As you’ve probably gathered by now I’m a big fan of Charlie Huston’s ‘Joe Pitt’ stories, I also read ‘The Shotgun Rule’ and that one blew me away. So when I heard that Huston had been writing comics for Marvel I knew that I had to check this out.
The Marvel Universe is crammed full of superheroes, super villains and various costumed crime fighters, more than anyone can reasonably be expected to keep track of (it was the relentless ‘crossovers’ which led to my finishing with the X-Men comics). I’d heard of Moon Knight but knew next to nothing about him. An interesting sounding character being written by a favourite author of mine… I picked up ‘The Bottom’ (collecting issues 1-6) and got reading…
Marc Spector was returned to life by Konshu, the Egyptian God of Justice, and became Moon Knight, the arbiter of Konshu’s vengeance on wrong doers. I’ve got no idea what happened in previous books but ‘The Bottom’ opens with Marc at… well… rock bottom. He is confined to a wheelchair and apparently forsaken by his God, dreaming of the glories of days gone by. There’s only one way out and that’s ‘up’; Marc won’t have to do it all by himself though, other eyes are upon him and they have their own vested interest in where he goes next…
‘The Bottom’ is an intense a read as you would expect from Charlie Huston who gives the reader a look inside the head of a tortured (maybe even a little bit mad) man who’s plumbing the depths and cannot sink any further. Spector is a determined man however who cannot believe that Konshu has really left him and won’t quite give up on his search for redemption. He’s also predictable in his actions but what no one really knows is the extremes he will push his actions to when goaded. These actions make for some vicious scenes of retribution, the likes of which I haven’t really seen in a Marvel comic since I used to read ‘Punisher’ back in the day. Maybe I’m not reading enough Marvel comics but it still seemed full on to me!
Huston hints at earlier events, in Moon Knight’s history, but pretty much starts everything off from square one. This makes it easier for people like me to get on board quickly and just get on with enjoying the story. I got the impression I would have benefited from knowing a bit more background but the story was full of enough good things for it not to matter too much.
‘The Bottom’ very obviously sets up things for future stories but is also a self contained tale in it’s own right. We get to know Marc Spector all over again and his motivation for living the way he does, we also get to meet all his friends and enemies in a tale of manipulation layered upon itself so we don’t know until the end who is really pulling the strings.
All of this is set against a grimy and seamy New York beautifully drawn by David Finch. I got a real sense of why Spector does his God’s work just by looking at the streets he walks on. Evil lurks here and Moon Knight’s job is to punish it…
‘The Bottom’ is a great place to jump on for anyone wanting to know more about Moon Knight without trawling through countless back issues. I should know because I’m one of those people. I think I’ve probably found another series that I want more of…
Nine out of Ten
1 comment:
It's interesting. I too like Hutson's work, and thought I would give Moon Knight a try, and I came away with mixed feelings. I found the artwork by Finch distracting, and it really stopped me from concentrating on the story. He is not always a natural storyteller, and at times I found it difficult to understand what was going on. Maybe I should keep persevering and stick with it and hope Hutson's overall story shines through.
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