Moon Knight Epic Collection: Bad Moon Rising TPB
by Don Perlin (Illustrator), Keith Giffen (Illustrator), Bill Sienkiewicz (Illustrator), Doug Moench (Contributor), David Anthony Kraft (Contributor), Bill Mantlo (Contributor)
I usually find Moon Knight to be one of the more underrated characters; the runs by Huston, Benson and Lemire are among my favorite comics in my collection. Having heard how good the Doug Moench run would be, I hunted down the first few issues of Moon Knight wherein the first appearances – including the opening issues of Moench’s run.
I must admit I was somewhat disappointed.
I get that these are literally the baby steps into who Moon Knight is. In fact, the Moon Knight we know and love does not turn up fully formed until the very issues written by Moench. The rest of the collection, unfortunately, is a slog to read through as it ranges from standard superhero fare to material where MK is little more than circumstantial – thus making the inclusion of these issues in this collection rather an oddity.
However, there is a positive; the issues done by Moench ARE engaging and hold a lot of promise, but are sadly somewhat episodic with some continuation. The way they read would fit very well within a TV series and I, therefore, find it immensely curious why the series was not used as the basis for the Disney+ series, given that there is enough in Moon Knight’s background to differentiate him from the rest of what is already on TV. The artwork by Don Perlin here is dynamic as you would expect and works brilliantly within the seedy yet multifaceted context of MK’s world. It is a shame that the collection only has a handful of these at its tail end rather than focused.
Maybe I will get my hands on the rest somewhere down the line. But first, I have a lot to catch up with.
