Old School Review
Moon Knight: High Strangeness
Moon Knight: High Strangeness, also known as High Strangers, is a 4-part mini-series that was released in early 1999. Marc Spector, aka Moon Knight, is being targeted for assassination by a group with red dragon tattoos upon their chests. He learns that his former employer, The Company, is behind it, so he contacts an old friend, Candace Calder, who is still working for them. She informs him of The Company's work in mind-control via brain implants. Unknown to Marc, he himself was implanted with one such device during an earlier encounter, and begins see things that may or may not be entirely real.
This series feels like Doug Moench, Moon Knight's creator, had been watching far too much X-Files when writing it, as conspiracy theories and alien lore abound. Said show was still running strong in its 6th season at the time, so it's entirely possible. Besides the now-clichéd concepts, it's actually put together in an interesting way, explaining aliens and other strange phenomena as mere projections caused by the government's mind-control. The writing, for the most part, is quite good, though it features a pet hate of mine--explanatory thoughtballoons! They were very common in older comics, and my reason for hating them is explained by a saying in screenwriting circles: Don't write what you can't show! If the reader can't tell what's happening from the pictures, then write it so they can. Explaining things via thoughtballoons is simply the cheap way out, especially considering that Mark Texeira's art is so damn good.
Even though I'm personally tired of conspiracy-type stories, I understand that there are those out there who might not be, so if you are one of those people, I feel you would like this mini a lot more than I did. I did like the art, but unfortunately that wasn't enough to save it in my opinion.
Writing: 3/5
Art: 4/5
OVERALL: 3/5
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