Just for the sake of example, we're going to be talking about Moon Knight. This wasn't originally intended to be about decompression, and I'm not saying that spacing stories into longer arcs is necessarily a bad thing, but for comparison purposes.
And to be clear, Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz's run on Moon Knight: incredible, especially for a character that charitably can be described as Marvel's Batman. I also think Charlie Huston and David Finch are off to a good start on the most recent series, but...I'm worried it's going to be a series that by issue 5 or so, you would probably be better off setting the individual issues aside to read all at once. The storyline, "The Bottom," is going to run six issues. Issue one is all setup, and issue two is a flashback to how Marc Spector arrived to at least some of his lowly state (he may have sunk even lower after that).
But, I had intended to post about Moon Knight #35 anyway (written by Tony Isabella, art by Nowlan, McLeod, Potts, and Chiodo) and it just so happened to be a counter-point to the current issues. In the space of one issue, Marc gets his ass handed to him by Spider-man villain the Fly, is paralyzed, witnesses the surprisingly noble death of a ballet dancer (!), recovers out of sheer will, goes to Professor X for help, then takes down the villain at the ballet. Guest starring the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.
It's one issue, albeit a double-sized one, 42 pages. And it doesn't feel cramped at all.
First, the ass-kicking. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often in the Marvel Universe: a bad guy whom Spider-man routinely trounces, turns out to be a very dangerous opponent. I figure everyone just thinks Spidey's a big whiner: "'Oh, I had to fight Sandman AND Hydroman! Wah wah wah!' Parker, you nancy." But Spidey makes it look easy because he has to beat these guys every week and twice on Sundays, plus he's got a great set of powers; and even then he usually gets beaten up the first time he fights someone. Just because Spidey concusses the Rhino on a regular, and hilarious, basis; doesn't mean that Hawkeye could take him.*
In Moon Knight's defense, I probably would've thought I could take the Fly too. But Marc ends up paralyzed, and the Fly escapes to be killed by Scourge in the background of Amazing Spider-Man #276. Marvel back then had a coherent, related universe: sometimes, something happening in one book; would affect another book; but without a 63-part crossover or corner tags or huge black bars across the covers. The opposite of this would be Kang destroying Washington DC, taking over America, and hunting down or capturing other heroes (in Kurt Busiek's Avengers run) WITHOUT it ever being mentioned in any other Marvel Comic. (Otherwise, a great storyarc that we'll hit some other time!)
Paralyzed, Marc, under his other identity of millionaire Steven Grant, has more time to devote to supporting the arts, backing a Russian ballet dancer that appears to be an analog for Mikhail Barishnikov. God, it took me frickin' ever to find the correct spelling of his name, so I hope you appreciate it. At a promotional performance, the dancer is attacked and killed by Bora, a 6'7'' former student of his, who became a giant and a mutant at the same time. She laments no ballet ever being written for someone of her height, and kills her teacher for defecting, although it really seems like sour grapes to me. Nowadays, Bora could probably get on So You Think You Can Dance, hopefully starting her killing spree when she's cut in the third week.
More Moon Knight tomorrow!
*A scene I would love to see:
Iron Man, flying over Manhattan.
IRON MAN: Hmm. My radar's picking up something...the Green Goblin!
The Goblin, tearing across the sky on his glider. He doesn't see Iron Man, flying behind him at six o'clock high.
IRON MAN: I think I'll do Parker a favor and take him down. Then neither of us will have to listen to his aunt tell us how dangerous Osborn is...heh-heh. Ooh, the scary Green Goblin!...pffft.
Iron Man swoops forward and stops, hands in repulsor firing position.
IRON MAN: (amplified by armor) Norman Osborn: land the glider and surrender. You have--
Goblin throws a half dozen pumpkin bombs and razor-bats at Iron Man's head before he finishes.
IRON MAN: Sonuvva--
Scene change: twenty minutes later. Back at Avenger's Tower, Peter and Mary Jane are enjoying coffee and the paper. In the background, the elevator dings and opens.
Tony enters, armor thrashed, razor-bats sticking out of his shoulder, dented helmet-facemask under his arm. Hair messed, gash on forehead.
TONY: Um, Peter?
PETER: (still reading the paper) Yeah, boss?
TONY: Um, I'm giving you a raise. Retroactively. To ten years ago.
PETER: (He and MJ, still reading.) Neat.
TONY: Yeah, neat. Oh, and...(under his breath) the Green Goblin's looking for you. Norman says hi.
PETER: (Still reading paper) Oh yeah? Well, don't worry. I'm on it.
PETER: (Still reading paper)
PETER: (Still reading paper)
MJ: (Coughs.)
TONY: Yeah, uh, thanks. I'll be in the lab.
PETER: (Still reading.)
TONY: Yeah, if anyone needs me...I'll be...in the lab.
(Hey, I like Iron Man, but he kinda has this coming!)
Nice point about Hawkeye and Rhino. Not all super-heroes are created equally, after all, and Spidey is one of the best there is.
ReplyDeleteIt also speaks to Moon Knight's status that one of Spidey's second-stringers knocks the "Marvel Batman" silly.
At least the Shroud had the guts to take on Dr. Doom his first time out. Sure, he lost, but at least you have an excuse in that particular case.
He's DOOM!
Exactly how many heroes does Marvel have that suffer from medically diagnosed multiple personality disorder? Hank Pym and Marc Spector just off the top of my head. Does Harry Osborn count? Somebody should do a count. When Marvel characters go bad, it's usually because of an inherent flaw.
ReplyDeleteOver at DC it's all evil clones(Bizarro), imposters from a parallel dimension(Crime Syndicate), personality altering rays/substances(A gazllion silver age Superman stories), or demon possession(Eclipso/Seven Deadly Sins).
What, if anything, does this say about the fundamental differences between the two universes?
You are absolutely right. I would love to see Iron Man get shown up like that. With any luck, I'll see it in my dreams tonight, complete with the Goblin doing to Stark what he did to Flash: dousing him with liquor, then putting him behind the wheel of a truck and having it slam into Parker's school.
ReplyDelete