Just an excerpt from my blog post about why I like Moon Knight. Sorry if it's a little long, but I thought I'd put it out there:
Many people view Moon Knight as this sort of ersatz Batman (Spector has a cave, a plane, moon-shaped batarangs, a grim identity, he's a vigilante of the night, he has no powers, he's rich, he has a butler, he has a sidekick who totally lost his sh*t...remind you of anyone?), and while I do agree with that to a certain extent, I think that it really simplifies who Moon Knight really is. Because all those similarities are superficial, related only to their physical appearances and modus operandi, and if you dig in deeper, you'll find that Moon Knight is a polar opposite of the Dark Knight. The first thing that probably needs addressing is his fractured psyche. Simply put, Moon Knight is not mentally stable. He is not sound of mind. He constantly suffers from delusions (Remember that whole Cap-Spidey-Wolverine WTF Bendis run?), he's prone to rage, he treats his friends like shite, and he suffers from dissociative identity disorder (or multiple personality disorder, if you prefer the more pop culture term). The guy has like four different identities all rolled into one tattered brain, and he borders on the sociopathic. And that's a really intriguing part of the character. I mean, how many insane superheroes do you know? As Captain America himself puts it, 'Castle may belong in a cage, but you belong in a straitjacket'.
And then there's the whole religion avatar priest thing he's got going on. This is easily my favorite aspect of the whole character. Moon Knight is essentially the servant of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu, and serves him in the way that a priest serves his god. Unfortunately, most of that 'serving' process involves crippling rapists and putting murderers into traction - all in the name of holy vengeance. The dynamic between Spector and Khonshu is probably best illustrated by Charlie Huston's run on Moon Knight (which the Bottom is a part of), and it's one of the coolest bits of the book. The two are constantly biting at one another, with an almost love-hate relationship, and it really depicts the dependent faith that Moon Knight has with Khonshu. Whenever he loses faith in Khonshu, the moon god screws up his life so bad until Spector comes crawling back to him. It's a twisted, disturbing relationship, and the best part is that no one ever knows if it's real. That's some top-notch storytelling right there. Moon Knight is not a vigilante like Bats...he's a religious fanatical zealot.
Also, this has really nothing to do with Moon Knight himself, but I loved this quote from Khonshu. In one issue of Moon Knight, when Khonshu tells the crippled Marc Spector to stand up, Spector replies 'It hurts'. And then Khonshu replies with this gem: "I'm the god of vengeance and the moon. Not the god of whining and self-pity. Get the f*ck up." Bad. Ass.
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