Phase 4: Ex-Avenger, Ex-Fist

Issue 74 (May 1989): A Moon Knight trivia quiz, a comedic bit with the Black Knight, two pages detailing the direction of the new series, and a five-page preview: "New Moon." Details the new direction of the third MK series, announcing the new writer and artist who will be shaping events from here on (unfortunately, they leave after working on the series for two years). In many ways, writer Chuck Dixon brings things back to the way Moench originally intended things, within the boundaries of what has been established in more recent events. With apologies to fans of Sienkiewicz, who seems to be held in such high esteem among the MK community, Sal Velluto is in my opinion the best artist to bring MK to life! Check out his work, which accompanies Dixon's writing for the first twenty-four issues (with the exception of issue 4) of Marc Spector: Moon Knight.

Issues 1-60, Annual 1 (Jun. 1989 - Mar. 1994): Retired from the West Coast Avengers and rid of Khonshu's influence, MK buys back his mansion at 13 Abington Circle, Southampton, and returns to his old life, including having Marlene back in it! This series, initially written by Chuck Dixon--and without O'Neil as editor this time--feels very much like the old Moon Knight, perhaps even the Moon Knight before his first series. [I never thought I would fully accept an MK writer after Moench left, but Dixon won me over immediately.] However, as the title declares, he is "Marc Spector, Moon Knight"--no longer a pawn of Khonshu--living under his born identity and not shelving his original tarnished persona to replace it with "purer" ones.

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Regarding the writers who followed Dixon: Howard Mackie delivers a worthy story, but J.M. DeMatteis & Wally Lombego's six-parter about the return of the Stained Glass Scarlet (a favorite MK adversary of mine) was a confusing tale mired in abstracts and mysticism. In January of 1992, Dixon returned after a nine-month absence to write issue #34, and later that year--surprise, surprise--Doug Moench returns to write the only Annual released for this series, pairing MK with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, another character Moench had helped popularize.

Terry Kavanagh takes over writing for the series officially in #35 (with a few assists by Ron Garney), and MK--normally a character at home in gritty realism and urban crime--enters the world of fantasy, with Frenchie morphing into the amalgam entity "Bloodline" and Marc being a "Hellbent" descendant of Seth the Immortal. MK dies in #60, and the series ends with the longest running length--by far--of any of his series, before or since.

Annual 2 (Sept. 1989): Although the annual contains several stories, MK is in the main feature, which is the longest, written by Mike Baron.The events in this story will be referred back to in other annuals of this year, as they are part of a continuing storyline ("Atlantis Attacks"), which spans many (all?) of the titles in the Marvel Universe.

Annual 22 (Nov. 1989): Simply a one-panel flashback to the storyline in the Punisher's annual. Main feature story written by Roy Thomas.

Annual 5 (Dec. 1989): Another one-panel flashback to the Punisher annual; main feature written by Gerry Conway. [For those interested in the "Atlantis Attacks" storyline, be careful when searching for this one; it seems to have been mislabeled as annual 4 (on both cover and indicia page), so naturally this is how it is often listed as on sites such as eBay.]

[Graphic novel, no actual issues] (1990): Stan Lee and Keith Pollard wrote this, so that might be an incentive for you: a story by Stan Lee, reuniting the Surfer with his true love (Shalla-Bal) at long last. And if you're wondering about MK, he's nothing more than a face (or more accurately a cowl) in a crowd in one panel.

Issue 1 (May 1990): MK story by Robert K. Ingersoll, followed by other stories, each featuring another Marvel hero or heroine: Hercules, Hellcat, Brother Voodoo, Speedball, Black Panther, and Magik. Ties in with certain themes running in the Marc Spector: Moon Knight series. What I didn't appreciate was how he was made to appear somewhat incompetent at the beginning.

Issue 8, 11 (Jul. 1990, Mar. 1991): MK has a considerable-length feature spoof in #8, as Goon Knight, the Nose of Kherchoo! Written by Sholly Fisch.  Roger Brown simply uses him for a one-panel gag in #11.

Issue 93, 96 (Oct. 1990, Jan. 1991): Fred Hembeck includes MK in his gallery of "The Li'l Avengers!" in #93; in #96 he is in the humorous calendar at back.

Issue 4 (Dec. 1990): Characters who have stories in this special are Daredevil, Wonder Man, Spitfire, Speedball, Black Knight, and Spidey with Nick Fury, but no MK tale. He simply appears in a pin-up gallery at back.

Annual 6 (1991): Among the stories in this issue is one written by Roy Thomas, which has Spider-Woman (the one perhaps better known as Arachne) looking into the history tapes of the team she just joined to learn its history and who served in it so far. MK is visible in two panels; the whole thing is a recap of past events and he is not part of any actual story. Is actually a pretty good history lesson for those not familiar with the team's past.

Issue 27, 55 (Mar. 1991, Jul. 1993): In a back story after the main feature of #27, MK simply appears in a montage shot as Jack Russell's history is revealed in full. Written by Roy Thomas and Randy & Jean-Mark (R.J.M.) Lofficier. In #55, MK is simply in a few frames standing amind a group of heroes. Issue 27 has a pretty good historical account of Russell's curse and the history of the werewolf condition.

Vol. 2, Issues 24, 25 (Apr., May 1991): "What if . . . Wolverine Had Become the Lord of the Vampires" (#24) by Roy Thomas & R.J.M. Lofficier and "What if . . . the Marvel Super Heroes Had Lost Atlantis Attacks?" (#25's cover title; inside title page has "What if Set Had Come to Earth?" instead) written by Jim Valentino. MK is seen twice in each, and in each he is transformed: into a vampire in #24 and a snake-headed serpent man in #25.

Issue 3 (Sep. 1991): MK had little to do with the events in this six-part mini-series, but he did get nearly a full page devoted to him in #3 thanks to writer Jim Starlin.

Issue 27 (Oct. 1991): MK is only in one panel, witnessing further devastation caused by events in The Infinity Gauntlet's crossover storylines. Written by Mark Gruenwald.

Issues 353-358 (Nov. 1991 - Jan. 1992): When Dixon stopped writing the Marc Spector series on a monthly basis, a running storyline was apparently abandoned, and none of his replacements seemed interested in continuing it. But eight months later, the storyline is resolved in a six-part adventure in The Amazing Spider-Man, a saga that also features (aside from the web-slinger's obvious presence) Punisher, Nova, Night Thrasher, and Darkhawk. The story? "Round Robin: The Sidekick's Revenge," the sidekick being MK's very brief & temporary sidekick, Midnight (actually the son of the original "Midnight Man," one of MK's early adversaries). Written by Al Milgrom. Even though MK is not in the first issue that begins the saga (#353) except in flashbacks, I would advise getting it as well, since the entire storyline has direct connections with plot elements that played a major part in Marc Spector: Moon Knight during Dixon's reign.

Issue 7 (Dec. 1991): MK is only in one panel, witnessing further devastation caused by events in The Infinity Gauntlet's crossover storylines. Written by Bob Budiansky.

[Graphic novel, no actual issues] (1992): Bruce Jones tries his hand at writing an MK story, separate from the existing series running at the time. A self-contained graphic novel in trade paperback format.

Issues 2-4 (Jul. - Sep. 1992): Even though MK is technically in three times as many issues as he was in the previous year's Infinity mini-series, he actually had a more prominent appearance in the Gauntlet one. This time he is simply there to flesh out the scenes and help fill them with heroes. Again written by Jim Starlin.

Annual 1 (1992): Written by Danny Fingeroth, MK is simply mentioned in a segment called "Deadly Foes of Dark Hawk," a gallery of villains that includes MK's former sidekick, Midnight, and which also happens to name a few heroes he recently teamed up with. After going crazy trying to find him in this book, I finally found the minor "reference" to him, which someone in their infinitely questionable wisdom saw fit to list as one of his "appearances"!

Issues 93, 94 (Oct., Nov. 1992): MK assists our favorite wall-crawler in "Hobgoblin Reborn" Parts One & Two, written by Howard Mackie, who continues a story he began in Marc Spector: Moon Knight a year before.

Vol. 2, Issue 44 (Dec. 1992): In Kurt Busiek's  "What if  . . . Venom Had Possessed the Punisher," Spidey calls in MK in the end to help DD and him take down the Punisher-Venom coupling.

Issue 1 (May 1993): In this four-issue series presenting the art of Joe Jusko, MK has a full-page art piece in issue 1.

Issues 1-6 (Jun. - Nov. 1993): In Jim Starlin's third Infinity mini-series, MK may be in all six issues, but his involvement is still quite minimal.

Issue 464 (Jul. 1993): Writer Ron Marz gives MK an appearance, along with many others, in this Infinity Crusade crossover, and naturally his exposure is simply that of background filler on one page only.

Issue 104-106 (Sep. - Nov. 1993): Terry Kavanagh (the current MK series' writer) wrote these Infinity Crusade crossovers, in which MK is in a few panels of each--mostly part of crowd scenes in all but #105, in which he actually speaks and has more action.

Vol. 2, Issue 58 (Dec. 1993): Written by Sholly Fisch. Cabbie Jake Lockley drops off She-Hulk in his cab, telling her to give his regards to the Avengers. She thinks he's weird and drops a remark that "at least he spoke English."

Issue 1 (Jan. 1994): Personally, I don't know what the purpose was of sticking MK in this premiere issue, but writer Mark Gruenwald chose to do so, giving him a brief appearance that, without follow-up cameos in later issues, seems pretty pointless.

Issue 1 (Feb. 1994): Written by Peter Sanderson, this character guidebook has an entry for MK that describes the conditions under which he was an Avenger. He also has a small picture on the back cover & inside front cover. Offers nothing for MK fans, but makes an informative resource for Avengers aficionados.  

Issues 152-154 (Apr. - May 1994): In March 1994, MK died in Mark Spector: Moon Knight #60. In April he was back in a story by the writer who began that series, Chuck Dixon. The story really should fit into one issue, but the format for this series at that time was to have short segments of four different stories in each issue, so MK had to share space with the likes of Vengeance, War Machine, and someone called Wolverine. Plays out like a lost episode from an earlier time (perhaps a story idea he abandoned back when he decided to leave the Mark Spector series).

Issue 1 (Fall 1995): One panel, and it's not even our MK; it's some alternate world version with a slightly different costume. Written by Warren Ellis. It took me a while to find him; he's somewhat overshadowed by the image of the alternate Captain America (complete with swastika on chest and shield) in the panel below and to the left--a definite eye-catching image. As for this MK, he has a red crescent over one eye and a red symbol on his chest that suggests a lunar eclipse. Actually a pretty intriguing design--nice job, (artist) George Perez! I wouldn't mind seeing more of this look. If you like the comic, its tale actually begins in Avengers/Ultraforce #1 (Oct. 1995).

Issue 400 (Jul. 1996): Mark Waid includes MK in a feature at back that shows which heroes have been in the Avengers or West Coast Avengers and what issues they can be found in. MK also seems to have a picture hanging on a wall in the Avengers mansion in the comic itself (but it is unclear if this is actually his photo).

Issue 3 (Apr. 1997): MK is visible in one panel only and plays no part in the actual story, which is more of a cop drama, as the cops are the main characters and things are viewed from their perspective. Written by Chuck Dixon.