Best of Marvel: Week of September 11th, 2019

Best of this Week: Moon Knight: Acts of Evil Annual #1 – Cullen Bunn, Ibrahim Moustafa, Matt Horak, Mike Spicer and Joe Sabino

It only makes sense that Kang and Khonshu would have some history together.

One of Kangs many aliases over time is that of Rama-Tut, a man that once ruled Egypt before his many, many jumps through time. Khonshu is a God of the Moon and more than likely would have been someone that Rama-Tut worshipped or spat in the face of given Kang’s own ego, but the way that their relationship is developed here is amazing and fantastic, setting up a long and storied history for Moon Knight on par with that of Hawkman.

Beginning in the Egyptian Age of 2,500 BC, the Moon Knight of that era and his followers do their best to keep three artifacts away from Kang and his men as he will no doubt use them to mess with time, a power that they feel should only belong to Khonshu. In just a few short pages, we see just how far back the legacy of the Moon Knight mantle goes as this unnamed warrior fights just as valiantly as Marc Spector in the modern day. As Kang makes short work of the followers and begins to make his way through time, Moon Knight throws a few Moonerangs at the Conqueror, damaging one of the totems, casting all three through time and space.

One of the more interesting things to happen is that Khonshu takes time to visit Kang in the time stream, asking why his child has chosen to do something so horrible to his church. Kang reacts with an anger that we don’t normally see from the cold and calculating villain, suggesting that any worship he may done for Khonshu left him feeling weak and that his own mastery of time proves that he is far superior to the Moon God. Khonshu leaves him with a warning that his other Avatars will continue to stand in Kangs way through time.

From this point on, we’re planted into a modern day that is somehow changed to fit Kang’s will with the only deviation being possibly Marc Spector’s Moon Knight and several followers of Khonshu. They lead Marc through a tear in time and this takes him to the first of many locations throughout time. I won’t go through all of them, but there’s so much future story potential here for any number of Moon Knight tales and their many interesting routes. There’s a Moon Lawman of the West, to a Moon Knight that could have fought with The Invaders in WWII, a Chicago gangster that I refer to as Moons Malone and finally the first Avatar of Khonshu, a woman from Mesopotamia.

Each of these characters are different in personality and yet serve the same purpose and ferocity that we see from the modern moon Knight. Horak and Moustafa do their best to make each one of them distinct and of their times while maintaining that Moon Knight style The actions scenes that are presented are a wild and dynamic ride seeing Marc jumping around and superhero landing or kicking damn near everything in sight. One of the best shots in the book is a panel that stretches between the staple pages with World War Moon Knight punching a Nazi as Marc crashes through a ceiling window, causing glass to fall on a Nazi officer. The blur placed on Marc as he crashes down with terminal velocity is unintentionally hilarious, but also showcases just how crazy he is.

Mike Spicer did an excellent job of coloring this book in such a way that no matter what background was drawn, Moon Knights white color scheme stood out all the time. The same can be said for Kang’s green and purple, but in a more gross and “why does he wear these awful colors way.” He also does extremely well with things that give off energy, making them seem more vibrant and cool. The best examples of this are the moments when The Scarab totem is showcased with a red outline, even in the smallest situations it is absolutely eye catching and the moments when the ther Moon Knights are summoned from all over time to fight Kang and their poofs appear in bright purples and greens.

One of the other panels that stands out is the first appearance of the Mesopotamian Moon Knight. Her mask, crouch pose and makeshift bone claws make her look like a serial killer, especially with the MANY bodies of Kangs through time around her. While looking to be the most intense, she is also the most dedicated as she ends up sacrificing her life to ensure Kangs ultimate defeat at the end of the book. She doesn’t die, but she has to concentrate to keep him trapped for as long as she can so that he cannot try to use the artifacts to change time again, placing her out of time with even her God Khonshu.

This is a really interesting take on belief vs. faith as both Marc and Khonshu have differing points of views on her actions at the end. Marc, being a modern man finds it difficult finds it hard to see her as a priestess without a God. Khonshu see a dedicated follower that is only her faith, knowing that a long as she has that, then she will need nothing else. It’s hard to see whose point of view is more correct, I mean, it should be that of Khonshu right? Given that her actions are the only thing keeping the world from falling into a hellscape ruled by Kang, does that mean that she should really do nothing but concentrate on keeping the Conqueror contained?

One other development that comes out of this is the idea that Marc is starting to become disillusioned by Khonshu’s actions and disregard for the lives of his followers. At the same time, this also may make little sense in the grand scheme of things as Marc, at least by the time of Jeff Lemire’s Moon Knight series, has already conquered Khonshu for control of the legacy. He hasn’t been at the mercy of Khonshu for a long time, but who’s to say how canon this is anyway?

Either way, I loved this book and Moon Knight’s continued storied existence, high recommend.

Best of Marvel: Week of May 29th, 2019

Best of this Week: The Amazing Spider-Man #22 (Legacy #823) – Hunted pt. 6 – Nick Spencer, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado, Erick Arciniega and Joe Caramagna

Only the Spider can kill Kraven, so says his curse.

In order to regain the peace he’s been craving since his return, Kraven has been pushing Spider-Man to his limits. He’s kidnapped Black Cat and Billy Connors, set hunters loose to kill the animal themed supervillains, poisoned Spidey to see visions of futures that could happen if he failed to do what was necessary. He thought the final step would be to force Spider-Man to make a hard choice.

Spider-Man does and Kraven sets him free, ready for their final confrontation. Kraven goads him into finishing him, lambasting the Spider for being the worst of the animal themed people because the spider is the worlds most horrifying predator, the one that humanity fears on instinct alone. But Spider-Man chooses heroics over everything, bright colors and goodness.

Spider-Man almost falls prey to Kravens words. He was afraid that in releasing Doctor Connors, he’d sacrificed Kravens guards to die, only to find that they were murdered by Kraven himself. After handedly beating the Hunter, Spider-Man makes him watch The Lizard attacks Kravens son and savagely beats him, but relents after seeing his son alive.

Spider-Mans entire message to Kraven is that people weren’t meant to hurt each other and even beasts like the Lizard can cut through their savagery and find the goodness in themselves. Kraven realizes that his mistake was actually becoming a beast himself and not something more as he had always claimed. He has a change of heart and vows to never hunt again, telling Arcade to shut everything down.

But the ending… as Kraven finally becomes a good guy, it almost makes me cry.

This story and all of the little tie-ins have been phenomenal. Not too many stories are worthy of being called sagas, but Hunted absolutely is. Not only does it mirror the first story in the Kraven/Spider-Man Saga, it makes it better by expanding on the idea of Kravens curse and ties a neat bow on his character while introducing a new and more savage threat for Spider-Man in the future.

Ramos absolutely smashes this final part with his art. Everything is beautiful, atmospheric and dark. Olzaba’s skills as an inner shines amazingly as Kravens inner darkness is realized as he dons his Hunter clothing to fight Spider-Man, appearing from the shadows. Delgado’s and Arciniega’s colors make Spider-Man appear a shining light even in the black suit and as day rises on this nightmare of a night, there’s a feeling of the jungle during an orange sunrise as pages are washed in an orange tint. Blows have weight and each tells a story of strength and sacrifice.

Nick Spencer was born to write Spider-Man and his run will no doubt go down in history as one of those Spectacular or Amazing stories in no small part to arcs like this one. I hope he goes on as long as Dan Slott did because he understands Spider-Man. The sacrifice, the humanity, the need to be a hero with the heart to match and never giving up even when things are bleak. This story is definitive of the hope that Spider-Man embodies.

Best of Marvel: Week of March 15th, 2019

Runner Up: The Amazing Spider-Man: Hunted pt. 5 #21 (Legacy #822) – Nick Spencer, Gerardo Sandoval, Victor Nava, Erick Arciniega and Joe Caramagna

Kraven has always seen Spider-Man as his greatest opponent.

The Spider has thwarted his greatest plots and schemes and proven himself to be the stronger man half of the time. The only time that Kraven has ever felt superior was when he “proved himself better at crime fighting” than Spider-Man in Kraven’s Last Hunt, killing himself soon after. He found peace in the dark only for it to be ripped away years later and surmises that the only way for him to achieve true death was for Spider-Man to kill him.

This Hunt that he set up with the animal themed villains served three purposes. To rid the world of these undeserving hunters, to kill off the more pathetic animal themed villains and to finally push Spider-Man over the edge.

Swarmed by clones of Vermin, Spider-Man monologues internally about how “this is it” and apologizes to Mary Jane, thinking that the Vermin are going to kill him only for Kraven to come to his rescue. He passes out and later wakes up, injuries healed and chained to the floor in a new Black Suit. (Not actually the Symbiote, just what Kraven considers Spider-Man’s most significant costume, unknown how many he’s made)

Doctor Curt Connors is also in there with him. He explains that the collar around Spider-Man’s neck is rigged to explode and that his inhibitor chip won’t let him rip the collar apart as it prevents him from hurting people. Kraven then shows a live feed of his son catching up to Black Cat and Billy Connors, almost certainly with a killing intent.

Dr. Connors says that the only way that he can save his son is by taking the chip off, but given that it’s attached to his spine, Spider-Man thinks it’ll kill him. In a great moment, Connors says that it’s a chance he’s willing to take and hearkens back to Peter’s power and responsibility speeches and that Spider-Man doesn’t know what real responsibility is because he doesn’t have kids yet.

It’s a good character driven moment that brings Connors full circle. When he didn’t have control of the Lizard, he actually killed Billy. After his resurrection, he wondered if his son remembered what happened, but was too fixed on just having his family back to ask. And now he has the chance to make up for his horrible actions by becoming a beast again? It’s good stuff.

Peter begrudgingly agrees to help, but this is what Kraven wanted. He needed to test Spider-Man to see if he could go the extra mile, to see if he was finally ready to face the Hunter. By removing the chip, he’s also removed a part of himself; the part that would have held back, the part that would have found another way, the part that wouldn’t rip Kraven apart.

Garardo Sandoval’s art absolutely smashes this issue. It’s visceral and makes everything look so much more serious while still maintaining an almost 90s look. The thick jagged lines give everything an edge, making you feel when Peter’s being attacked by Vermin. Kraven showing up in his iconic clothing has weight to it as he’s portrayed in ominous shadow and The Lizard looks absolutely horrifying.

This story is almost at its conclusion and I’m so excited. In story time, all of this couldn’t have been more than a few hours, but it will have aged Peter considerably. As much as any story has pushed him to the brink, everytime he has to deal with Kraven at his most dangerous, he loses something major in himself. Honestly at this point, I want to almost say that Kraven is absolutely one of Spider-Man’s arch enemies and Hunted is the cement of that.

Best of Marvel: Week of March 15th, 2019

Best of this Week: Daredevil #5 (Legacy #617) – Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Sunny Gho and Clayton Cowles

The “Man Without Fear” miniseries brought Matt Murdock low, but Chip Zdarsky managed to bring him even lower.

Beginning right after the end of the last issue, Matt goes after The Owl and his crime ring, hoping to put a stop to whatever big plans they have going on. Still wearing Punisher’s shirt, Daredevil takes on all comers. With expertly drawn art by Checchetto, he manages to take down a guy with Iron Man level armor using the momentum of a speeding truck and a hook, sending the truck careening into the air and letting the guns and drugs spill out. Soon after, Matt grabs one of the doors and storms through a hail of gunfire and begins tearing through Owl’s men before getting overwhelmed and being saved by the other Defenders; Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

He passes out and wakes up later in Danny’s apartment and breaks down, saying that he just wanted to do one last good thing as Daredevil before they take him in for accidentally killing a criminal. What I liked best about this is that they’re there for him. Jessica assures him that they’re not going to take him in and they’ve all been in the same position. Jessica’s likely killed people under Killgrave’s influence, Luke’s killed one or two of his villains and Danny’s entire Immortal Iron Fist run by Ed Brubaker and later Matt Fraction was dark. They know what it’s like to work through all of that pain and guilt.

Matt, however, struggles with the idea that they’ve all killed people and runs away from his friends because of it. One of the biggest themes of this run thus far is how Matt is coping with what he did and his religion on top of it. Murder is a cardinal sin to Catholics and Matt Murdock has more Catholic Guilt than any of them have ever had. He dresses as the devil for chrissakes and uses the mask to blind himself to the violence he commits out of his personal sense of justice.

When he returns home, he senses the presence of someone strong. Someone he says has immense power, but doesn’t know it. The best of them. Spider-Man then confronts him in his home, telling him that he can see that Daredevil’s not all there. He wouldn’t have been able to follow Daredevil home if he were and acknowledges everything that Matt’s done up to this point, calling his attack on the Owl a “suicide mission.” He tells Daredevil that he’s done and if anyone sees him out there, they will stop him.

All of this scene was a work of art. When we see Spider-Man he’s shrouded in shadow. Spidey is often considered one of the biggest beacons of light in the Marvel universe and having him stand in the dark drives home the message of how serious things are. Every close-up shot with Daredevil feels even more personal as the weight of his actions are drawn on his also heavily shadowed face. It feels personal, depressing and as he slumps back into his wheelchair – gut wrenching.

It breaks my heart to see Matt like this again. He’s tried so hard to pull himself out of the hole he’s been digging for long, but the whole time we’ve been reading, the hole’s just gotten bigger and bigger. Eventually just engulfing him in darkness as his mistakes catch up to him.

I don’t know where he goes from here. Back to the life of a lawyer? He’s been disgraced and was serving out of a broom closet the last time he tried. Another position in city office? Wilson Fisk would NEVER risk that again. Maybe a position in the church? I don’t know, but whatever the future holds, I know it’s going to be an amazing and somber one.