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Breaking Down the Comics: Fighting the dead.

Moon Knight, Issue 21: The Master of Night Earth / Murder by Moonlight

It's officially spooky time and have I got a Moon Knight comic double feature cross over event for you!

The first one features Brother Voodoo! A lot of you probably have no idea who that is. I used to sit in that boat too. (Marvel is not good at keeping up with their characters until they think they can suddenly make them popular or make money off them).

In fact, Brother Voodoo was once Sorcerer Supreme many years ago when Strange 'retired'. (See 'Search for the Sorcerer Supreme'. A good event that I really enjoyed in which all of Marvel's magical characters got featured).

Firstly, look at that beautiful cover! I’m a sucker for black and white and rough style drawings.

Alright!

So we open up in a port in Haiti. Moon Knight's fighting some gun runners when suddenly a specter appears to join the fight.

The thugs all run!

"It is him! The disciple of Papa Jambo!! Brother Voodoo! His spirit has come to fill our hearts with fire!"

(Moon Knight is no newbie when it comes to Voodoo. He's faced down things like this before in a previous issue.)

"Well, whatever you are, pal, you sure put the Kibosh on these thugs. They're runnin' faster'n a clock at happy hour!"

If that isn't Jake talking I'll eat my hat.

The ghost inhabits one of the running goons and forces the goon to turn and take a stab at Moon Knight.

Moon Knight socks it to him and accidentally knocks the goon and ghost off the pier and into an escaping speed boat.

I think the funniest thing here is that the comic now points out that Moon Knight has a two way mic in his cowl that connects to Frenchie. How often do you think Frenchie sits up there just listening to it all?

While Moon Knight is no Spider-man, he does often talk to 'himself' or have a snippy running commentary.

"Guess ya heard my prize winnin' monologue, Frenchie. The birds've flown, so you might as well bring down the chopper to pick up--Huh? Drums!"

That's right. The sound of drums fill the air and a man appears in a wall of flames.

I think my favorite thing is how much Moon Knight recognizes his poor luck and when things go weird.

Moon Knight has certainly seen his fair share of mystical and weird things so he takes it in stride, of course.

"Who in blazes are you?!"

As meetings go, this is pretty tame. Considering every time Moon Knight meets someone they end up fighting (with one notable exception coming up in another issue).

We get a brief review on who they are. Jericho Drum is Brother Voodoo!

Moon Knight introduces himself, "I'm a lot of things at a lot of different times, Pal, most of 'em based in New York, but before New York, ONE of those things was a mercenary, a soldier for hire. Y'see, I've fought a lot of fights under a lot of flags and identities... But I've probably enjoyed my free agent mercenary experience the most."

An interesting introduction. I take a strong feeling of Jake earlier with the accent and speech patterns. (Not to mention use of the word Kibosh, which is actually not Yiddish, but Irish slang that is often mistaken as yiddish!) Yet, Jake doesn't like to leave New York. He'd rather stay where he is comfortable and has the upper hand.

Here, with the instant description as his old days as a Merc that enjoyed the fight so much that he still does it, one might get the impression it's Marc.

BUT...

"You might say that's what I'm doin' now--What I'm the very best at, and doin' it by way of my identity as a costumed clown. And though I got money to burn--I don't mind pickin' up a little extra cash."

"Then you were paid to come here to Haiti?"

"You might say that, too."

Marc picks up his old job with resistance. He has never been one to jump in the saddle and go out hunting for money. Not anymore.

But there's more:

"I did my homework before acceptin' the assignment, if THAT'S what you mean. Enough to know Im on the side of the angels."

One gets the feeling that Marc is doing what he does best with the prodding of something he needs to do. Perhaps co-fronting with Jake as a sort of protector. Letting Jake run things to keep his spirits up and prevent him from crashing and burning like he did in Israel.

An early sign, perhaps, that they are struggling but learning to work together.

Anyways, back to the story!

Brother Voodoo explains that Haiti has suffered many coup d'etats and there is a current terrorist attempt to take over. He is head of security here and he offers to pay Moon Knight handsomely if he agrees to help stop the latest attempted overthrow.

Brother Voodoo warns him of “Houngans, the lord of the crossroads and demons, master of night earth, night forests, and zuvembies and voodoo.”

Moon Knight first scoffs at the notion of REAL voodoo but then takes pause not to scoff at such things when he saw this man become a sort of ghost first hand.

"The spirit you saw was my slain brother, Daniel." (See Brother Voodoo backstory to find out more! But basically his brother was killed and now acts as a spirit at his side that can inhabit people to help the cause).

Let's back up a moment. Houngans, also known as Oungan in real life Haitian, is a male priest in Haitian Vodou. A powerful man that can work with the spirits.

Moon Knight sends Frenchie off with his chopper to dispose of the stolen munitions they recovered. Meanwhile, Brother Voodoo and he take a boat down the river to track down the escaped speedboat.

Daniel, the spirit brother, has inhabited one of the thugs still and will help guide them to the safehouse.

On the way there, they encounter Zombies on gators!

I’m going to add this informally to my check list of animals Moon Knight has fought. Zombie gators and Zombie snakes. That’s a new one there, Moon Knight buddy.

Brother Voodoo and Moon Knight put up a fight, but it's hard to kill what's already dead.

Just when it seems to be a lost fight, the zombies suddenly start to retreat!

It would seem that the grand leader doesn't yet have full control of the undead.

The zombies head down one direction and Daniel's spirit went down the other. Frenchie shows up and Moon Knight head off to fight the terrorists while Brother Voodoo sets out to track down the zombies.

Marc and Frenchie find a fortress deep in the swamp. Meanwhile, Brother Voodoo comes across a waterfall that comes out just on the other side of the fortress!

Moon Knight attempts to glide in to save him from the waterfall but Voodoo refuses and goes over the edge.

I just want to say how much I ADORE this art right now. It’s the formless features of the face hidden in darkness with the eyes. Old Moon Knight cowl was just amazing and O dig classic costume. LOOK AT IT.

Moon Knight is surrounded by thugs with guns and thinks it might be the end when drums start up again!

Brother Voodoo appears and the ghost of his brother returns while the thugs make a run for it.

The art of surprise is over, but they decide to use stealth to sneak in.

And we all know how Moon Knight does with stealth...

Do I have a crash through the window counter? I really should have started one of those...

He’s such a drama king.

Anyways, if Moon Knight is asking for five minutes alone with a guy, it isn't going to go well for that guy.

Moon Knight confronts the smartly dressed man and demands the rest of his money.

(Does everyone owe him money? Marc what the hell you been doing?)

The man gives Moon Knight the owed money then tells him that Brother Voodoo has joined the terrorists and needs to be taken out.

"No dice, Giscard. I've been paid in full to stop the terrorists, and that's just what I'm gonna do... Startin' with you, the stinkin' leader of the terrorists!"

The man hired Moon Knight to stop terrorists, which were a few sacrificial goons, in order to look good to the government leaders. Meanwhile, he was staging the coup while pretending to be stopping it!

Honestly, Marc should have caught wind of this earlier. I'm sure he's been in charge of MANY coups and run with plenty of warmongers.

He hits a trap button and Moon Knight is shot with a poison dart!

Moon Knight awakens to find himself staring down the villain, now dressed in a new outfit.

"You see, Moon Knight, I play three roles...You have seen me in two of them- as the Government security chief and as the leader of the revolutionary forces seeking to topple that government. But now, you see me in my third and most important role- the Grand Bois, leader of the unholy trinity, lord of the crossroads and demons...The Master of the Night earth and night forests!"

He gives a long convoluted speech explaining how he will soon gain control over death once the full moon has fully risen.

Once he has full control over death he will raise his zombie army to take over Haiti.

During his speech, Moon Knight has slipped his restraints.

Zombies show up again and so does Brother Voodoo.

They fight the zombies and try to shatter the large mcguffin that is helping to control them.

Moon Knight calls in Frenchie with the big guns and he uses the chopper's gunfire to break the mcguffin and send the Zombies back to their graves.

The goons show up and turn on the villain, deciding they are tired of the zombies. Turns out they weren't too happy to see their ancestors turned into zombies.

He offers his pay to Brother Voodoo, seeing how the money came from Haiti’s treasury in the first place.

Let’s give away this bread.

What an interesting crossover.

The implication of Marc working as a Merc again under the guise of Moon Knight, accepting money, to stop a coup. There's a lot going on there. He doesn't need the money. It's just more to toss onto Steven's pile. And I'm Sure Steven would not be thrilled to have to deal with more laundered and ill-be-gotten cash.

And then there's the whole feel that this is NOT Marc, but Jake. But also Marc. Like a combination of the two. Like Marc felt he needed to help a government that he probably at one point help over throw and put into chaos... But he needed someone to oversee him. To do some hand holding to prevent him from reverting to old tactics, flashbacks, or guilt.

Maybe I'm putting too much into it, but after the issues that preceded this one, maybe Marc isn't ready to settle in yet but also is trying to do some good as a Merc but as Moon Knight.

It was also interesting to hear him talk about his other identities and actually refer to Steven as "the other guy".

And there was also a nice counter to the villain being three roles: Government rich guy, Leader of a coup, and then the religious zealot.

Counter that with Steven, Marc, and Jake in their own roles.

Generally when there are cross over issues, it's an effort to get people interested in the other character enough to go look into their comics and start reading those too. So there really is a general light version of both characters without a lot of weight or back story. They don't want to off put people just tuning in with a lot of lore and things you should know.

So the skirting of the Marc vs. his identity as the merc without guilt issue is avoided here. This issue is for Brother Voodoo.

(And you know what? Those tactics work because I got into Moon Knight because of a Moon Knight cross over issues and went "Who the fuck is this guy?!")

BONUS ISSUE! "MURDER BY MOONLIGHT" by Alan Zelenetz.

Oh boy you guys. This is a Khonshu story!

"Under the timeless gaze of the ancient Egytpain god, More than Marc Spector have known the power of Khonshu.... TALES OF KHONSHU"

We open up on a full moon and a city in distress. An officer has been shot killed and the perp is on the loose!

A man named Herb Russell runs through the botanical gardens. The narration paints him as ruthless and a man that won't stand to loose.

Tired of running, he turns to find he's landed at the Brooklyn Museum "where a late evening lecture series is still in progress."

"Hey, if I can cool it a couple of hours in there, then I just leave with the crowd like a respectable citizen - ha!- when it opens in the morning, and no worries."

He sneaks into the museum and into the night lecture being conducted by a famed Egyptologist "Dr. Richard Mark".

He lectures on the benefits of X-rays for examining mummies without having to disturb them or dishonor them.

He explains that he plans to radiograph some more things before the exhibit opens in the morning.

Hmmm... I sense foreshadowing.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Herb Russell is sneaking through the Egyptian exhibit.

"I'll bet this stuff must be worth a lotta dough. I oughta swipe somethin' before I leave."

Ah yes…. The Khonshu statue. ……Wait. How did it get there? It’s supposed to be in the desert waiting for Marc to raise him from the dead. That’s the cloak that Marc streals to make as his own cape. What’s he doing in a museum in Brooklyn?

He's so judgy.

This will end well.

The night guard takes a look around and deems no one there then leaves.

Now, Russell tries to leave the sarcophagus only to find the lid stuck!

' "What is the punishment of the sinner?" Reads the heiroglypic proverb painted along the mummy case... "Evil shall pursue him and the soul which sins shall die." '

Come morning, we seed the Egyptologist prepping for the exhibit and taking radiographs.

Let’s pretend that maybe there are in fact multiple Khonshu statues. There was, after all, a moon cult back in the day when Ra fell out of favor and people decided Khonshu was the way to go. So there may have been more than one statue or temple. So Marc dies at one, takes that statue home. There is another in the museum. Maybe one in London too because London has half of Egypt.

Anyways, Khonshu has always been a judgy dick. Also what a way to go. Spooky, right?

Zombies and scary stories of suffocating in coffins under the judgy gaze of a moon god…. What a way to kick off the spooky season! (this comic came out in July of 1982).

What do you guys think? What about the sudden change in Marc’s behavior in the first part? What about the duplicate statues all over?

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight comics #Analyzing the comics #Marc Spector #Jake Lockley #Steven Grant #Khonshu #Love that 1980s slang #Khonshu has always been a judgy bitch #Brother Voodoo

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