#moon knight ramblings

[toracainz]

You are Steven's coworker. He is always sweet, respectful and you know for a fact that he couldn't hurt a fly. What is your reaction when he comes in one day, having a black eye, several band aids covering his face, trying to hide the small cuts, and his knuckles are also bruised?

(Marc or Jake took the body the night before and they were in a fight)

I debated so long about making this a fic for the response lol but I can’t get my thoughts straight right now so I’m just going to word vomit how I would probably react 😅

I might turn it into a fic later lol

If I was just standing there at work fiddling with the museum trinkets and Steven walked up looking absolutely wrecked I would immediately go into detective mode asking him a million questions…probably starting with “Oh my God, Steven! Are you okay? What happened?”

He’s absolutely deflect and come up with some entirely u believable excuse. Probably something “I had a fight with the ground and the ground won.” Or something like that, incredibly vague and not at all explaining how this absolutely sweet angle of a man could get in the condition he’s now in. Steven, understanbly, wouldn’t be going around telling people about his “condition”, but I would hope we would get close enough that he might consider sharing that.

Anyway, I would absolutely dote on him the rest of our shift. Checking up on him, offering to get him things (a drink, pain meds, lunch), offer to help with anything, asking if he needed help with his bandages. But I would absolutely want to know who hurt him. Not that all 5’3” of me who’s never been in a fight (and doesn’t want to) could do anything if I did know who did it. I would just want to let him know he had someone on his side. That whatever was going on he had a friend and support if he needed it.

Idk if this is what you were wanting for an answer, if it’s not I’m sorry 😅 I’ll get a fic together of this little scenario eventually. I’m not used to getting asks like this 😅

Thank you for sending me one 🥰 I feel like a real fanfic writer when I get asks about characters and scenarios 🥰

[zprite-x]

A Small Nap

[age-of-moonknight]

“Pathfinder,” Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu (Vol. 2/2024), #3.

Writer: Jed MacKay; Penciler and Inker: Domenico Carbone; Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg; Letterer: Cory Petit

[writeraid]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but this bothered me when I first watched episode three and it still bothers me two years on. .. ... how the FUCK did Marc get the hat back in Cairo?

like they VERY CLEARLY show us him loosing it. He runs into a clothes line on the rooftops and it flies off. and he doesn't have it on for the rest of the interactions with that group of guys/the one teenager. It's still missing when he goes to the Avatar Meeting Thing.

and then

BOOM

cut to him all undercover (he's not that great at it, lets be honest here.) and it's BACK!! Did this motherfucker go all the way back for his hat? I mean, I have a feeling it's sentimental in some way (it's a Cubs hat, he grew up in Chicago and we clearly see that he was a fan in (at least) his childhood given the banner in his bedroom in ep.5), but like. I NEED to see how he got it back. Did he put it in his pocket?? I know from experience that if the pocket is big enough you can squish up a baseball cap and put it in there. But like it is obvious so.

Oh my gods this motherfucker went back for the hat.

WHERE IS THAT SCENE, MARVEL? I NEED THAT SCENE TO OVERANAYLZE OVER, MARVEL.

okayI'llstopnow.

[dis-aster9255]

Layla, Marc, and Steven

[mystic-writings]

one thing about me is that i will always be reading oscar isaac fanfic

[duskwod]

Here's what's to expect from the season 1 battlepass

Go crazy

[nowritingonthewall]

Every time I see people hating really hard on Layla and/or seeing Harrow as the compassionate therapist who just wanted to help, I am just… questioning my own perception of reality 🥺

[kittenninja14]

this might be unpopular and totally hated but… is it weird that I’m kinda glad that moon knight doesn’t have a season 2??

b4 u get outraged, here me out xd

Look. I wanna see Marc again. I wanna see Steven. I wanna see Layla. I wanna see my babies go on epic adventures and do amazing stuff. But… then there’s Jake, my precious lil blorbo.

and like im terrified that they might ruin Jake.

cuz like…there’s a lotta dif interpretations of him throughout the comics and like the fandom (kinda?) has one almost-unified view of him but we know marvel nowadays… they don’t usually listen to the fans much 😔

so what if s2 they ruin him? What if they don’t dive into the trauma that Jake clearly has? Cuz like my baby is the protector! And um… I highly doubt it that he hasn’t got some trauma throughout his life.

and like. What if they don’t do a good job with characterizing him? What if they lean more into the evil-alter stereotype?? Cuz that’s not who Jake is. He’s a protector! But what if s2 doesn’t do a good job showing him as a protector?

idk y’all. As much as I want more Jake screentime, I’m kinda nervous how mcu might portray him. And since lately marvel has been more focused on money than actually making good stuff… idk man lol

just nervous lol

[azurityarts]

OH MY GOODNESS

POKEMON TEAM WITH WEAPONS

LITERALLY BASED

I love your art so much, this isn't even like an ask but this felt like the easiest way to get a message to you,

Anyway I love your art and I love that team they're so cool,,, yes

Thank you!!! I appreciate that a lot ;v;

I find it very funny that across the three of them, their methods of delivering blunt-force trauma are a pipe, those hands, and a yoyo shndghnsdfhn

(And also various cat scratches when appropriate)

[lilywave]

something about instead of the lords in black taking what the kids treasure the most, they get rid of max and in exchange the kids become their avatars on earth moon knight-style and carry out their will in the mortal realm so they don’t have to wait to be summoned anymore… i’ve been having thoughts lately

[stiffyck]

Marvel rivals has opened my eyes to so many ships tbh but I have a home cooked one I haven't seen yet.

Adam Warlock x Steven Grant

Hear me out okay-

(Going with mcu Steven cuz i like him a bit more than comics Steven and also we don't really know anything about him in rivals yet I think, so-)

The team had a long and difficult mission. The strategists are patching up their allies.

Adam is currently tending to Marc's wounds. Dude starts to sorta dissociate half way through- it was a long day and the mission wasn't easy.

Enter Steven! I honestly think he'd get along well with Adam. I also think Adam would find him nice and fun to talk to. They'd be incredibly awkward at the start, at least Steven, but I feel like they'd become friends pretty fast.

Also I like the idea of it like. Becoming a thing- after missions, Steven and Adam just chatting.

Anyway that is all.

[age-of-moonknight]

Variant cover for Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu (Vol. 2/2024), #1 by Aka.

[writeraid]

Headcanon: Jake Lockley collects plants. But specifically succulents. because unlike fish they won't die if they get left alone for a few days. They start appearing around the flat and Marc thinks they belong to Steven, Steven thinks they belong to Marc, and Jake being the chaotic little shit he his just keeps adding more to bother them.

[dis-aster9255]

Hi hi hello this is gonna be both a mix of like actual character analysis and a few headcanons cause these characters haven't left my head for two months.

But yeah I'm gonna be applying the idea that Steven, Marc, and Jake are all autistic and it's not just Steven. (based on what I know and my own experiences) :D

(Warning: it's long.)

Steven:

Okay so Steven is the one with the most visible evidence because i believe he's the only one who doesn't try to mask

He either does not care what people think of him or straight up doesn't notice that he's acting differently than "normal"

When he's confused he'll just straight up ask like with Dylan ("are you asking me out??")

The hyperfixation/special interest in ancient egypt. He's learning ancient egyptian and hieroglyphics he's SERIOUS

He works at a museum specifically because of that as well

Taking literally any chance he can to talk about it even if the people he's talking to clearly don't care (ex. Donna)

He got so excited when Layla knew what he was talking about like come on

Also ROUTINE

Every evening he adds the tape on his door, replaces the sand, and puts the ankle restraint on before going to sleep

Ik that's supposed to be because of Marc but it's a routine and it's clearly always done the same every night.

Calls his mother every day even if she doesn't answer (we know why but :( )

Also the necklace. It's barely visible but it is there every day

The way he stands:

Need i say more? I don't but I will

Seriously though I'm pretty sure whenever he's fronting he's like never standing still

Either like this or messing with whatever is in his hands

The rubix cube. He can finish that thing without looking at this point its not a puzzle it's a fidget object.

Now for some not fun things

He gets overwhelmed at least twice in the show

Once after he finds out everything with his mom and once with Layla

The one with Layla I understand completely, stressful situation along with two people yelling at you is the worst thing and I know the exact feeling.

Either way both times he was constantly repeating the same word over and over again while basically folding in on himself to avoid whatever was happening around him.

On a lighter note Steven expresses his genuine excitement openly

He was dead but he was still so happy he finally was able to meet someone who knows what he's talking about in ep 5

Idk how to transiton to Marc but HERE WE GO

Marc:

Okay so while I was doing this I realized I related to Marc a lot damn

Anyways Marc masks the majority of the time

Like all the time I don't think he ever hasn't even around Layla

His voice is so monotone and the way he expresses the changes in emotion is by getting either louder or quieter instead of anything else

That entire scene with Mogart and the sarcophagus. There is not way he wasn't forcing every aspect of that interaction

Holding out his hand until Mogart finally shook it because "this is how normal interactions start right???"

When he's asked why he wants to see the sarcophagus he has no idea how to respond and gives the most non-answer ever. Everyone thinks it's weird but he doesn't notice, it worked so whatever

Episode 5

We all know Marc hides his emotions

It's obvious

But what if he's hiding them because they're too much for him to handle, or he just straight up doesn't understand them

He runs from problems cause he doesn't want to confront his feelings

He ran from Layla because the issue with Khonshu was too much to deal with instead of having one conversation about it

He ran from his mother's shiva cause it was too many conflicting emotions

And when Steven was reliving the worst memory of his life he ran again (idk if it's like actually canon or not but I believe that while Steven was going through the memory he could hear the whole thing echoing through the hallways)

He also seems like the type to not show emotion on his face unless it's a strong one, but that's just what I think I've not no actual evidence for this

Anyways like with Steven he also gets overwhelmed a few times in the series

And he does what not many people are willing to talk about and gets aggressive when that happens yayyyyy /lhj

Seriously though in the scene in ep 5 when he doesn't want to confront his mother's abuse again

Yelling and hitting himself repeatedly same man same

In ep 2 when Steven is yelling at him through the mirror he breaks it so he can get some silence and then gets tormented by Khonshu which rude, asshole

Aggression can seem like the easiest way to deal with things so I get it, it happened quite a few times in this show

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

He also gets hyperfixations he just doesn't exactly have the time to indulge himself

The movie

Idk how much we should trust therapist Harrow in certain things but he made a note to mention that Marc has watched that movie a LOT

He loved that movie as a kid

He doesn't have much of a routine besides putting everything back the way it was before Steven can wake up but I think he deserves one

Jake:

This is gonna be short he had four minutes of screen time and two of those minutes have not actually been confirmed

But yeah he seems like he'd also not care about masking

Though I think if he gets too overwhelmed (which would probably take a lot for it to happen) he'd just end up retreating

Or if it's just someone being annoying he'd deal with them himself (maybe just a good punch in the face no big deal right guys /hj)

Kinda a mix of what both Steven and Marc do it just depends on the situation

Also this is just a thought but I think he'd be the type to be constantly forcing expressions cause he does not have the energy to explain himself verbally

Like yeah he expresses things visually but he over exaggerates them to get the point across if that makes sense

Anyways that's all I have

Kinda went on a rant but I hope it makes sense

I'd be happy to hear anybody else's opinions as well :)

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the Comics: Writing a legend, building a history.

Today we aren't reviewing an issue of Moon Knight. Today we are going to talk about something important.

So who wrote Moon Knight?

"Easy!", you might say. "Doug Moench!"

Sure. But you'd be surprised to find that it's not as much as you'd think.

Doug Moench wrote issues 1-15, 17-26, 28-33.

He returns in 1998 for a 4 issue mini seires Vol 3 "Resurrection Wars" which revives Marc Spector, who had been killed off in the previous volume.

He continues in 1999 with Vol 4, another 4 issue mini series "High Strangers/Strangeness" which won an award for favorite limited series.

He also wrote werewolf by Night, which gave us the first iteration of Moon Knight. An instantly popular character that made appearances in other comics like "The Hulk" before he was given his own comic.

He had time to work on the designs with Bill Sienkiewicz. They built up the weapons, the costume, the cab, and the copter.

He also built up the side characters of Gena, Gena's two boys, Crawley, Frenchie, Detective Flint, and Marlene.

He set the ground rules:

Moon Knight system is Jewish.

Marc, Jake, and Steven are a part of a system and are not one man pretending to be someone else

Jake is the one that is friendly and loves being with the people.

Steven is posh, collected, and takes care of things.

Marc is the one with experience, has the skills needed to get things done, and holds all the pain.

They are former Mercenaries who did terrible things and have deep guilt.

Khonshu resurrected them to act as Moon Knight

They strive to protect any who would come to them for help that perhaps might not get it elsewhere

I would even argue that he was building up to the fact that Moon Knight himself was his own form of alter but it has since been glossed over and replaced with the idea that Marc is most often the one under the mask.

Pretty simple rules to follow to make it a Moon Knight comics, but you'd be surprised what some writers have done with it.

These comics were written long before DID was acknowledged and the different forms of PTSD and Dissociation were defined.

And yet, here we stand with a traumazied man from Chicago slowly working through a freshly cognizant system and trying to figure out how three (four) people can work together towards not just a life, but life as a superhero who wants to help people.

Further more, an odd thing happened in this.

We had a comic that often focused more on mental health than on super powers, heroics, or villains.

More often than not, we watched Marc, Jake, and Steven struggle with themselves and one another. We watched stories unfold from the villain's point of view, often just being ordinary people pushed too far by a system that failed them.

More so, we watched Moon Knight sympathise with these villains.

How often he let them walk away or he let them kill their abusers, wondering if he was doing wrong himself.

How can he help when sometimes the help he offers is not what is needed?

We even watched him fail. We saw him lose his temper and cause damage. We saw him curl into a ball and break. We saw him get lost in his own nightmares and dissociative fuges.

Moench stepped forward and often handled current events with raw emotion. We saw his characters cry over the loss of public iconic figures. We watched people struggling as they returned from war. We saw child abuse and poverty. We watched economic struggles with classism and we watched people struggle to deal with grief.

We even watched them deal with antisemitism over and over again. How many times were the victims of his stories Jewish and trying to survive in America? What about the story that took place with the mass shooting in the Synagoug? We heard stories of Generational trauma as elders struggled with survival after the Holocaust.

Moon Knight was a unique comic unlike any other I've ever come across. For it's time and for it's topics at the time. What's more, this comic continued.

It was no 'special of the week' comic and spanned multiple years as they grew.

What do we know about Moench? Who did he write this comic for?

The Moon Knight in the Were Wolf by Night certainly didn't have all this depth. He was just a man dressed in silver, fighting a monster and ultimately choosing the side of the monster.

Moench himself was from Chicago. He knew what it was like to live in the city and see the fall of factories and hard times on the streets. We know he witnessed the times of Vietnam veterans being forgotten and abused. He witnessed a lot of changes happening in the world and the places he was writing about.

He wrote about what spoke to him and what he saw around him.

And in his stories, there often were no clear heroes, winners, or villains.

But there was one issue that he chose to add into this comic that was already filled with so many things that other comics avoided.

Moon Knight wasn't written as Jewish in that one shot cameo. He wasn't written with DID either, but I'll get to that.

There are interviews of Doug admitting that "I didn't say, 'I'm going to sit down and create a Jewish character.'"

In fact, he picked a name and later found out it was a Jewish name. This made him do research. Not just into Judaism, but into the areas that Marc Spector fought in and where his family came from.

Do you have any idea how many writers of that time and our current time simply slap the label of "Jewish" on a character and refuse to actually look into what makes them Jewish?

I can't say how much he researched and how much he got wrong or right, but I do know that when he did choose to dive into topics that touched on certain issues, he handled them with a grace that is often overlooked.

The writer that came after Moench? Alan Zelenetz, a former Jewish day school principal from Brooklyn.

Zelenetz had been acting as an editor for a bit before he took a look at Moench's early start.

And it was in Issue 37 and 38 where we get the real backstory of Marc Spector. A man running from his Rabbi father.

Marc now became the son of an Orthodox Rabbi who had been forced to flee Czechoslovakia after the Nazi invasion.

Here, we get the story of Marc running to the Marines. Running to the mercenaries, and running from home. Perhaps even, running from G-d.

Zelenetz wanted to lean into the Jewish past and Jewish story. He explored themes of using a holy book to create a villain while playing with Jewish myths. He also explored Antisemitism without toning it down or hiding it under comic bookish villainy. He portrayed Moon Knight facing white supremacist vandalizing a Jewish Cemetery. He showed Moon Knight saving the Torah from a Synagogue fire. He also showed a strained relationship and the question of Moon Knight finding his own relationship in what he does with his father's views.

Alan Zelenetz edited/wrote shorts for issues 18, 21–22, 27, 32, Then wrote the whole story for issues 36–38.

Zelenetz voiced that he was looking to add some Jewish representation into his workforce and perhaps into the comic industry at the time. Considering his background, perhaps he was the only one at the time that had the proper knowledge to play with things the way that he did in the story of Elias Spector's death and Marc Spector's pain.

He did not stick around with Moon Knight for long after. Though, he admits that he wanted to play with the fact that Khonshu was an Egyptian god and Marc was from such a Jewish background. I am sad we didn't get to see that story.

After that, Moon Knight's original 1980s run was finished. The question of what to do with Moon Knight, where to take him, and who would take up the mantle of writing him now lay in the hands of Marvel.

Many failed after this. They failed to keep the heart of what Moon Knight stood for and who Moon Knight was. His Jewishness was forgotten and his mental health became a joke.

Not to say all of them failed. There are a few shining stars that gleamed in the darkness and I like to think that it was these moments that kept Moon Knight going all these years.

Moench didn't set out to write a story about mental health, and yet his approach is the most real I've seen. Hardly a shining picture of perfect representation, there is still something there in watching the character almost seem to push back against the unintended desire to push him into a corner.

No matter how often Jake and Steven and Moon Knight were seen as Marc pretending to be someone else, there was always ALWAYS that correction. Always that push back.

Call it the writer's curse of characters misbehaving and taking on a life of their own, but perhaps there was something more there. Perhaps he felt the weight of time and cry of the suppressed and overlooked.

So many of his stories danced the line of "I can't say it because it will get edited out by the big wigs at Marvel, but if you would just look... Just look over here for just a moment..."

And years upon years later, a writer did see the whispers there and said "I see the story of pain. I see the cry of mental health." Lemire told the story that Moench couldn't and from that, we are still pushing forward with McKay.

And more, perhaps we will see the Jewish story that hides in all that also get a spotlight again.

In the era of big battles, cross-over events, explosions, and super villains cackling about domination... I still look back at Stained Glass Scarlet, The Druid, the Music Box, And Colloquy.

As I finish the original 1980s run, I brace myself to dive into what comes next.

I think I'm trying to find where and how the original run ventured so far into the dark and insulting territory it did and the journey back into a revival that now means so much to so many.

In a way, perhaps it mirrors a journey into our own mental health. How easy it is to become lost in what everyone around you tells you that you are and how you are supposed to be until your own doubt sets in to drown you. Perhaps it is the journey of Moon Knight's character emerging from this to find a path to healing that is what kept us here so long.