OK this is confusing. The first three of these issues have a “Casualties of War” banner,, then issues #11 and #12 are under “The Initiative” banner, but that banner continues to issue #13. #10 has no cover banner. Each issue has title pages calling this the “Midnight Sun” story. “Casualities of War” crosses over with Blade and Ghost Rider in a completely inessential way and I’m not going to talk about it. “The Initiative” banner appears on many titles and also really doesn’t tie them together much. So, I’m going with the interior title “Midnight Sun” and crediting the rest to Marvel editorial tying this series into larger Marvel continuity. There’s also an artist change halfway through, so this story doesn’t read as well as it could–it’s a bit chunky. But as a “reboot the hero” story, it’s solid.
Spider-Man shows up in the first issue to stop Moon Knight from killing some thugs.
Moon Knight’s bloodlust is high–much higher than we’ve seen before. And Khonshu, the god who Spector believes gives him power, has become a ghoul visible only to Moon Knight…
The story is mostly about Moon Knight’s return to being a superhero, and ties directly into Civil War.
Also Captain America tries to recruit Moon Knight to his side in Civil War.
Khonshu is hilarious. There’s another scene where he impersonates Bushmaster, just to f+*& with Marc.
Moon Knight decides that the interstitial battles of Avengers does not interest him, and Cap’s not entirely sure he’d even want Moon Knight on his side.
Frankly, that’s what he SHOULD have happened when Moon Knight was asked to join the West Coast Avengers. I’m glad it happens that way here.
Khonshu would have taken it even further.
These issues also tie into a lot of Moon Knight’s past, reintroducing his stellar supporting cast. The motivation is provided by a serial killer who seems to be stalking Spector’s personal past. The serial killer uses his victims’ blood to paint a clock striking midnight.
He decides to leave Marlene alone.
A nice touch is that the cast have all moved on. Frenchie doesn’t want to return to a life as Moon Knight’s sidekick and pilot. Gena’s son went into the military and takes Frenchie’s place.
It also touches on past storylines. Like, for example, Moon Knight and Punisher spend a few violent moments together reminiscing about how Punisher killed Randall Spector.
The use of Spider-Man, Punisher, and Captain America (and also Iron Man) across these issues is to show how different the various heroes are. Their alignments are used to add a complex texture to Marvel superheroics. Very well done.
And these issues also focus on the more contained and arcane aspects of Moon Knight’s past as well…
…the plot through-line is that the serial killer turns out to be his old foe Midnight.
The tie-ins to the Marvel events are useful–they force the story of Midnight to unravel slowly, building the suspense necessary for a good serial killer tale.
After several murders, the killer attacks Marc Spector but leaves him alive so that Spector will give him “the full Moon Knight experience.”
The big final battle takes place on a giant clock hidden in the sewers, and Moon Knight kills Midnight by stabbing him in the throat with the clock’s hand.
Unlike Koshnu, this appears to be clearly a manifestation of Spector’s subconscious—the first indication that he is truly mentally ill. This is another reinvention. When Moench launched Moon Knight #1, it wasn’t clear whether he had powers derived from the moon God. When the character was hijacked into West Coast Avengers, he became a mystic force. Now we’ve come back to the grit, back to the streets, and he’s just a crazy guy looking for a fight and driven by his own demons.
This particular story involves all of Moon Knight’s superheroic past—and his rejection of it. And in #8 there’s a truly hilarious conversation in which Captain America tries to get Spector to change his mugger-beatin’ ways, but fails…
