Plans for Moon Knight?

[kelly_warrior_princess]

Well, we'd have to hope your series' take would remain viable long enough to avoid cancellation numbers so these things could be properly established.

It'd be established issue 1. Its very easy to establish stuff, it just takes time & writer effort to remember to add the stuff you've established.

MK has always mostly been an on an off-and-on series, so there hasn't always been room or improvement in that area. But, the supporting characters have had some growth to them. Frenchie has has been revealed to be openly gay and in love with Marc. Gena gained weight out of depression from losing a son. Midnight sought out MK in a great resolve and was killed in the process.

Nonsense. The first volume had 38 issues, the second had 61 issues, ressurection war had 4 issues (as it was a mini), the relaunched had 31 issues, the Vengeance of MK title had 10. Then there was that other mini in the middle of all that Daredevil nonsense: Thats more then 100 issues & not one of the characters has ever advanced beyond its original cliche. An thats not even mentioning the Bendis stuff, for obvious reasons... The obvious reason being that is was terrible.

Maybe it'll work and for new readers who haven't yet made out the similarities to Batman and the Boy Wonder.

It would work for the old readers too. Same character, new direction. Thats one of the main reason that MK never really takes off. He never has anything bigger then himself, heck his relaunch was essentially just him taking care of old personal business. Sure it worked for a while, but thats the thing about deconstructionist fiction: It only ever works for a while & then everyone that comes along afterwards tries to recapture the seminal feeling vibe of the work, without realising that its impossible.

I'm just not feeling the grand sweeping hero that your version becomes, especially when it's shaves off his eeire and mysterious origins.

I own that original series, there was nothing mysterious about his origin. He takes a blow to the head, his heart stops & then after a few seconds it start5s back up again. Nothing mysterious about that. Now had he been a month old corpse, buried in a mass grave & then was resurrected, that would be mysterious.

All of that original and legitamate origin story (which isn't broken btw, it just needs more consitent portrayals IMO) gets thrown out due to a piece of shrapnel and narratives that may or may not sell using this character.

Its not thrown away at all... An a character is not his origin. Sure an origin is important, but the characters is bigger then that. You can have the wrolds greatest origin & still have a piss poor book.

I have a sinking feeling that Moon Knight wouldn't be as lucky as those characters - especially considering that he's a part of the Marvel Universe and not the DC universe - new or old. These are important distinctions to make.

couldn't be worse then what Bendis did with the book.

I just can't imagine your version of Moon Knight and girl-friday keeping anyone interested long enough when he no longers shares the diversity of supernatural, horror, crime, and ambiguous elements. Your vision just seems to make him a somewhat one-note character relying soley on a the wares of a stellar writer.

Oh those elements can still be there, they just don't get top billing anymore... Not that they had top billing when the character was known for them.

Would a writer be able to sell your vision to audiences in this modern-day age of storytelling in ans acceptable time frame? It works for Batman and his various spin-offs surely, but can it work for yet another take on MK?

I think so. I'd stil be better then this last run.

There is an audience for this book. It's just a matter of retaining the readers more familiar with the character and creating new ones for an acceptably sustained length of time. Bendis's series, for example, clearly did not hold an acceptable amount of readers beacuse what audience it did have stayed based off of the creative power on that book. It is clear that many didn't find the the book entertaing or acceptable for one reason or another.

Yeah thats not an audience, its a potential audience. An the thing about a potential audience is that a lot of the time they want a completely fresh start, kind of like what happned with the Bru version of Captain American. The early stuff still happened, its just not being fixated on.

Some people care now that Moon Knight seems like a poor man's Batman and therefore won't touch him because of that. I think that you're being naiive here. Your version of MK just seems to be more like a Batman than he ever has been.

Because its not the "like Batman" aspect you need to focus on, its the not being a poor mans version of Batman. It needs to be as good or better in its own way to Batman & thats just not happening at the moment. Back in the day, Batman was considered by many to be a poor mans The Shadow. But it did things differently & excelled beyond its original conception, MK needs to do the same. Its the "Poor Mans" part of the equation that needs work: MK has always been a poor mans Batman, making him slightly more similiar to Batman by going whole hog on the "defender of [insert city name here]" is not going to change that, especially if you excel in an area that makes him, not a poor mans versions of the narrative legacy.

Apart from his parents being murdered and the Bat-theme, what makes your Moon Knight any different? I mean, he has the cars/gadgets and the sidekick and a fictional city he'd govern over buy stalking the night, why should Marvel readers want to read about this guy when DC already has the most enduring version of this theme?

The specifics. The "like-Batman but different" is the kicker that incites the interest, but its the specifics that people stick around for. Its kind of like going back to 1938 & saying "Batman, why would you purchase a comic about Batman, when you get The Shadow on the radio once a week, on a friday evening". Because people care about the specifics of a character. Which is why i hate the DC Reboot. Its the lose of the specifics, not the lose of the general concepts that piss me off.

Daredevil, Journey Into Mystery, and plenty of other Marvel books have "good enough" stories too, but it doesn't leave their readers shaking any less in their boots when the monthly sales charts are released.

Read both, cared for neither. The books narrative always seems to small to me. The characters seem to tiny & there impact on there surroundings even on a personal level seem to small.

But, your shrapnel version seems to severely undo how his future unfolds now. Which I guess is the point, but does the new path become a hit among a sizeable portion of exsisting readers?

Anything that is done now will severly change his future narrative: You can't undo it, because it doesn't exist yet. But its time that we do recieve a narrative change, since its long over due.

The supernatural element is what many of us like to be referenced here and there. You version doesn't jibe with with his past. Maybe the longtime readers would be forgiving of a lack of supernatural leanings among other omissions you suggest.

Even when that was a main element it wasn't really a main element. Even in the main relaunch it was mainly stage dressing, with little to do with the actual narrative. An it was mostly repainted as Mark Spector being insane in the 2 volumes after it. Heck it didn't even play that much of a role in the original series either.

Khonshu is the reason he thanks his lucky stars that he originally got a chance to right his past wrongs. So, if Konshu didn't even literllay exsist to Marc, Konshu would still likely be something he'd hold reference to, otherwise your version of Moon Knight becomes a sham. That being said, if the stories are good enough, new readers will not care enough and just like the stories. But, there still is the fact of havingt to retain the longtime readers as well.

Again Khonshu is just like the supernatural elements we already have: Mainly set dressing for an insane man. Making him not insane doesn't change that, it just moves the character forwards, without needing to constantly go back to Konshu all the time. Heck the original series & most of the other series have barely used Konshu at all. It was only the relaunch where Marc comes off as completely nuts, where Konshu was at all important & mainly as a fully realised dellusion.

Heck even if you did bring in Kpnshu to my hypothesised series, he would take a back seat to the actual plot, as the deconstructionist part of the characters history is over.

[Paladin King]

I don't even like the Sentry (although I think he could possibly work as a cosmic character), but for some reason I've a complete obsession over those two teaming up and reading the absolutely nutty things that would result. Potential. Potential. Potential.

Written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by Skottie Young.

Gold!

[TinyJoseph]

Give the reins to David Liss & Francesco Francavilla, and let them go nuts with awesome.

Also, Moon Knight contrary to popular opinion is not Marvel's Batman, he's Marvel's The Shadow. His connection to Batman is mainly his cowl, and in fans eyes who didn't read Pulps, but his origins and methods are those of The Shadow. You can make a case that the crazy stuff that's been part of Moon Knight for most iterations of the character is a take on Batman really being a nut, but that's as far as I'd go with it, and it would be a mistake for a writer to try and play up any Batman stuff. They need to focus on him doing his own thing even when honoring his beginnings, and whatever early inspirations there were for the characters creation.

[kelly_warrior_princess]

Also, Moon Knight contrary to popular opinion is not Marvel's Batman, he's Marvel's The Shadow. His connection to Batman is mainly his cowl, and in fans eyes who didn't read Pulps, but his origins and methods are those of The Shadow.

Not in any real way its not. The only link is the fact that they are all rich. Beyond that all of the narrative nodes link more closely with the contemporary batman, then with the 1930's era Shadow: Either the non powered Detective Stories Magazine version, or the later "cloud mens minds" Blue Coal radio play version. Neither really has all that much to do with the contemporary Batman or Moon Knight anymore. Of course if you want to point at the later 1994 The Shadow movie, which merges the best of both versions, then you'd be getting closer, but still by no means eclipsing the similiarities between MK & the Bat.

You can make a case that the crazy stuff that's been part of Moon Knight for most iterations of the character is a take on Batman really being a nut, but that's as far as I'd go with it, and it would be a mistake for a writer to try and play up any Batman stuff.

They already did play it up. The relaunch was doing exactly the same sort of "is MK really as insane as his rogues gallery" theme, that Batman writers did extensively in the close of the 90's.

They need to focus on him doing his own thing even when honoring his beginnings, and whatever early inspirations there were for the characters creation.

An the best way i can see to do that it to play up the "dark creature of the night hero, defending his city" model that has been so successful through out fiction: From Zorro through Batman. The best way i can see to make the character less like Batman is to make him slightly more like Batman. Because the differences are more important then the similiarities.

EDIT: Though i do agree that MK should have a shadow-esque circle of contacts.

[fmarvel]

I'm dreading thinking about his final issue on the series - #12. How will he leave the character?

I suppose he will have him killed off so he can spend the afterlife hanging out with Sentry, another insane character with a TON of potential that Bendis character assassinated. What a hack.

[Zen-aku]

I suppose he will have him killed off so he can spend the afterlife hanging out with Sentry, another insane character with a TON of potential that Bendis character assassinated. What a hack.

The Sentry wasn't interesting till bendis started writing him.

But by potential i bet you meant Generic Good guy.

[kelly_warrior_princess]

The Sentry wasn't interesting till bendis started writing him.

But by potential i bet you meant Generic Good guy.

Dude the Sentry was never interesting.

[Zen-aku]

Dude the Sentry was never interesting.

i disagree,he had a really good character arc throughout Dark Reign, He didn't have a happy ending, but not every character should have a happy ending.

[CTpitch]

give the reins to david liss & francesco francavilla, and let them go nuts with awesome.

this!!!!!!!!!!

[Panic]

Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz's Moon Knight in the Eighties was excellent - Marvel could do worse than to use that as inspiration for a new Moon Knight series. And of course at that time MK was probably closer to Batman as he is now than Batman was back then.

[kelly_warrior_princess]

Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz's Moon Knight in the Eighties was excellent - Marvel could do worse than to use that as inspiration for a new Moon Knight series. And of course at that time MK was probably closer to Batman as he is now than Batman was back then.

Are you talking about there stuff in the actual 80's, or the stuff they did on the book in the 90's for Moon Knight Resurrection War 4 part mini? There later stuff is better then there earlier stuff; they matured into there style pretty late.

[Congo Jack]

Moon Knight is Marvel's Moon Knight.

[Panic]

The Eighties stuff. Back then I would have picked up an issue of Moon Knight over an issue of Batman any day of the week. I've not read the mini, but if Sienkiewicz was on form I'll keep an eye out for it.

[Wellman]

Written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by Skottie Young.

Gold!

I'd buy a copy.

[Monty_Cristo]

I'm dreading thinking about his final issue on the series - #12. How will he leave the character?

i'm more worried about Count Nefaria. i thought that bendis' use of him would elevate the character. but how's he going to wash the stink of this series out of his cape?