without question.

Heading to his home and family. His ever present Khonshu statue. His love. Marlene. A perfect relationship where he is loved and wanted. Filled with roses and beauty.

We see the scenes play out again in single panels. Action of him saving someone. Frenchie saluting loyally from the chopper. Marlene waiting up for him.

"And again. And Again."

The panels repeat but start to fade. Star to distort.

"Over and Over."

I think about these panels a lot. Marc vision of his life and friends. His nostalgia for what he THINKS he had.

"Every night better than the one before. Every night another chance. Another chance. Please. Give me another chance. Khonshu."

And the images fade away into black. And we are left with Marc, alone.

In his empty mansion by his Khonshu statue in a wheelchair surrounded by broken bottles

"To be a hero."

Welcome to Moon Knight.

A broken man. We see flash backs of Moon Knight laying on the ground in a tangle of his cape and his twisted broken legs.

We see a Scarred up Marc remembering Bushman snarling at him. We see Marc struggle to open a bottle of prescription pills as he remembers ripping the face off Bushman.

We see Marc remember in his chair early on, yelling at Frenchie as he leaves a drunk and drugged up Marc behind. Frenchie who has lost his legs in a battle serving Marc in his cause.

We see Marlene crying while Marc drinks himself into a stupor. We see Marc signing papers as movers come to take away all of Marlene's things as she moves out.

We see Marlene trying to help Marc and marc lashing out, hurting Marlene in an instance of abuse that I really do not appreciate.

This is interwoven with current Marc that drops his pill and falls from his chair trying to chase it down in the trash.

We see flashes of Marc crawling to Khonshu's statue and spitting on it. "I never asked to be a hero."

Now we see current Marc curled up by the statue, begging. "But please, let me be a hero again."

This is where this issue ends.

It's why the volume is called "The Bottom".

This is not the first time Marc has ended up in a wheelchair. There was an issue in the OG run where he had his spine broken and he was in a chair for a while.

He was miserable, depressed, and near catatonic in his dissociation and feelings of self loathing and pity.

He then got up and did his physical therapy and got back in the cape.

In this one, Marc had a rough fight with Bushman that ended with a face being cut off and some legs being broken.

Apparently Marc fell into pain pills and alcohol and lost everything. What is the difference between that Marc that did his PT and got better and this Marc that had domestic abuse and lost Frenchie and Marlene?

The times. This age was obsessed with telling tales of drug abuse and consequences.

I think it's rough to show him falling so far into abuse that he loses everything when in the past, he had so much support behind him. Frenchie would have given everything to help him. Marlene was always strong and while she was terrible at the DID support, she never batted an eye at the other stuff. Her leaving after he hit her is welcome at least. No one should tolerate that. And I hate that they showed him hitting her as a way to show how far he has fallen into the horrors of booze and drugs. Uncalled for.

What you don't see here is internal support. You don't see Jake or Steven. And you haven't seen them for a long time.

It's been established in many runs that Jake does NOT leave New York. Sending Marc to West Coast to work on a team would be a very good way to keep Jake quiet. In fact, he could have easily gone dormant if we explore the DID end of things. Jake is the heart and spiritual soul of the Moon Knight system. Without his support and ability to bring in family and friends, it would be easy to see the social aspect of Moon Knight fall.

Steven also hasn't been around for a long time. Maybe he's mentioned once or twice since the end of the OG run, but Steven was not a favorite of writers looking for action. Steven prefers peace and class. Without Steven there to take care of the body and take care of Marlene and the finances, it's easy to see the relationship break down. Marlene was never a fan of Marc Spector. (Keep that in mind, because we see that change later).

So mentally, Marc is crumbling away and quite possibly front stuck so hard that he is given full reign to ruin the life they all worked hard to build.

And when Marc is broken I could see him falling to things like booze and pain killers. People with mental illness tend to be prone to this risk. And with Marc vision blinding him to the way life is really going and him only seeing the pretty rose colored lenses version, Marc is going to spiral.

So now we see him broken. Let's build him back up.

Issue #2: Fear, More Than God.

We see Marc still sitting on the floor in all his trash alone in the dark at the foot of the Khonshu statue.

"A hero. As if I ever was. As if that's what you wanted from me. As if that's what I gave to you. As if that's all I gave. How many times?"

He looks at his legs and boy howdy are they covered in scars.

"How many times behind a guy figures it out? How many times do you beat a guy down? How many times do you take him out? Before he knows you're better than he is?"

He remembers the fight with Bushman. Or the end of it anyways. He looks down at Bushman laying in the mud after being beaten.

"He never got it. Guess that's why he's called a Nemesis."

Bushman gets back up, ready to fight more.

"So how many times can you do the same thing? Before you get sloppy?"

He goes to kick Bushman who catches his leg and throws him head first into a wall.

Oh Marc, stop hitting your head. (I love that image of him seeing double. Just good art right there).

the battle continues, but now it isn't going so well for him.

He gets cut up a bit and then goes into the fight full Marc Spector style with no regard for his own personal well being.

He laments why Bushman was so difficult to fight. How he got arragant. How his own hate of Bushman got in the way. Hate that started as Friendship all those years ago. How he could have been the same thing as Bushman...or worse... And how he sees himself in Bushman and this is why he hates him so much.

Bushman throws Moon Knight off a roof top and Moon Knight hits just about everything he could possibly hit on the way down, breaking his legs.

He calls out to Khonshu as he lays broken on the ground. "Yeah, blame him. Blame god. And ask how much more he wants. How many battles?"

Moon Knight moves to disarm Bushman, who is coming in for the kill. "But you hate him so much. Don't you? And you've wanted this for so long."

He acknowledges that if he just disarmed him, he would still win the fight. He knows his own skill. But he doesn't stop. The darts fly with deadly precision.

We see a hand full of crescent darts go flying and embed in Bushman's throat. He staggers and falls over, but not dead. Bushman takes a bite out of Moon Knight's face, leaving a nasty scar.

Marc is finished. He sits up and fights back, punching and clawing till he gets the upper hand. "You wanted this. Wanted to wipe that stupid animal smile from his face that death mask. 'You must make them fear you.' That's what he said. I learned that lesson. They fear. They fear ME. More than god." Marc grabs a crescent dart and starts to carve.

"Khonshu!" Marc cries out, covered in blood, as he holds up the face of Bushman. "Is this enough? Blame it on him. Blame it on all of that. Blame it on him. The years. Your god. Blame everything but yourself."

He collapses back in 'victory' as a broken man.

Back with broken Marc in his home.

"Because you'll never be able to live with it."

There's a lot of gore here, so I won't show any of that fight. It's all very up close with tight cuts of teeth and fists and eyes. I appreciate how they make Bushman terrifying and how Marc looks so desperate and angry in the fight.

Marc is essentially fighting himself. It's long been established how Bushman is a mirror image of what he could have been. Any fight with Bushman was always a fight with the old Marc Spector. Who he was becoming and what he ran from.

In reality, it can all be seen as a big metaphor. The constant fighting with Bushman. The way Bushman always shows up again and again. How Bushman never gives up or admits that he has lost. Seeing Bushman break him as he breaks himself.

The way Marc acknowledges that the years were getting to him. He is getting older. He can't keep up the fight but he doesn't know how to stop. How he got arrogant thinking he could always win against Bushman.

Then the way Bushman keeps coming for him. Wanting to kill him or at least to maim him. Even broken, Marc only fights harder when he sees himself in Bushman's eyes. His rage at himself leads him to trying to remove himself.

He cuts away at the face he is tired of fighting and fearing. He removes himself only to find he is still broken.

THIS is how this scene should be interpreted. Later on, it becomes a joke. Marc cutting off Bushman's face becomes a gag at how dark the comics were at this time. How violent and unhinged it sounds when you say it out loud.

And yeah, it's a bit much. He could have just killed him. But nothing stays dead in the Marvel universe. And the story continues and over does it with the scene rather than leaving the metaphor alone.

So there you have it. The infamous face cutting off scene. Not what you were expecting from all the references and talk, huh?

Out on the street, we see a familiar mess of white hair, glasses, and flies.

Crawley! He makes his way to a pharmacy and hands over a note. Ah... He has become Marc's drug dealer. A man who would do anything to help his friend is now on orders to pick up the pain pills.

Back at the mansion, we see an old familiar face. Samuels the Butler. A man that always had a little bit of a stick up his butt in the OG run, but that was still kind and caring and at times funny.

He has come to check on Marc.

"Are you all right, sir?"

"Fine. I'm fine. Just get me to the damn chair."

He helps Marc back into the chair as Crawley walks in.

In a call back, we see Crawley pull out an old used tea bag and ask for a cup of hot water.

Samuels offers to get a fresh cup of tea, but Marc says Crawley isn't staying.

Crawley catches sight of the Khonshu statue. As always, looking cranky in the corner.

And here's where I love it.

Marc asks if Crawley has something n his mind.

"Well. Jake."

"Don't call me that."

"Apologies. Please forgive the difficult demise of old habits."

Crawley only knew him as Jake for the longest of times. Even when Jake told everyone who they were, Jake was the kind one that helped Crawley out.

Crawley asks if Khonshu is getting 'aired out'.

"Dusting off the Altar? As it were? I myself one worshiped at the altar of Dionysius. But then who would know this better than the man who rescued me from my former abasements of self?"

He asks Marc if Moon Knight is going to return. For a brief moment we get Marc vision and Khonshu's eyes light up then dim again, leaving Marc alone.

Crawley once again calls him Jake, getting Marc to snap and demand his pills.

Before leaving, Crawley mentions that he's seen a "Gallic Friend" who sends his regards and seems be in trouble.

Crawley wonders if Marc will have the time to help him before leaving.

Marc is stunned by this. He tells Samuels to get the car before throwing the pills back into the bottle.

In some other location, we see a dude sitting in his office looking bored.

Another man busts in saying "Asset prime is on the move!"

The first guy looks at the other and we see writing appear around him detailing his life, his future, and the bad things about him.

This guy has a special power about him. We will get more into that later.

ISSUE 3: To the Bone.

I love this cover. There's so much going on. The colors, the details, the layout, everything. Props to the cover artists in this series David Finch, Danny Miki, and Frank D'Armata.

Alright. Back to Marc being a bucket of sunshine.

"Killers. Killers is all we ever were. Killers to the bone. How the hell did we go from killers to this?"

Marc sits in a car outside of Frenchie's restaurant. A fancy looking French place.

Meanwhile, we see the other guys going through Marc's files.

Always a picture of Marc in Marine's gear looking fancy.

"Relevant case history:Enlisted USMC in 85. Force recon missions in Central America, Bosnia, North Africa. 87: Accepted Dishonorable discharge for striking a superior officer."

Then you get a picture of Marc in worn fatigues and a red scarf that just seems to scream mercenary.

"87 to 91 he goes Private Sector." There's a little squabble of relevance and the mystery man from before says the only relevant details are when things get interesting in the desert.

Back at the restaurant, Frenchie is pleased to see Marc.

Marc comes in on Crutches. Jean-Paul gives him a hug and tells him to sit.

We see a pan out of Frenchie with his double leg prosthetics and Marc on his crutches.

Marc looks snarky: "Before we fall over."

The other men start to debrief on the relevant desert days.

"Okay. In 89, the asset began an association with two other independents. Jean-Paul Duchamp and Raul Armand Bushman. These guys? These three Musketeers here? They're going to kill a LOT of people."

Aww look at them. So young. So murderous.

Frenchie asks if Marc is hungry (Marc is never hungry. The man can't take care of himself). Frenchie insists and calls over "Rob". Rob is a nice younger looking version of Marc if I'm being totally honest, only he has very red hair.

Jean-Paul introduces Rob as his partner. Marc glosses over it.

Frenchie orders them food, despite Marc insisting he isn't hungry. Frenchie notes Marc has lost weight and needs the calories.

"I said I'm not hungry."

"Marc, you look like Hell. Eat something besides those pills."

They have an angry stare off.

Marc relents and eats.

The other two men continue to go over Marc's attaché. Honestly it's just an excuse to remind the audience and introduce to a new audience the history of Marc's Merc years. Because now we reach Egypt and Dr. Alraune and his daughter, Marlene.

The mystery man notes that Marlene is also a killer. "Killers always end up being drawn together."

Marc continues to be....oblivious.

"Business looks good. That why you took a partner?"

"Marc. Rob is NOT my partner. He is my PARTNER."

Marc looks surprised.

"You didn't know? [....] You really did not know? Other people knew."

"I. But all those..."

"Women?"

"Yes! All those women."

"Well,just because I can cook an omelette that does not make me a chef."

Marc is still shocked "But we were..." "Yes?" "Friends. You should have told me."

I do enjoy this conversation being countered by the other two guys discussing about the past of Marc and Frenchie and how they were brutal killers and how Marc died.

I DO take issue with this assessment:

"Up to that moment... He's like anybody else. Anybody with unresolved resentment towards his abusive father, who has virtually no control over his own violent impulses, and has been trained to kill with ease and skill, that is."

There's no history in the OG run of Marc's father being abusive. In fact, he was quite the opposite. Marc's father was strongly against violence of any nature and this is what drove them apart.

The profile guy notes that up to the point of Marc's death, he can be predicted and is just as common as anyone. But after his death.... "But in here, Spector meets someone. Something. It changes him. Blurs his outline. Obscures his profile."

Back at the oblivious ranch, Frenchie tells Marc that he had been telling him constantly about his sexual preferences.

"Ever day. I told you with my trust. With my life. With the hundreds of times I risked my life for you. For your cause. Your....god. Told you when your brother took my legs. Told you time and again... That I loved you."

Marc asks if he was the only one who didn't know.

Sweet summer child....

"Yes. She knew. Marlene knew."

He goes on to say how he and Marlene found it easier to love Marc together when Marc was in danger or injured.

I think Marc is more upset that he's the last to find out than anything. Marc was never....the brightest bulb at the bulb factory.

Marc asks if this is why Frenchie invited him here.

Frenchie is surprised. "I did not ask you here."

Here, we learn a bit more about Khonshu and how the comics here forth choose to address him.

"In the tomb of Sety II, Spector encounters an Extradimensional entity. It identifies itself as Khonshu, the Egyptian God of the Moon. And of Vengeance. It brings Spector back to life as its avatar on earth. To do its work."

Now, if we skip the 90s, this is the first time Khonshu is admitted to actually be more than a statue and is more of a god in the same way that Thor might be a god in the Marvel Universe.

"Really, it did. What it actually is? What it wants? Who's to say? But Spector bought it. So much so that... Well, we all know how much he bought it. But HEY... The thing resurrected him. Twice."

I love the bit of doubt there. The implication that Khonshu might not actually be who and what he says he is. That he wants something and is getting it from Marc's services. I sort of wish marvel had run with this a bit more. Now THAT would be interesting. That maybe he was just some sort of extraterrestrial being, possibly from some dimension or even some entity on par with something out of Strange's books and Marc just has that kind of luck.

Frenchie and Marc realize they have been set up by Crawley.

Marc is upset and ready to storm out.

Frenchie tells Marc that if anyone changed, it was him. The things he said to Frenchie and Marlene that drove them away. He tells Marc to call him what he is and make it through.

"You're a liar. A Liar to the bone."

Here's where they try to change and define his DID.

As a sort of reboot, they try to make sense of Jake and Steven like so many comics have tried to do.

"Spector begins to lie to himself. He's not a mercenary killer at all. He is a millionaire philanthropist. A working class man of the people. A hero."

(they forgot Jake's mustache here. A true crime).

"All serving his new god. And those new personalities help to explain why he was so wildly misjudged when your predecessors first tried to recruit him. To do the bidding of The Committee."

Oh these guys again.

The original bad guys to Moon Knight. First appearing in Werewolf by Night. They hired Marc Spector the Merc to hunt down the werewolf, Jack Russel. But Moon Knight switched sides and helped Jack, making an enemy of the Committee for life. (He kept that bread).

They finish the profile by saying the years aren't kind to Marc Spector and he is no longer a heavy hitting vigilante.

"He passed out of his prime." And with this, Khonshu no longer had influence over him.

Turns out the Committee hired Bushman to go after Marc in that last battle, leaving him instructions to incapacitate him. Then they arranged for Marc to get the 'good drugs' and install some chemical dependence. They wanted to take Moon Knight out of the picture.

They then say to get him going again, they need a catalyst. ( I don't understand their plan. Why take him out to put him back in?)

We see Frenchie and Rob walking down the street when they are assaulted by a large angry man. Frenchie is badly beaten and put in the hospital. Marc goes to see him and finds Marlene in the waiting room.

Marc hides from her and instead goes to look for the man that beat on his friend.

Back at the meeting, The profile guy explains that if they do it all right and in the right time, Moon Knight will be down for the count. But if they do it wrong, it will give Moon Knight a reason to come back.

Looks like they did it wrong. They just reminded Marc of what he lives for. What he loves to do. And that? That's violence.

The Committee members panic and settle on a back up plan.

Damn Task Master, heck of a boob window you got there. Has he always had that?

Anyways, I love Task Master and we are about to see some of the finest Task Master vs. Moon Knight story lore.