#the lemire run is gorgeous

[spiritsglade]

jeff lemire wrote one of my favorite fucking comic runs of all time. it was gorgeous and thoughtful and beautifully put together and so so nuanced for a character that got boiled down into the 'violent crazy delusional freak' regularly when he was in a supporting role and sometimes in his solos too!!

that comic is nearly a decade old. and it's the only piece of lemire's work that i've read. so sometimes i ask myself if i should keep hoping the jaybin run will turn out that way. and then i remember loeb is currently writing the same story 23 years after he already did it the first time. which is not helping me exit the denial stage.

[therealraewest]

I forgot how gorgeous this run is immediately off the bat.

This is everyone's reminder to go read the 2016 Lemire/Smallwood Moon Knight run because *chef's kiss*

[gffa]

im gonna get dc infinite again soon and i have a strong need for batfam. what are your top recs rn?

Hi! I have a list of runs I've been enjoying here and @fantastic-nonsense has an incredible list of comic recs sorted by character here, but it can be a lot to sort through sometimes and so much really depends on what you're into, how familiar you are with everything, etc. BUT! My top recs right now are: - Current Nightwing series, 2016-current, (maybe skim issues 50-76 because the Ric Grayson arc isn't a good starting place, you can pick the series up after that as a good starting place), it's always a solid read for me (to be fair, I'll read just about anything for my fave tho) and a great mix of humor, adventure, and exploration of Dick's character and relationships - Batman: Urban Legends series, 2021-2023, which is a rec with a big asterisk in that I skimmed the stories I wasn't interested in, which sometimes could take up half the tpb, but the core Batfam character-centric ones were FANTASTIC, there's a time travel arc with Thomas and Martha Wayne that was all kinds of stellar, a great Jason story, a great Tim story, a couple of great Dick stories, etc. - Batman: Cold Days (volume 3, issues #51-57 of Batman) and Batman: Rules of Engagement (volume 5, issues #33-37 + Annual #2) are a bit controversial, a lot of people really hate Tom King's writing, but I had a blast with these two volumes, especially because they're heavy on Bruce's kids showing up to bother him and I'm always down for that, there was humor and heart and everything I come to comics for. - Batman: The Court of Owls + City of Owls is one I'm still reading but enjoying VERY much and it's a great read if you want an actually good STORY, instead of just good character interactions (not that there aren't good stories in the above, there very much are, I just feel like this story is overall a really stand-out one on that front), though, it has a lot of that, too. - Robin & Batman (2021, by Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen) is a three-issue mini-series about the early days of Dick learning to become Robin and it's an utterly gorgeous read for the characters and the art, that this Bruce struggles with being emotionally available for this kid who desperately needs him, but also YOU CAN'T TELL DICK GRAYSON SHIT ABOUT WHAT TO DO EVEN WHEN HE'S LIKE NINE YEARS OLD and they manage to figure things out, just an emotional gut-punch in the best way.

[spiralghoul]

@taliegator Sorry for putting this as a reblog but it was a bit too much for it to be convenient to put in replies but Absolutely! This is a list of completed story’s or minis (also my marvel picks cause I just in general don’t read as much marvel) I’ll post the individual character guides at some point but full admittance time they’re a bit more out of date than I remember them being so I just wanna clean them up a bit before posting them. But these are great place to start if your new to comics it’s a pretty basic list but that’s kinda the point most of them should be pretty easy to find as trade paperbacks or online

Far Sector by N. K. Jemisin which is a sci fi murder mystery following a new green lantern while she tries to solve a murder on a planet where violent crime and murder have been basically unheard of for hundreds of years because it’s stripped all its citizens of emotions to keep the peace.

The Boy Wonder by Juni ba it is genuinely one of my favorite comics ever the art is gorgeous and it’s such a good read on Damian as a character and his relationship with his family.

V for Vendettas by Alan Moore, while not canon to dc continuity it is still an excellent read I have a personal love for it cause it was used as a final in my senior creative writing class and analyzing it was some of the most fun I’ve had in an English class but it’s genuinely incredible and relevant unfortunately. V is complex and fascinating and is deeply flawed and watching Evey (who is the true protag even tho no dudebro will ever admit it) try to navigate this world is so good and you really feel for her. DON'T WATCH THE MOVIE it completely misses the point of the book in an incredibly frustrating way if you do wanna watch it watch it after reading it.

Batman long Halloween and Batman hush are also both incredibly solid stories and you’ll see them recommend everywhere you look but they are still good

Kingdom come is also very good and highly recommend but I would recommend having more familiarity with the dc pantheon before going for it

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, while I normally would never recommend Tom King cause he sucks as a person and doesn’t get the characters he’s writing half the time, this book is genuinely incredible. The art is beautiful and watching Kara struggle with the weight of being the last true kryptonian and having to learn to move on and not let herself become stuck is so moving

Sword of azrael (2022) by Dan watters is great and I need more ppl to read it please the art is gorgeous and this story just slipped under the radar

Green arrow year one is solid aswell not my favorite of his stories but it’s good if you liked the arrow tv show this is a good place to start getting acquainted with the comic version

And Green Arrow Quiver which is the first storyline of the 2001 run is super good it follows a recently resurrected Ollie trying to figure out how the hell he came back and what the hell has happened since he’s been gone (the 2001 run overall is really good I’ll go more into detail abt it at whenever I get to doing the individual character list)

Condensing all the marvel stuff to its own little section

Hawkeye (2012) by Matt Fraction genuinely probably the best Hawkeye book ever I love it so much they let him be a street level hero it’s where lucky the pizza dog comes from there’s an entire issue from said pizza dogs pov and an entire issue in ASL it’s amazing

Moon knight by Jeff lemire uhh hi random marvel book this is just really solid book and the art is drop dead I love it so much. Also moon knight (2021) by Jed MacKay is really solid if you like complicated street level hero’s eith super natural elements

Young avengers (2005) and children’s crusade are also really solid complete stories but they don’t exist in a vacuum like a lot of the books on this list do so heads up

Thor (2014) and the mighty Thor (2015) by Jason Aaron follows Jane fosters time as Thor after odinson became unworthy of it and he struggle with being a hero while having cancer when every time she transforms into Thor it purges her body of the chemo making the cancer kill her quicker

Ms marvel (2014) by G. Willow Wilson follows Kamala Khan who is just your ordinary superhero obsessed teenager till her latent inhuman powers get activated the story focuses heavily on identity, sense of self, feeling like the other and how you don’t need to conform to those that judge you

Batfamily fans don’t mischaracterize arrow characters to prop up bats when you’ve very clearly never touched an arrow family comic in your life challenge IMPOSSIBLE EDITION!!!!!!

Like I so desperately don't want to come off as one of those asshole comic fans cause like I so genuinely want people to know these characters and this wonderful story telling device. This industry which has a lot of problems but is so fascinating and has such a rich history, like I really do want more people to get into comics. I literally keep a beginners list of comics that's digestible stories that aren't like a list of random issues which can be kinda intimidating to new fans. I try to keep it updated for characters and if I don"t have the character their looking for I'll go find a few ppl that do and like do a quick vet to see if they seem to know what they're talking abt and give that to them and if anyone is interested in that pls hit me up let me know I genuinely love introducing ppl to this world!!

Its just so frustrating watching your favorite characters get constantly mischaracterized to such an extreme extent by other people in the fandom and then have that be the general consistence of what they're like when its so far from how they act in the actual comics that are about them!! and then get told that I'm wrong even tho i can literally back up what I'm saying with panel proof from multiple runs! Its not even contained to the fandom IT HAPPENS IN BAT BOOKS TOO!! Bat book writers constantly change arrow characters to fit their story lines and make the bats look good and I get it that's how it works these are paper dolls that have been used for over 80 years and have had hundreds of people use them. They're meant to be molded to fit the current story the writer wants to tell but its frustrating cause then people will ignore all of the books that center them and just take batbooks as being word of god for all characters.

[robotsfromtomorrow]

Episode 800: Jose Villarrubia on Restoring SWAMP THING and THE CORBEN LIBRARY

Today's guest is someone listeners of this show will be familiar with, as he name is mentioned often and in tones of reverence. For almost 30 years he has worked with such artists as Jae Lee, Jeff Lemire, Bill Sienkiewicz, JH Williams III, and BERNIE WRIGHTSON to bring color into their art in a way that always enhances, never detracts - no mean feat there.  He's also been a teacher/presenter/lecturer of art and illustration at such institutions as Towson University, Johns Hopkins University, the Institute for Contemporary Art in London, and MICA the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he currently a professor. Two of his most recent projects are his recoloring of the Bernie Wrightson's Swamp Thing run for the recent Absolute Edition, and the second volume of Dark Horse Comics' "Richard Corben Library", which collects Den: Neverwhere with his gorgeous restoration work giving it new life. He's Jose Villarrubia, and Greg is thrilled to have him on the show to talk about all of that and more.

Robots From Tomorrow is a twice-monthly comics podcast recorded deep beneath the Earth’s surface. You can subscribe to it via iTunes or through the RSS feed at RobotsFromTomorrow.com. You can also follow Mike and Greg on Twitter. Stay safe and enjoy your funny books.

Check out this episode!

[luxshine]

Moon Knight Primer Part Eleven

Moon Knight #4-5

Prologue, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X

Issues 4 and 5? Are a rollercoaster of emotions and we still haven’t left Marc’s mind! Again, this is one of the strengths of the Lemire run. We don’t have to worry about whatever is going on in the Marvel Universe at the time, whatever new crossover event is destroying the world (At the time we were just recuperating from the world-shattering event of Secret Was that sort of fused the 616-Universe, aka. The Official Marvel Universe, and the Ultimate Universe,  and was the reason why the origins of many heroes, including Moon Knight, were reshuffled and changed a bit, and just entering Civil War II which was such a mess, I am so glad the boys were busy dealing with themselves instead of with that, as THAT ruined many characters that are just now recovering)

Also, these two issues cement the main theme that we’re dealing with: how Marc is not alone in his mind, even when he thinks he is, and talking control of one’s life despite the challenges. We saw how we lost Crawley in the last issue, as he sacrificed himself to let the group escape. Seven pages into issue four? We lose Jean Paul to a cop who is really Sobek, son of Seth, in disguse. Important thing, Sobek calls Marc “Son of Khonshu” which is, again, something exclusive to this series. Before this, no one had called Marc this, not even the same priests who used to call Hawkeye (Clint Barton) “Beloved of Khonshu”.

At least in his head? Marc gets some respect.

Anyway, Sobek bites Jean Paul on the yugular, and that is not a survivable wound, so Marc kills Sobek with his bare hands, but is on time to hear Jean Paul’s last words (And, most importantly, take off the Mr. Knight mask, so that Jean Paul can see him)

Jean Paul’s last words? Are to call Marc “Mr. Knight” and tell him that yes, he sees that the cop is Sobek.

And THIS is important because before this? EVEN in Marc’s mind? Jean Paul had never acknowledged the name of Mr. Knight. Which paralleled very well the relationship Jean Paul, the real Jean Paul, had with all of Marc’s Alters. Yes, he recognized they existed, he sometimes even paid lip service to their names, but for Jean Paul? Marc was always Marc, no matter who fronted. So this moment of acceptance? Is a goodbye for Marc. The idea that, if Jean Paul ever accepted them completely? They’d lose the old friendship they had. (Which, in a way, is true. When Jean Paul finally saw that Jake and Steven weren’t just names Marc adopted? Was when he finally left the mansion and went on to have his own life)

Anyway, two down, two to go.

With Jean Paul gone, Gena starts seeing the desert too but she’s too confused to really grasp what’s going on. Marc tells her that he’s glad she also sees what he sees, because he can stop what’s going on, but he can’t do it alone. He needs her, and she tells him that well, wherever Marc is going? Can’t be worse than where they are.

Marc once again, asks her to call him Mr. Knight.

Have you noticed how pretty much the whole four issues are Marc telling people to respect his identity? His chosen identity?

AS they walk into the now desert New York, Gena spots her diner and insists that they need to make a stop, regain their bearings, and get some food into their stomachs. At first, Marc is unsure, but he finally agrees. There, Gena comes a bit back to herself, the real Gena’s personality, which once again makes sense: Marc ONLY interacted with her there. And only saw her as the worried single mother who would do anything for her kids.

Which of course is why there, Gena finally starts calling him Mr. Knight without any extra prompting from Marc, reminding him that he is a good man. To which Marc replies that he is Nothing without his friends -something that we have seen Marc express before, even way back in the original Moench run: His sense of self sometimes depends a lot on how others see him.

In any case, this peace can’t last and when he’s on the bathroom -because Marc’s mind world is… pretty realistic- Khonshu interrupts to remind him that he has a mission and he’s weak, and of course Khonshu picked up the wrong person for the job. In short: THE EXACT Opposite of how he was last time we saw him. And he is still skechty and blotched, so we know he’s not how Marc sees Khonshu. He is just… very contradictory. Marc is starting to get tired of this attitude, but just as he tries to stand up for himself Gena calls him back to the diner as Marlene is FINALLY up and speaking, saying that they have to go before the sunrise.

Ironically, it seems the closer they get to the big Pyramid? The better Marlene feels. But Marc, on the other hand, feels that something is wrong there, very wrong. But he can’t just not go. Because he knows that what needs to be fixed? Is there.

Gena, for her part, tells him that her role in this is done, as she needs to stay and wait for her boys -boys who are NOT there because, ding-ding-ding, Marc NEVER interacted with them until the 2006 run killed Ray and left Ricky as the Jean Paul replacement. And This Marc? Is not THAT Marc. That Marc was incredibly unstable due to fronting all time, and trying to keep the others down. So of course, THIS Marc wouldn’t have a mind-template for Gena’s kids.

Three down, One to go.

On the path to the pyramid, Marc realizes that the flying jackals want him to go to the top, so they don’t attack.  Marlene also tells him she remembers everything they lived together, she and Marc, she and STEPHEN Grant (yes, with a PH, and not a V, and I haven’t found a single shred of evidence that it was JUST a typo and not a clue that something was very wrong with Marlene right there), and him as Moon Knight.

No Jake though, and remember how I told you all that Jake was a non-entity for Marlene? And how it annoyed Steven and Jake? Well, here’s proof of it.

Anyway, they reach the base of the pyramid only to be stopped by Moon Knight. The ORIGINAL suit Moon Knight too, who tells Marc to stop, and that he’s insane.

And THAT’s how issue four ends. What a cliffhanger, right? (Importantly? Parts of Moon Knight look completely sketched out, as if he was done with pencils unlike the rest of, well, everything)

Issue 5 begins with Moon Knight convincing Marlene to come with him, as Mr. Knight, our Marc, is not amused and demands to know who he is. Moon Knight replies that he is Marc Spector, the one from before Marc lost his mind and the only one who can stop what is going on. Now, very importantly: He doesn’t say that he is the REAL Marc, but the SANE Marc. Even in his mind, even fractured? Marc knows he and his alters are real. Or at least, subconsciously he knows it because he’s not, at least at this moment, aware of Jake and Steven.

And he is ANGRY at being called Insane, so he stabs “sane” Marc with a moon crescent, but Moon Knight headbutts him and manages to run away with Marlene.

And here once again I remind you: This is not REAL Marlene betraying Marc for an illusion of a “normal” Marc (Not a Sane one, because as our Marc says, the System is NOT Insane), but Marc’s mental image of Marlene. Who OF COURSE was going to leave him the second she was offered an out, a man who was not a System, a man who wasn’t constantly running into danger.

Not only that, but consider how he lost his allies: Crawley sacrificed himself to help the greater good, Jean Paul got killed because Marc got sloppy. Gena choose to stay behind, but didn’t betray Marc.

Marlene? Marlene ran away with a “better” version of Marc.

Anyone else wants to hug Marc?

Marc runs after them, but when he crosses a door with a crescent on it… we’re suddenly in a completely different landscape, drawn by a completely different artist.

James Stokoe is the artist here, and we’re on the moon. Marc is wearing a space suit very similar to his black armor version, and he can see a trail of footprints and blood leading to a door with a half moon on it. But when he starts walking towards it… he’s almost ambushed by werewolves.

Interestingly, THIS section has panels, but the borders are very, very faint. As if reality was unsure of it being reality.

He manages to cross the door, and we change realities again. And AGAIN we have borders, only these are a bit more clear.  A bit more comic-booky. And the art changes again, this time by Wilfredo Torres, with a cleaner style than Stokoe who is very anime influenced. There he meets with Marlene, who is calling him Steven, with a V, and is wearing the Stained Glass Scarlet costume, as she is an actress in the Grant-produced Moon Knight movie. Before Steven -because this is Steven- can get his bearings, Marlene tells him to run as Billy and Bobby, our favorite Jackal nurses, appear in human form and are chasing Steven.

Steven runs through the door Marlene pointed to, marked with a Half moon in the oppositeside of the original he crossed, and we’re back in a borderless world, only this time is NOT Marc’s world, but the far more gritty and comic-book looking world of Jake Lockley, this time drawn by Fransesco Francavilla.

Coloring, by the way, also changes between worlds. The Moon world is washed in blues, while the Grant world is warmth and colored in a sort of animation cel style. Jake’s? Is all high contrasts, in a very seventies style.

Jake finds a last crescent door, but he’s almost stopped by Billy and Bobby who come out from a sewer and try to put him to sleep to take “Spector” back to dr. AMMUT (yep, The System’s mind is done with pretending)  

He manages to cross the last crescent door, and we’re back to Smallwood’s art, no panel borders and Mr. Knight.

Oh, and Marc is facing a chained Seth, who calls him “Khonshu’s Pup” and is very clearly not the one in charge of the madness that is going around, given that he is a) Chained, and b) ALSO part of Marc’s mindscape since he is not colored, inked or drawn differently.

Following Seth’s directions, he climbs the last set of stairs as he removes the Mr. Knight mask only to meet face to face with the bleeding Moon Knight he faced at the beginning of the chapter, who congratulates him on managing to arrive there. And as Marc demands to know who Moon Knight really is, the man takes off his mask to reveal…

Khonshu.

Khonshu, who unlike Set? Is drawn in the sketchy, blurry style of the Otherworld to point out that he? Is an outsider to Marc’s mindscape.

Which becomes even more obvious when he reveals why he was testing Marc, the real reason for all this journey. See? Khonshu’s body in the othervoid is dying. And, in order to stay alive? Khonshu wants to take over the Moon System’s human one.

In exchange? Marc will be at peace. No more pain, no more “Weakness”, no more being “broken” (as Khonshu keeps calling Marc, over and over again. There was only ONE time in this whole five issue run when he didn’t, which is quite suspicious, don’t you think? The one time when he told Marc to embrace himself, to believe in his own mind, and to follow his instincts. A very helpful little bird, unlike this one)

And Marc? Faithful Marc, who has believed every word of Khonshu so far?

Says NO.

And because he knows he can’t fight Khonshu, he can’t fight a God, even a Dying one?  He jumps off the pyramid, ready to die, as he remembers his friends smiling at Gena’s diner.

And dies before letting Khonshu have his body.

Only to wake up as Steven, in his mansion, drawn again by Wilfredo Torres and with the warm, soft color palette and the soft black panel borders,  with Marlene, who says she’s an actress, and he is a producer, that they’re shooting the pyramid scene now.

And Steven? Steven smiles at the skyline while a tear falls down his right eye.

So… Did Marc die and let Steven get the body before letting Khonshu have it? Did any of this happen?  What the hell is going on?

Well, for that, we need to go to the NEXT arc of the Lemire’s run, still written by Lemire, and MAINLY drawn by Smallwood (Although Torres, Stokoe and Francavilla will remain with us for a while), titled “Incarnations” That only lasts from issues 6 to 10 to complete the first 10 issues of the Lemire run.

But that? Is for part 12.

(I'm adding the covers because a)they're so pretty, and b) look at the symbolism! Marc letting go of the illusions, of the pain, and revealing that under all that? He's more than just Marc Spector!)

[for-the-mk-fanworks]

One of the great parts of the Lemire run is all the little details, and one of the most detail filled parts is Issue Ten, which has Marc’s childhood bedroom, with

So

Many

DETAILS!

Just to start it off, I’m throwing in this image of Kid Marc, just to preface the amount of sci-fi in his room. This is a tiny space nerd

His door has a sticker for the Chicago Bulls, which is a basketball team. I’m clarifying because people not in the US might not know that, or if you don’t really care that much about sports. I’m the latter. Anyways, he also has a Darth Vader sticker. Like I said. Tiny sci-fi nerd. Into the main shot of his bedroom

He’s got an A-Team Poster (it’s about special forces in the Military, that eventually go rogue. Sound familar?)

He’s got a Max Headroom poster, who was a British, stuttering, “computer generated TV host” (it was just some guy in prosthetics over a blue screen with really harsh lighting)

He’s got the Starship Enterprise!!! And what looks like an X-Wing. So he’s not just a Star Wars fans, he also likes Star Trek

He has a telescope that’s really close to the “camera”,front and center, adding onto the space nerd aspect

More sports teams, the Chicago Fire and the Chicago Bears (Soccer and Football teams respectively). MCU!Marc has a poster from of these teams. I don’t remember which, or it might have been a Chicago Cubs hat (baseball)

Speaking of sports again, he’s got two baseball bats next to his bed, and my favorite part

MARC SPECTOR. HAD A RACECAR BED. YOU CANNOT TELL ME THAT’S NOT ADORABLE

I think this might be another baseball bat next to it, but that’s definitely a football. So a surprisingly athletic space nerd. Good for him

He’s also got four awards in his room. Good for him

And of course Another darth vader

It took me for ever to figure out what any of the stickers meant, but I finally got one of them. It’s a sticker for a cartoon called MASK, which is this thing

Look it up on Wikipedia. Make of that whatever you want. But it is an incredibly 80’s cartoon. And last but not least

A plushie of Alf the Alien Life Form from the sitcom of the same name, and an Indiana Jones poster. That poster is right next to a text bubble of Marc talking about his new friend

His new friend “Steven”. The way the scene is set up might have inspired MCU!Steven to be from “Tomb Buster”

The takeaway (minus that the Lemire run is incredible and has so many GORGEOUS DETAILS that you might notice something new with every read?)

Marc as a kid had a lot of varied interests, was surprisingly athletic, but also was a massive space nerd, Star Trek and Star Wars and Alf and wearing his NASA t-shirt and HIS TELESCOPE!!

Which makes it all the more ironic that he winds up with the god of the Moon.

So if you’re looking to write a fic with Marc as a kid, or just want to know about what some of his interests were, I hope this helps!

[little-cereal-draws]

I finished the Moon knight Lemire run! It was so good and the art was gorgeous.

I need recs for the next run i should read bc i want more lol

[blackkatmagic]

any mk comics recs? I've read the older ones but i just watched the show and now i kinda want to strangle Steven bc it was. not the steven im used to. so yeah any recs?

I'm not sure what you mean by "older", if you're talking about the runs from the 80s or later, but. One of my absolute favorite runs is the one by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey. It's incredibly beautiful and has a lot of my absolute favorite interactions, and it showcases MK's humor without making him into a Deadpool wearing white. Other than that, Lemire and Smallwood's run is recced a lot for a very, very good reason, because it's gorgeous and fascinating in a lot of layered ways.

(And, controversial, but. I really enjoyed the MK crossover with the Avengers, Age of Khonshu. It was pretty, it humanized Khonshu in really neat ways, and the connection between Marc and T'Challa was amazing. It's a divisive one, though - I know a lot of MK fans who absolutely hated it.)

[tiptapricot]

MK liveblog ep 2, Summon The Suit

The sudden pan up from sand FUCKS

The security footage scene is both so cute n sO embarrassing

Also I want JB n Steven to b bros they seem like they’d b rlly goofy n fun

“Larry in maintanence is going to absolutely shoot you”

MARC WALKING OUT ON THE TAPES WHAT A FUCKING SCENE

The Human Resources scene is rlly nice asmr

Steven having to give up his name n symbolically himself as he further journeys into his life falling apart makes me YELL

The guy at the storage locker place says he never forgets a face but isn’t put off by the accent, did Marc never talk to him?

Marc’s clothes being in the storage locker… gOd

Steven’s autistic interest blocking out any fear on a magical floating scarab

MARC STANDING INBTHE REFLECTION INBTHE LOCKER IS SO FUNNY

“Yeahr.”

“Idc how bloody handsome you are,” Steven that’s kinda gay :-/

Marc looks so worried n then Steven’s just like: lol you’re fuvking ridiculous lmao

Marc eyes on th gun

Khonshu walking down the hall w the lights is sO fucking creepy

The freeze frame my beloved💖

LAYLAAAAA

Layla’s intro is so good her character is like immediate

Layla don’t tap on the glass :-/

When Layla first sees the poetry book she probably thinks Marc was missing her but then Steven starts reciting a thing OiuhHhh

The music being soft n sweet but also unnerving n out of place

Marc’s already in the little door mirror in the background when the divorce papers come out lol

Layla baby I love you and you are so emotionally unstable this episode lmao

Also her jacket already kinda resembles the scarab stuff

Dialogue still hits clunky this ep idk why

This is why you never talk to cops Steven

Love that the Harrow goons that come after Steven r based off the Lemire orderlies

Steven head bonking on the car window for his life

Marc’s voice is so gentle but firm when he’s not angry, and he sounds so tired and I love him

Steven is just close to tears oh baby

Harrow stop touching him all caring like it’s creepy n I hate you

“KILL IM.”

“Wow beautiful 😌” (tomatoes)

God the cult is so…. Unnerving

Harrow as MK sounds so fucking creepy

The lil American man…

Confused and eating soup, the best way to be except in this case

Steven just slurpin soup n not listening. His lil “alright… 🤨” while he doesn’t listen to harrow n is so funny

“Gimmedabody”

I think you should actually kill Donna Steven. Get her ass.

Steven I love you so fucking much

“Then don’t”

Steven looks weird w his outer coat buttoned up

Layla walked into danger so confidently bc she was so used to always being able to trust Marc to b there n support her like breathing but Steven isn’t Marc n things r diff so they have to run

“Thatwasawesome”

Steven’s panic attack…. The overwhelm is done so well god being trapped between two ppl n the silence and the disorientation n Laylas distress n then her saying his name being what grounds him

The jackal hits on the door like a heartbeat

I love the mr knight suit being a real costume so bad the MCU has made me love cloth also it’s GORGEOUS

Marc ur accent ily

Layla seems so off her game this ep bc she’s being introduced to so much along w Steven n she doesn’t expect to fight monsters

ROLLIN UP HIS SLEEVES YEAH BABY YOU GO U ARE STEVEN W A VEE

Steven laying facedown in the middle of the street looks so goofy

“That was a hell of a punch back there” THIS SCENE MAKES ME BITE WOOD

MARCS MOON EYES AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HEAHHHHHH

oh I never realized bystanders actually got hurt in the background

THE CHASE SCENE MUSIC IM GONNA AHHHHHHHH

The vibes the vibes I’m I’m im normal

“Gotcha! >:-)”

Marc in Steven’s clothes looks so off

The way letting the suit off is like a release, like he can breathe

Then his paNIC

Harrow do u just judge that man to kill him for no reason I hate u

The shots of London r lovely

God Marc is so pathetic n tired n sad

SO THIS IS WHAT ITS LIKE BEING ON THE INSIDE YEAH ITS HORRIBLE ITS ALRIGHT YOURE ALRIGHT I FEEL LIKE INCAN SCARCELY MOVE ITS OK BREATHE THROUGH IT HOW LONG YOUVE B N DOUNG THIS I DUNNO LONG TIME I DONT LIKE IT I DONTBWANY IT

this scene is so

its so

its so

marc is still trying n his voyce is so fragile n steven is so angry n atbhis end point

oscar acts across fromnhimself so well

marcs growing anger n just just the arguneny n marc being so worn out and high strung

KHONSHUBI HATE UR BONY ASS LEAVE HIM ALONE

khonshu sounds so good in this scene tye VOICE ACTING HIS LAUGH

khonshu i hate you i hate you

Near and dear as she is to him indeed Jake lockley my beloved it’s what she deserves

STEVEN JN THE MIRROR THE LIGHTING THE WAY MARC IS TIRED N HAS TRASHED THE PLACE J LOOKS SO OUHGHHHUHHHHHNNN YELOW N ORANGE N THE MUSIC N YHE MUSIC N THE SWWELL N THE CURTAIN AHHHHHHH

I love the ending songs so much but this is probably one of my all time favs

Headbopping

The hallway flickers between Steven’s apartment, the storage locker hall, and the Duat asylum

[therealraewest]

I'll be honest, I've been curious about Moon Knight for a while, but (like with a lot of Marvel superheroes) have no clue where to start. You seem to be deep in the sauce - got any advice?

So if you have a tolerance for Old Comic Books (they read different than modern books for sure), the original 1980 run is quite good. If you want something more recent, the 2021 run is incredible and does a good job of taking everything that came before (good and bad) and contextualizing it into a thesis of redemption and second chances.

There's also the 2014 Ellis run, which is light on plot but has gorgeous visuals and introduces Mr. Knight, and the 2016 Lemire/Smallwood run which is just all around incredible. Both of those reference characters from earlier runs like Marlene, Frenchie, Gena and Crawley, but you can get by from context clues if needed.

I'd avoid the Bendis (2011) and Bemis (2016) runs as they're generally considered out of character and make some... Interesting story choices.

The 2006 run is generally considered Moon Knight's darkest period. That's where all the references to him ripping a guy's face off come from. Very edgy, basically watching Marc destroy all his relationships, then Jake comes in at the end and tries to fix things in the 2009 run, but some trauma in the Shadowland tie in put the system back on a downward spiral.

What I did was start at 2014, read the 2016 Lemire run, then jumped ahead to the 2021 MacKay run and once I caught up I went back to start from the very beginning.

Best of luck!

[kowbojki]

God ok dude ur MK art sLAPs I know I just said that in some tags but it’s so lovely and just your style n colors oiGHHHHHH

Have you read any of the comics yet? The Jake Lockley scenes in the Lemire run remind me of some of your stuff w like the rounded edges and strong colors (and the run also has an additional alter that I love w my whOle heart)

THANK YOU IM RLLY GLAD YOU LIKE IT T_T its always scary making art for new fandoms im scared im just throwing it into the void so it means a lot you enjoy it<3<3

AND YEAH I've read the Lemire run n I'm working through vol 7! I love the Lemire run so much, it was confusing at first till I learned what was going on but like. god the art is all so gorgeous. Especially Smallwood's .. AAND i love little spaceman moon knight so much he seemed really fun T_T

[davidmann95]

How'd you like the new Death Metal special (and, more broadly, this week's comics)?

pretenderoftheeast said: Comics this week (12/9/2020)?

Batman: Black and White #1: The first of a platter of anthologies today:

* The Tynion/Moore story is predictably fire.

* JHIII is JHIII. Also he does a really nice surprising story about how Batman’s relating to this moment of the time, but let’s be real, you’re here because JHIII, and be assured he is JHIII as helllll here and it’s great.

* Dini/Kubert plays as the former building a story around accommodating requests by the latter, but that’s not a bad thing, and glad to see Kubert’s kept up the pace since his DK3/Up In The Sky creative rejuvenation.

* Ok I’m a philistine who has no idea what that Emma Rios thing was about but it was certainly pretty.

* Wilson doing Batman is surprisingly disappointing, but Smallwood doing Batman definitely isn’t.

DC’s Very Merry Multiverse: Not a very merry time! I hate to say it given this should be so geared to my interests, but this is the weakest overall effort we’ve gotten from one of DC’s quarterly anthologies in a good long while, at least among those I’ve picked up. Not to say it’s a dud, there are several nifty little stories in here including the much-hyped first appearance of Kid Quick (destined to become the Flash of Future State) and really almost everything here reaches ‘pretty okay’. But for $10, and a creative space that should reach so much more than ‘pretty okay’, I don’t know that this is a justifiable recommendation unless you’re understandably desperate for all the President Superman content you can get your hands on.

Tales of the Dark Multiverse: Flashpoint: I’m surprised I got it too, but the preview grabbed me and in practice it was a fun, mean little high-concept adventure of Reverse Flash being a total cock.

Wonder Woman #768: Credit where it is due, this has been getting a bit better in its closing stretch.

Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories of the DC Universe: This ruled. Obviously there was the one story folks are most interested in, but almost all of the tales in here lived up to being a ‘final’ story of sorts for their leads.

* The Titans bookenders were pretty nice even if it’s hilarious that their big rallying cry basically amounts to “by god, our book may be shit, but we’re valuable IP so we’ll never be cancelled!”

* Green Lantern is basically an epilogue to Johns’ run sans the baggage of bringing back Johns (that we get in two weeks with Secret Origin and god forgive me I’m so looking forward to that), and definitely one of my favorite efforts from Lemire.

* Wonder Woman’s the stinker in what’s nominally her own event. I can parse the roots of most bad Superman stories one way or another, but I just can’t understand what’s behind most bad Wonder Woman stories beyond that the people handling it simply don’t give a shit.

* Astonishingly, the Green Arrow and Black Canary chapter in here might be my favorite of the bunch? Simone at her best, a really sweet slice of playful, sincere romance about two characters I’m not by default invested in but ended up quite caring for here.

* This Aquaman story is everything I generally hate in Aquaman stuff, a big long maudlin speech about the weight of the world as he swims through a black featureless ocean, except here between the real heart Sebela brings to the script and the mood artist Christopher Mooneyham manages to evoke, it all clicks together.

* The Batman Family story feels like it can’t quite make its pacing work, but it’s still a heartfelt little ode to the theoretical power of the concept.

* Hey, that Mark Waid guy? Turns out he can write him some Superman. It’s not perhaps the total barnburner you might have expected - I imagine he’s saving his biggest hits for later - but it’s a very solid execution of a gangbusters concept, and Manapul steals the show with absolutely sensational, gorgeous scenic Superman imagery. I’mma say 60/40 in favor of them doing a Superman project together on either a main book or Black Label (I know Manapul was supposed to be locked into a creator-owned thing with Scott Snyder but that was ages ago), because this is a paring that’s yielded some immediate results and I imagine everyone knows it. And given my upbringing, nice to see a big, iconic, beautiful Superman story with him rocking the mullet.

Anonymous said: Haha holy shit Crossover is literally Cates taking that page where Spawn meets all the corporate heroes locked up and spinning it out into a series

Anonymous said: Does Crossover #2 hold the crown for the funniest, dumbest, most baffling opening page ever?

Crossover #2: Readers I’m not too big to admit I laughed my ass off at the first page, and at least a little bit for the actual reasons intended. The sense of homaging that Spawn scene in the context of a book about “Gosh, isn’t IP the best folks?”, or Cates’ dialogue...(shall we say) proving why he likes the concept of ellipses enough to name a character after them aside though? That it’s already crossed the line with its central metaphor from “indefensibly insensitive in its ridiculous self-centeredness” to “out-and-out cartoonishly offensive” somehow actually makes it more rather than less palatable; there’s no longer the secondhand embarrassment of waiting to see how bad Cates is going to handle this, it simply is the worst it could possibly be and readers have to accept and perhaps revel in the sight of him stepping on rake after rake. I cannot wait for him to finally give an interview on this book where he explains what the hell he thinks this looks like, and I hope my dad keeps somehow enjoying it forever because I totally wanna see what pit this descends to next.

Penultiman #3: This is absolutely agonizing and probably the most relatable take on a ‘superman’ ever.

Home Sick Pilots #1: A new creator-owned book from Dan Watters (whose big two credits include the stupendous “Afraid of America” with John Paul Leon in the last Batman Secret Files, and the upcoming Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman) and Peter Cannon’s Caspar Wijngaard, this new book set against the backdrop of a Californian high school’s punk scene in 1994 describes itself as “Power Rangers meets The Shining (yes, really)”. The former influence isn’t much in play yet, but thus far this is a book that merges building tension and freewheeling dopey teen bullshit to an extent that’s subtly impressive as hell, and seems likely to proudly take a place among the current horror comic renaissance.

Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #3: Ok again I don’t have any experience with this franchise but you’d better believe that cultural osmosis was enough that I popped for BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

King in Black: Namor #1: Kurt Busiek’s return to Marvel...sucks? Such is the power of Knull I guess even if he doesn’t manifest within the actual story here, this is a complete nothing of a comic and I’m not tuning in for issue #2.

Avengers #39: Eh, I’m not liking Aaron Avengers when it gets remotely serious nearly as much as when he’s doing stuff like having them finally help Blade with all those vampires or Captain America assisting with the delivery of an exploding space-baby in the back of a muscle car.

Anonymous said: That new Guardians of the Galaxy was something else. What do you think the odds are that Comic Books, with a decade or two of hindsight, recognizes Ewing as one of the best to ever do it?

Guardians of the Galaxy #9: I lack much context here beyond recalling from an interview that this is Ewing’s way of grappling with the ideas from Steve Englehart’s original unrealized vision of Star-Lord’s character arc, but wherever it stems from this is a hell of a comic.

S.W.O.R.D. #1: This is everything I’ve wanted from the non-Hickman X-books since the moment HoXPoX ended, and so much more, and also it is basically hilarious that Ewing is all but explicitly using his clout to force Marvel to let him to Ultimates3 under a currently cancellation-proof banner. Most importantly of all, Ewing has already mastered the subtle art of writing not merely Magneto, but the infinitely superior Jonathan Hickman Magneto. And good lord Schiti and Gracia, I already knew they were top-tier but these pages’d make a grown man cry.

[projecttirnanog]

hey! so this has been a long time coming and something i’ve been too dumb and nervous to post so uhm! here you go, recommended moon knight reading from yours truly, in chronological order! bolded are my personal favourites!

 WEREWOLF BY NIGHT (1975) #32 onwards. take this run with a grain of salt, it’s not very in character, but it IS his origin!

MOON KNIGHT (1980) moench and sienkiewicz. the REAL origin of moon knight! 

MOON KNIGHT FIST OF KHONSHU (1985) zelenetz and warner.

WEST COAST AVENGERS (1985) #21 onwards.

MARC SPECTOR - MOON KNIGHT (1989) various writers and artists. just be warned this comic gets weird. like, real weird. 

PUNISHER (1989) annual #2. punisher and moon knight’s first interaction! it’s good because the rituals are intricate. 

MOON KNIGHT (1998) campanella and edwards.

MARVEL KNIGHTS (2000) #4 onwards.

MOON KNIGHT (2006) various writers and various artists. 

VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT (2008) hurwitz and opeña.

SECRET AVENGERS (2011) brubaker and deodato.

MOON KNIGHT (2014) ellis and shalvey.

MOON KNIGHT (2016) lemire, smallwood and bellaire. + annual. if you don’t want to read chronologically, THIS is a really good starting point (or 2014 above). it really helps you to get a grasp of marc’s character, and its just. gorgeous overall. i love it a LOT. just don’t read the bemis section. please.

MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS (2019) #4. 

CONTAGION (2019) #3 onwards. [ EDIT. 14/01/20 ]

CONAN: SERPENT WAR (2019) this is the most recent comic he’s in as of updating.

ALSO ! these are separate, but part of the infinity warp arc involved a warping of two characters together. in this event, moon knight and spider-man warped into ARACHKNIGHT!

INFINITY WARS (2018) #3

ARACHKNIGHT (2019)

happy reading! feel free to hmu with questions or recommendations to add!

[outside-the-mailstrom]

GENERAL BACKGROUND

I've always been a fan of Marvel comics (or, Marvel Comics' properties, at least) I've fragmentary early memories of Batman The Animated Series, and some associated Batman and Superman comics (aimed at younger readers, in a 'Timmverse' style of the TV shows then airing - gorgeous, simple, iconic Art Deco inspired designs), but for the most part my early conception of superheroes came from what was called "Marvel Hour", a Saturday morning television timeslot ft. back-to-back episodes of cartoons from between the 60s and 90s, starring basically the big names you'd expect. I was quite wee, and don't rightly remember who did and didn't have their own show; obviously the big titles are easy enough for you to guess but I also feel (nebulously) that Iron Man, Hulk, Daredevil, and even the Silver Surfer had their own programs; the line-up jostled, there wasn't an Avengers or Defenders team-up show as there would be these days. There was always Spiderman, of course, and there were generally The X-Men.

X-Men The Animated Series, which was written and produced around the same era as Batman The Animated Series, does not (it has been noted) hold up near so well as its famed compatriot; it has its charms, and is a fascinating window into history, but it's not... strong on revisits. It's a little hard to say how much all this galvanized my interest in the subject matter, and how much it merely looks like it as an artefact of looking back through years of other things layering up (notably the early 00's onward movies, the X-Men Evolution tie-in cartoon [of which I was still, as a viewer, at quite a formative young age], a steadily developing interest in the concept of transition and transformation in all things, and ways that my own self-reinforcing creative projects drew from my standing experience of X-Men as a source material in ways that deepened my interest in, and sympathy for, it as a set of signifiers). Substantial engagement with actual X-Comics, however, comes later; primarily as a fan of the podcast Jay & Miles X-Plane The X-Men (which is pretty much as it sounds; a two-hander deep-dive through X-History & continuity, which settles early in its own run into a charisma and humour driven analytical recap of the major story arcs of the history of the franchise, starting at the Bronze Age [70s onward] and working forward practically issue by issue), aboard which bandwagon I found myself early in its days as a snowballing project (less than a dozen episodes as I recall? Certainly some time before it began to resemble a leading voice in intersectional leftist queer focal fandom, although it was always stridently those things, as well as advocating for a pro-soap opera, pro-minor characters, pro-Cyclops revision to popular understanding of what makes X-Men great).

Of course, if you sit two X-Fans down to talk comics for an hour a week for any length of time, really, under no x-ternal supervision or hard guideline parameters for what subjects are, and are not, on topic (amongst many other things more broad ranging and personal) they're going to get to discussing contemporary releases as well as ancient history. So, at the same time as learning, by glitzy guided tour, the history of The Hellfire Club, how the Phoenix Force actually works, why Scott Summers is autistic and Kitty Pryde is queer, I also got the nod-here-reference-there back ally tour of the contemporary X-Line, as it was shaping up; the early days of the Brian Michael Bendis run, the stuff that came out of Schism and Battle Of The Atom.

Consequently this particular period has always seemed, to me, beguiling.

I spent a period intrigued by it (not least because it’s intriguing, and this is a creative, perhaps even visionary author with strong, distinctive, and original ideas for stories that could be done with this premise and set of characters, and [by the accounts that I was receiving] was executing said ideas, if not flawlessly, at least with panaché). The podcast soon became somewhat of a bonding point between myself and my sister, who (being close in age to me) has always been very immediate in my life, but in such a way as can mean a lot of treading on one another's toes (less risk of that now). Like me she was a long time X-Fan, like me mostly from growing up on related media and finding them abstractly cool (we both had tween crushes on Evolution Nightcrawler - I remember printing out pictures of him from the school library, she now has a tattoo). My sister's completionist tendencies led her to track alongside the podcast, reading originally trade paperbacks and eventually Marvel Unlimited (with a cursory reading of revisionist takes on the Silver Age [60s] - X-Men Season One by Dennis Hopeless and Jamie Mckelvie, then hard-in with the real Bronze Age [70s onward], starting at All New Giant Size X-Men #1, and just working forward). I don't know quite where she's up to now.

I gave this a go, I certainly appreciated things about it, but in general it didn't grab me as my starting point - and while there are many other jumping on points between 1975 and 2013 (already three years in the rear-view by the time I decided to get around to this) the more-or-less present day just seemed the more-or-less obvious point to jump on, so I jumped.

Actually I read the first volume of G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel, up to the 2015/2016 Secret Wars event, then I backed up and read Bendis' entire runs on Uncanny and All New X-Men (which notably, themselves, conclude at the start of Secret Wars), I also read, to my knowledge, all accompanying X-Titles coming out concurrently with the Bendis run, comprising what I'll generally refer to as the wider Bendis Era; Storm by Greg Pak, Cyclops by Greg Rucka, Magneto by Cullen Bunn, X-Force by Si Spurrier (all of which were really quite good, to my mind), and All New X-Factor by Peter David (which wasn't really for me - by which I seem to imply that it's probably for someone... in practice I think perhaps it is simply not really that good). I then read all of the X-Related crossover material that tied in to the aforementioned Secret Wars event (as well as a few non-X-related Secret Wars titles on general recommendation from Jay & Miles' Patreon stretch-goal video reviews of contemporary [primarily X] comic publications). My general process was to read an issue or two at a time then cross-reference with video reviews, as a lot of my engagement with media involves parsing it through the lens of critical voices who represent known quantities relative to my tastes (although it would be erroneous to suggest that by this point I'm not in some way attached to somewhat of a cult of personality around the public personas of the hosts, albeit what seems quite a calm and good natured one).

After finishing the Secret Wars titles I faced a relaunch of the line, and, eager as I was to find out what this experience (and the itemized content within) was like, I'd been a diehard Bendis fan through the process so far and wanted to let my recent reading mellow somewhat; to ruminate, and take a beat to work on other projects - breathe, mourn, let my first formative era of fandom settle before steam-rolling on with a new age.

It’s been… a few years, and while I really do have plenty else I ought be on with I've decided to throw myself back in and read some damn X-Men.

As follows are broadly my thoughts on what I will, somewhat snarkily be calling the 'Ordinary Era' (that is, post Secret Wars, through to the end of Jeff Lemire's Extraordinary X-Men, concluding with the Inhumans vs X-Men event), and beyond.

[luxshine]

Moon Knight Primer Part 12

Moon Knight (2016) #6-9

Prologue, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI

For this part, I’m going to do 6 to 9 in one go, because while the issues are gorgeous and I want to show you as much art as I can? Action-wise they’re very confusing if you are not actually reading it, and thematic wise it’s one full block of characterization.  

Because see, this is the part of the Lemire arc where we get to really know each alter in their own mind-world (yes, we’re STILL in the mind world. So we’re still seeing everyone as Steven/Jake/Captain Spector see them, not as they really are (And yes, I said Captain Spector and not Marc. After 5 issues of being front and center, in every sense of the way, OUR Marc takes a bit of a step back). And it’s very interesting to see how each mindscape changes and moves. Also, this is the part where Lemire admits that he was heavily influenced by David Lynch. You know, Twin Peaks’ David Lynch? Yeah, no wonder this is a tripy run.

So yeah, instead of going through the action, I am going to go with each Alter’s world individually, dissecting each block by block, until we get to the big moment at the end of issue  8.

First this time around we have of course, big Hollywood Producer Steven Grant, whose reality is drawn by Wilfredo Torres, having a little bit of a crisis. See, he accepted Kevin Feige’s proposal to produce the Moon Knight movie, but production has been a bit of a nightmare between the director who wants a very cliched action movie, the diva main actor who plays Moon Knight, Marc Spector, and well, everything except his girlfriend Marlene’s performance as Stained Glass Scarlet who for some unknown reason is now Moon Knight’s love interest.

Interestingly, despite the fact that, again, Moon Knight has faced VERY FEW other Egyptian gods? The movie has him against Seth. And, the only reason why Steven accepted producing the movie? Was because he wanted to use the Superhero genre to explore themes like Identity and Mental Illness.

YES. Lemire PREDICTED the Disney + series way back in 2017!

And Steven has a very vested interest in the Mental Health part. He even has a fundraiser at Mercy Hospital, in part to promote the film, in part to help patients. But he keeps losing time, seeing himself as other people. And more importantly? According to Marlene? He IS Medicated, he spent a long time in his youth at Mercy Hospital. And he needs to keep up with taking his pills no matter what.  Also, interestingly? Steven recalls what happens when reality shifts to Jake, more or less, but he doesn’t recognize, for example, Crawley, as he calls him “an old man”.

But little by little, reality starts blurring around him. Things we, as the reader will see as the reality of Jake? Become scenes in the movie once Steven starts directing. And we see his confusion as his point of view of consciousness change, from Steven, now directing the scene, to Jake, the real Jake living the scene, not Marc acting as Jake. By the way? Once Steven decides he wants to direct the movie? Marc stops being an actor diva, and instead tries very hard to please Steven… which reflects their early runs interactions, where Steven was the man Marc wanted to be.

As the realities start to blur, the production company seems very insistent on Steven forgetting the fantasy world -while pointing out how unreal or stupid the plot of the movie is.

The next alter we met (remember, in the comic, the narrative changes from one to another quite often, but I am just putting them all together to talk about each in their own section) Jake Lockley, again drawn by Fransesco Francavilla. The FIRST switch, by the way, is done in the way of the old comics, in a way. Steven and Marlene get into a taxi, the Taxi driver and Steven’s eyes meet in the rearview mirror, and the narration begins “Steven Grant is too Soft for what comes next…” and we change the page and we’re deep in Jake’s world with the following phrase “…so I leave him back at the mansion and hit the streets as Jake Lockley”

Jake is aware that he is part of a system, and that he is Moon Knight. However, much to Crawley’s dismay, he doesn’t remember the events of their escape from the Hospital. This points out that Jake’s reality, of all of them, is the one closest to the surface of the inner world: it is also one without panel borders. All the division is made by the gutters alone, which, we have established, means that we’re outside reality. The panels only come back when Crawley disappears, making clear that Crawley is part of the key to solve the mystery. It doesn’t make him real, but it’s the part of Jake’s brain that tries to make him see the truth.

Jake’s reality is also the one that suffers the most bleed. It seems at time that Jake blinks, and he sees allies disappear, his world change, and then come back into focus.  But on those lost moments -intercepted with Captain Spector’s reality- he finds himself face to face with the bodies of Jean Paul, dead in an accident with the cab, and later with Gena, and all her clients, completely massacred by an unseen assailant.

Of course, Jake is accused of murdering his friends, and ends up in the police station being interrogated by our favorite nurse jackal orderlies, Bobby and Billy (and here’s where we really see how much Billy looks like Det. Flint), under the orders of Det. Emmet.  Once again, when she comes up? Panel borders go away. Especially as she pulls out the Moon Knight costume that they found in his taxi, and tells him that he can call a lawyer as much as he wants, he won’t get one until she says so. (Yes, THIS is where we get the canon confirmation that Matt Murdock is Jake’s lawyer. Funny, given how the last time Jake and Matt met? Matt was under the influence of an evil demon and head of a death ninja cult.)

Upon being interrogated, Jake claims that the costume is not part of any delusion, and it’s the only thing that keeps him… not sane but… something? Because when Det. Emmet tries to say that it keeps him sane, he immediately says no, but refuses to elaborate. He says he knows he’s sick, but he also knows he’s not a killer. After a small cut to Steven’s reality, Jake puts on the Moon Knight costume and looks for Crawley, who is absolutely DONE with this song and dance.

It's here, in the conversations between Crawley and Jake that we see that Lemire GETS it. To Marc? Crawley was a patient mentor, talking sometimes in riddles, letting Marc find his own path forward. But to JAKE? Crawley was a friend and an EQUAL. So here, Crawley is not pulling punches. He GAVE his soul for the System, and the System went, fucked up, and ended up back in the hospital (Crawley’s exact words), going in circles within his own mind. But even if from Jake’s point of view this is insane Jake hasn’t even BEEN inside the hospital, his reality are the streets of New York and his taxi; he trusts Crawley without any doubts and goes where the old man points him to. And this leads him back to that moment when all of their realities break and bend together, until not even the reader knows what is real and what isn’t. (Well, if you’ve been reading this? You know nothing is)

Finally we get to Captain Spector, and his sci-fi futuristic reality, drawn by James Stokoe.

I find Captain Spector’s reality the most fascinating because it is Lemire’s exclusive. We had never seen this particular Alter before, and we will never see him again, at least in the currently published issues. He is a fighter in a losing war, between the last remnants of mankind hidden on the Moon, and the Space Wolves, alien werewolves, who invaded Earth infecting everyone they could.

The only recurring ally Captain Marc has? Frenchie. Jean Paul Duchamp himself, who is his second pilot in his fighter.

So yeah, he is obviously a more PG friendly version of Marc Spector, Soldier of Fortune.

Here Captain Spector is still part of the Army, but rather than killing other humans, soldiers who may also think they’re in the right side of the argument, Marc and Frenchie, Moon Knight One, are the ones who are the last defense for all of mankind. And of course, it’s a losing fight. The Space Wolves are too numerous, and at one point, their leader, Lupinar, manages to bite Captain Spector, dooming him to become a werewolf if he doesn’t find the antidote soon.

And you see it right? A soldier, in a war, fighting hard not to become a monster like the ones he’s fighting, bitten in the neck, in the same way that Marlene’s father was killed.

Captain Marc is, in many ways, an attempt by Marc’s mind to rewrite his violent history in the war, in a more… palatable way.

The violent switches between their realities, where they all are being pushed to look for someone, to cross more and more doors, continue until they finally cross one last door, looking for Marlene, and instead meet face to face with each other,  but also the man who was waiting for them: Marc Spector, still dressed as Mr. Knight, still with the bandage he was wearing when he “died”. And once again, we lose all panel borders. We’re back on the innerworld… the one we never actually left, the one drawn by the amazing Greg Smallwood.

And Marc tells them that he has been waiting for them, as they need to talk.

And here I give a Trigger Warning. Issue 9 deals with the subject of integration, and it’s important for Marc’s evolution -even if it won’t stick- so I have to discuss it in length. So if that’s not for you, this is your cue to stop reading and I’ll see you in part 13 when all this is put in the back seat and we can go back to the boys, as, well, the boys.

Here, Captain Spector, still drawn by Stokoe, despite everyone ELSE drawn by Smallwood, complains that he HAS to be real, that he remembers all the suffering of seeing his friends, and the Earth heroes get turned into werewolves,  and Marc can’t tell them otherwise, while Marc simply states that no, they aren’t real, but he is. He is the only real one and he doesn’t need them anymore, that for him to be whole? They need to go.

And go they do, in heartbreaking ways.

First one is Captain Spector, as Marc admits he has no idea where he came from and thus, he vanish into sand by himself, begging the others for help, to Jake’s horror. By the way, here Marc states that JAKE is the one who always was Moon Knight, that it was JAKE’s identity Marc took on every time he put on the mask. Which, frankly, an interesting concept that should perhaps be used more.

As Captain Spector’s disappears in a Stokoe’s drawn page, we move to Francavilla’s pencils as he tries to fight Marc.  At first, Marc doesn’t want, but he ends up claiming that JAKE only understands violence, and is too unpredictable, so Marc needs to be in control. I actually dislike this because, well, THIS is the real violent Jake retcon. By claiming that EVERY ACTION that Marc did under the hood was actually Jake? Well, yes, Lemire puts the worst of Marc’s actions outside his time as a mercenary as Jake’s fault. And so, Marc kills Jake, with a crescent dart, even as he admits that he will always need Jake, or at least, part of Jake.

And so, Jake ALSO turns to sand.

But by then, Steven has done the smart thing and run the hell away from Marc.

But of course, Marc can follow his footprints, right inside the giant pyramid that turns into the streets of New York, drawn again in warm colors by Torres.

This is probably the most heartbreaking part because Steven tells Marc he remembers EVERYTHING about their life, that he feels real, and has to be real… and that’s when Marc reveals that well, that is because yes, it was real. Steven had been with him, first as an imaginary friend, then co-existing even if they weren’t co-conscious in one way or another, until Marc got older and Jake joined in.

Marc claims that he thought that as long as he had the Mask, as long as he was Moon Knight, he could use both Jake and Steven to ignore his mental condition, but it only helped to make things worse, making him lose himself as he woke in the hospital (That, by the way, he still considers real, even when we know it wasn’t).

And here we have a big hell of an anvil. Unlike the others, who were told they needed to GO, Marc tells Steven that HE, Steven, won’t die as he is part of Marc, and always will be, but that he needs to go back “to your place” to let Marc have control again.  Marc is accepting, in a way, he is sick. He says so to Steven, and points out that the mask was a way to hide the illness, but that he doesn’t want to hide, nor be ashamed, even if he knows he will NEVER be cured. He just needs a better way to live with it. And Steven, wonderful Steven? Just asks Marc to find a way to be happy, before hugging him goodbye… and vanishing into sand in Marc’s arms, even as Marc promises he, Steven, will ALWAYS be with him, Marc.

Bit of a reverse beginning of episode 6, no? -except for the clothes colors which are exactly as in the series, Marc in white, Steven in black.

And then, for the first time since he was 10 years old? Marc is alone, and everything is quiet.

So now, now Marc puts on the mask again and as Mr. Knight he declares that he will go back to the hospital… and Kill Khonshu.

But of course, as we have a part 13 to get to? We know that this is not the end of our guys, even if at THIS point it seems as if Marc managed some sort of integration and the comic is presenting it as good.

I swear, I will hurry with Part 13 so you see how it was fixed and why I still insist that the Lemire run is the superior one when it comes to Plural representation.  (While accepting that yeah, the bar was VERY low at the time)