Moon Knight gets his first solo story.
It’s not great–we see hints of the character he will eventually become.
Like the suggestion that he’s crazy. And other stuff, too…
Like the first custom Moon Copter. There would be multiple iterations (for a while, it seemed to change every few issues), but this is what it looked like in the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe….
He’s got his multiple identities of Jake Lockley the cab driver…
Steven Grant the millionaire…
….and, of course, his caped crusader identity.
He’s clearly a Batman knock-off, but taken to the extreme–almost like a parody.
The adventure is kind of political: He fights Conquer Lord, who is leading an attempt to assassinate the Mayor of New York.
What’s the deal with the rats?
The big villain has a terrible costume.
Conquer Lord is able to capture Marlene.
Moon Knight comes to rescue her. Again, there are nice elements here–like how his costume blends in with the dark.
But overall, the story is clunky and the art is as well.
Like when Moon Knight “throws” his truncheon, he looks like he’s gently tossing it.
There’s also an introduction to some of his regular side characters. The large cast was part of what distinguished Moon Knight: Each of them were fully formed–no ciphers, none of them easy to understand. We meet Bertrand Crawley, the fly-covered homeless man. Crawley will become much more distinct later, when he has longer hair and doesn’t look quite as cartoonish…
Frenchie the pilot–who was also mentioned in MK’s first appearance in Werewolf by Night #32.
Like latter day versions of Alfred the Butler, Frenchie also helps adjust Moon Knight’s arsenal.
We also meet Marlene Fontaine, the daughter of an archaelogist who will be tied to Moon Knight’s origin and who knows MK’s secret.
Marlene is the thing that distinguishes Moon Knight most from Batman–he has a true love.
Moon Knight next appears in The Defenders. It will be a couple more years before he becomes awesome. Still, it’s fun to see the character and the various things he uses to fight crime as they develop.