Moon Knight #1

Underutilized since the end of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's twelve-issue run which ended in April 2012, Moon Knight has been largely absent from the Marvel Universe popping up in guest-spots here and there. And with good reason as that run is a hard act to follow. Picking up the torch for the new series which returns the hero from the west coast back to New York is writer Warren Ellis and artist Declan Shalvey. Although strong in several areas, Moon Knight #1 is a little weak in terms of both action and the delusional insanity the character has been known for. In fact Marc Spector seems to be far more sane than in quite some time. And for a comic that focuses on a man with a personality disorder it's surprisingly absent of thought balloons or any insight into what's going on in our hero's head.

Helping on a case involving a slasher, the comic illustrates Spector's deductive abilities, stealthiness (even while wearing an all-white suit), his near limitless resources, and exceptional fighting skills. If he wasn't Marvel's crazy Batman before he is now.

Dressed in an all-white suit, we don't get Moon Knight in costume (although he does take down a delusional former member of S.H.I.E.L.D. turned killer) but the issue does deliver in its final few pages the crux of the new take on the character dismissing the multiple peronalities as part of an untreated psychological condition and returning them to the original root of all of the hero's problems - Khonshu.

After one issue I don't find Ellis' take on the character to be as interesting as that of Bendis. However, the idea that Spector is compelled to create versions of himself in the four aspects of the other-dimensional intelligence which brought him back for the dead opens up new paths of discovery for the comic. From the early shots I've seen it appears the character will be putting his suit aside and be back in costume starting next month (even if the look gets an unnecessary reboot that looks like it was done by DC's New 52 Editorial). Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]