Since Disney just announced his upcoming show, let's go back and look at the first Moon Knight comic I bought: from 1981, Moon Knight #11, "To Catch a Killer" Written by Doug Moench, art by Bill Sienkiewicz.
I would've maybe just turned 10 when this hit the racks, and I don't know what compelled me to buy it. I may have just thought MK's throwing darts were cool. Most of this story revolves around his assistant Frenchie: the great love of his life returns, only to be lost again. Said love Isabelle shows up at Steven Grant's estate, since she knows Frenchie's friend Marc Spector gets his mail there...somehow. Marc knew her, and merely tells her Grant is the name he uses most often these days. Frenchie actually being there should've been a pleasant surprise, but becomes heartbreaking when she's murdered. Frenchie joins Moon Knight on a mission of vengeance to New Orleans, where it is, of course, Mardi Gras. Frenchie gets shot, but still manages to put in the knockout punch. He was also retconned as gay in Charlie Huston's run, which doesn't really line up with this one, but okay.
That inset panel of a downed Frenchie, you can feel Sienkiewicz starting to open it up a bit.
I just double-checked: this issue came out before Iron Man #161, but it is cover-dated the same month as Amazing Spider-Man #220, which I remember reading someone's copy of at an extended family gathering where I was bored out of my mind. Maybe that turned me on to Moon Knight? Could be.
Nice choice young you. So it looks like threatening to rip off faces wasn't something Huston came up with since he's doing it here.
ReplyDeleteJudging by the art here, it definitely looks like Sienkiewicz was in his Neal Adams phase, because this looks straight up like his stuff.