MOON KNIGHT #13 (1981): Daredevil

Daredevil and Moon Knight meet for the first time.

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Issue #13 means we’ve had a full year of this very unusual comic about a hero with four distinct personalities who believes he was raised from the dead by an Egyptian God.  

The layouts and art by Bill Sienkiewicz has become increasingly experimental, and Doug Moench’s scripts tend to take standard street-fight concepts and tweak them just a bit, or tell them in a way that’s generally grittier and more realistic than most books.  And the titular hero’s personality continues to become stranger and more impenetrable.  His costume is white but, ironically, Marvel’s Batman is a much darker character. And, so far, this has all been self contained.  This could have been happening anywhere.

But with issue #13, we know for sure it’s happening in the Marvel 616. Because, you know, Daredevil is in it.

And he’s interfering with Moon Knight’s plan, which includes allowing Jester to go on his merry way unmolested.

You know what that means, of course…

Hero fight!

And only after the unnecessary punches are thrown does the dialog begin.

They chase him to a public theater.

It makes sense to pair Moon Knight with Daredevil and, as silly as he may seem, Jester is one of the more hardcore DD villains. His “toys” are brutal, and he really likes to beat the crap out of civilians.

I mean, he just knocked a dude’s teeth out with a yo-yo. That’s badass.

The final panel has the two heroes laughing at Jester while he gets driven away in a cop car, under arrest.  See—they’re laughing?  And he’s the Jester?  Come on, it may be corny but it’s a good way to end the tale.

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