by Jeff Lemire, Greg Smallwood & Jordie Bellaire; with guest artists James Stokoe, Francesco Francavilla, Wilfredo Torres, & Bill Sienkiewicz
Collects Moon Knight #6-9
volumes one | two | three – complete
Reflecting on Lemire and Smallwood’s first volume of Moon Knight, I might have been a little too hard on the first volume’s confusing, roundabout opening arc. Looking at it again, yes – the story was confusing. But that was only because we were living in Marc Spector’s mind – a confusing, bewildering, mixed up place. Add to that the drug-fueled stay at the mental institution…it was simply a matter of accepting the confusion – perhaps even enjoying it – and recognizing that a reread might have been required.
I also didn’t realize at the time that, after reading volume two, everything makes a lot more sense. Sort of. It’s relative, okay?
Lemire and Smallwood take the confusion of volume one and amp it up even higher in the second installment, and it’s a wild and fun ride. We know that Marc Spector has multiple personality disorder, and it’s about time we met those personalities. In an ingenious move, Lemire and Smallwood welcome three more artists to showcase three of Marc’s personalities: movie star Steve (Torres), shady cabbie Jake (Francavilla), and space defender also called Marc (Stokoe). We met each of these personalities – and their corresponding artists – in the final issue of volume one, but it didn’t make much sense until now. These three personalities aren’t confined by one issue each, as you might have expected – rather they erratically appear at the turn of every couple pages – certainly to reflect multiple personality disorder.
Steve seems to reflect the controlled self that Marc aspires to be; Jacob, his dark and criminal side; and Space Marc is simply uncontrolled, manic violence. (Our supporting cast of Frenchie, Crawley, Marlene and Gena also make appearances alongside the different personalities.)
All the personalities are relatively easy to keep straight, especially because there are only three of them (until the real Marc Spector, still illustrated by Smallwood, stands up) and because the styles, color palettes and characters are incredibly different. Torres’ Steve is most grounded in reality, with crisp lines and a neutral color palette; Francavilla’s Jake has a heavy noir tone with thick lines and rich, warm colors; and Stokoe’s Space Marc is sketchy, vibrant and erratic.
Huge shoutout to Jordie Bellaire, who colors all of the artists’ work, and was therefore managing different palettes and bringing four different creators’ work to life. She does an exceptional job balancing everything, and when we return to the real Marc Spector, it’s not only clear from the artist, but also from the colors, that we’re finally in a place that’s grounded. Her coloring of Smallwood’s space backgrounds are particularly exceptional – like, would consider finding prints and putting on my walls exceptional.
Every time you turn the page you aren’t sure if you’re going to leap into another character, and it heightened the suspense in an exciting and unsettling way. I would be very interested to know how a person with multiple personalities might view this comic.
On that note, in my very limited research I noticed that it is not uncommon for people with multiple personality disorder to have alternate selves with different genders, ethnicities and ages than the “core” self. While Steven Grant and Jake Lockley are classic alternate personalities in Moon Knight canon, I wonder if Lemire may have missed an opportunity to show us one of Marc’s personalities other than a white, cisgender male. Perhaps this would have been altogether too jarring along with everything else going on in the book, and certainly there is no one “true” portrayal of someone with multiple personality disorder. But it would have been an interesting choice nonetheless.
Of all the personalities, Steven is most fleshed out (for reasons that come to light later), and the only one who has moments of confusion and bewilderment, but he’s still rather bland as the lead actor in a Moon Knight film – if only that were actually in development! (Maybe we’ll see him in Phase 4.) It allowed for some great meta (and almost fourth wall) jokes about the saturation of Marvel heroes on screen.
Jake and Moon Marc may have had distinct personalities, but our time with them doesn’t really do all that much in terms of character. I would have appreciated a vulnerable moment by any of these characters, not necessarily for these personalities themselves, but, by proxy, to get to know Marc better. But perhaps Marc is just so many shards that there isn’t much of him left between them.
[spoilers] Because there is very little development of Steve, Jacob and Space Marc, there’s not much payoff when the real Marc Spector appears and reintegrates each of the personalities within himself. Artistically, the payoff was huge – seeing Smallwood’s Moon Knight reappear was extremely comforting – this is the real Marc! But I couldn’t quite get on that same emotional level as each of the personalities disappeared. The final scene when Steve, Marc’s longest-lasting personality, is integrated, was touching, but could have had a more emotional payoff if there was any investment in keeping him around. However, we certainly haven’t seen the last of these personalities, far from it, even if the other three artists are not attached to future issues.
Marc’s MPD is a core part of Moon Knight, and just because his personalities are reintegrated, does not mean that his MPD is cured. It will be interesting to see, now that we’ve started to get to know his personalities, how they influence Marc, and hopefully a better sense of who Marc himself is too.
[spoilers continue] The ending was the next logical step in Marc’s path — but is he deteriorating or becoming more whole? Who knows? But regardless, as far as we know from volume one, the Egyptian god Khonshu – who resurrected Marc in the first place – set Marc up in the mental hospital in order to eventually inhabit his body. Admittedly, the villainous “my body is broken so I’ll take yours” has been done many times and feels tired, but Lemire has been anything but cliche so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Khonshu has always been a fascinating character in the Moon Knight universe, adding a sense of Dr Strange or Sandman -esque magic to the title. If Lemire, Smallwood and crew tackle Marc’s personalities this well, I am very excited to see how they take Khonshu and run with him.
Two volumes in, and I am completely on board with the new Moon Knight title and the Lemire, Smallwood and Bellaire team behind it. All I needed to do was read both volumes one immediately after the other – in my opinion, an absolute must when reading this title. (And I might have to repeat that with the third volume as well.) It is not only clear that they fully understand the character, but they also aren’t afraid to take chances and do wildly creative things.
Moon Knight is a mind-bending series that might take some extra patience from the long reader – the enjoyment is in the long game – and with Marc Spector, that’s exactly how it should be.
Reading Art 