PETER PARKER THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #22-23 (1978)

We haven’t seen Moon Knight in a comic since 1976’s Marvel Spotlight feature, and now he pops up in a Bill Mantlo story drawn by Mike Zeck and all of his edge is gone.

He’s sanitized for your protection into a generic hero. Zeck’s art is still great though.

Moon Knight is no longer a mercenary. He’s just a dude who fights bad guys on the street.

Spider-Man fights Moon Knight for no reason…

spider-man versus Moon Knight

…but seems to know that Moon Knight is a hero now.

I’m assuming Doug Moench was furious.  

After they beat each other up, the two team up to beat up some thugs…

..and fight Cyclone, who is not really a great villain anyway, but he’s certainly not right for fighting Moon Knight.

Not only does Cyclone beat him up, but he does it while speaking French.

For some reason, Moon Knight is one of my favorite characters. I think part of it is sentimental, since I started collecting around the time that the direct market started up, and Moon Knight was a huge part of that. I know he fights crime, but I never really thought of him as a Punisher stand-in. In this issue, though, he’s got a mug board of the crime families…

…And it’s international.

Jim Mooney is the artist on the second issue.

You now know more than you need to about these two comics.

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