Essential Moon Knight Vol. 2
Written by Doug Moench and others
Art by Bill Sienkiewicz
Marvel Comics
Cover price: $16.99; Available now

Oh how I love Marvel’s “Essential” line. Nowhere else can I get so much enjoyment for so little money — 16 bucks for around 500 pages in each volume just can’t be beat. The best thing is it allows me to catch up on a lot of classics that I was not around to buy the first time and are now too expensive to buy or too tough to track down. Take Moon Knight, for example. On its own, I probably wouldn’t track down the old issues, but slap it in an Essential volume and I’m on it like white on rice. If your only exposure to the Moon Knight character is his recent revival by Charlie Huston, don’t let that confusing story drive you off. What is collected here is a lot of gritty but fun superhero stories starring one of the most interesting characters Marvel has, drawn by a modern master, and written by someone who really understands the character.

For those not in the know, Moon Knight follows the exploits of a very confused man, once known as Marc Spector, now going by either Steve Grant or Jake Lockley, but always with Moon Knight lurking underneath. Spector used to be a mercenary, until he was almost killed by his partner in an ancient tomb, but was revived by the Moon god Khonshu. Spector then creates the personalities of Grant and Lockley to help his war on crime. He is joined by his loyal pilot Frenchie, and his girlfriend Marlene, as well as receiving info from the Huggy Bear of comics, Crawley, and police detective Finch.

The split personality of the main character is the big thing that sets him apart from other characters, and makes him more than just “Marvel’s Batman.” The stories in the second volume really start to get into that main theme, much more than in the first. Moon Knight has conversations with himself, and starts to say which personality is causing certain actions to take place. It becomes the defining characteristic of Moon Knight and makes for a unique story.

The stories are largely more realistic than a lot of other superhero stories. Except for one villain, most of Moon Knight’s rogues are normal guys wearing crazy outfits and shooting at him. Most of the stories are one-issue tales that wrap up fairly. The epic of the volume is a four-issue story where Moon Knight fights the army of Nimrod Strange and Strange’s gaudy alter-ego, Arsenal. A lot of the stories are now kind of campy fun, but there are some really stand-out issues, such as the story “Scarlet in Moonlight” and “Hit It.” These stories are a bit different from the rest, especially “Hit It,” which uses music in a very interesting way to counterpoint the narrative, and is one of the few stories that I wish I had in color, and which I may have to track down. The bulk of the writing is handled by Doug Moench and he gets to the hearts of all the characters in this book and finds interesting things to do with them. The conflict within Moon Knight and how this affects his relationship with Marlene is a main focus and the dynamic between them is very intriguing to read.

If you need one reason to pick this up, Bill Sienkiewicz art would be reason enough. As good as it is in the first volume, his work takes a step forward in this volume, especially towards the end. His realistic yet stylized work is a sight to behold and it translates very well to the black and white reproduction of the Essential volume. Rarely did I miss the color while I was reading this, although there were a few stories I would like to see in color. Unfortunately, the issues in this volume are the last ones he did on Moon Knight before moving to other projects, so I don’t know how interested I would be in a third volume. I guess it would depend on what the art looked like and who handled the writing.

Essential Moon Knight Vol. 2 fits the essential term. It has some very important work with some great art that every comics fan should read. If you’re looking for something from the past that doesn’t feel cheesy and has a lot of great craft behind the words and pictures, definitely pick this one up.