(EDITOR’S NOTE: Paint Monk’s Library, in collaboration with the enthusiastic staff over at the Into the Knight Podcast, are tackling the Moon Knight chronology! Each week we’ll take an in-depth look at the Fist Of Khonshu in order of character appearance! These reviews will appear on Mondays until we’ve covered them all, or until the enthusiastic Moonies get too exhausted to write – whichever comes first! A link to this week’s Into the Knight Podcast can be found at the end of the review.)

By JUSTIN OSGOOD – Guest Writer

The second installment of Moon Knight’s first solo adventure is special for a number of reasons – first and foremost, it’s original Moonie creators Doug Moench (writer) and Don Perlin (penciler) telling the story. Secondly, it’s got a great cover by Jack “The King” Kirby with Al Milgrom on inks!

The cover depicts the duel between Conquer-Lord and Moon Knight on a battlefield that replicates a chessboard. This is possibly the only time we see Kirby draw Moon Knight.

Both Moench and Perlin turn in some exemplary work on this issue, keeping the story moving at a brisk pace without a single lull or chance for the reader to catch their breath.

Review: Marvel Spotlight #29

The Lunar Avenger’s first solo adventure continues in thrilling fashion as our hero prevents Conquer-Lord from assassinating the mayor – but just barely.

The villain’s shot still gravely wounded hizzoner, and to make matters worse, a deadly blunder on the part of Moon Knight allows Conquer-Lord to take Marlene hostage!

Realizing that he cannot save her right away, Moon Knight checks on the mayor, who in turn calls off the police manhunt for the Fist of Khonshu. Frenchie picks up Moon Knight with the moon copter and brings him back to Grant Mansion, where a spy is soon discovered hiding in one of the closets.

Marc pretends to let the “pansy” knock him unconscious with a single punch, and then follows him back to Conquer-Lord’s lair after “Tinkerbell” steals his Corvette.

Moon Knight easily breaks into the headquarters of the villain, and following a brief tussle with a handful of Conquer-Lord’s henchmen, our hero takes the battle directly to his foe! But Conquer-Lord had not one, but TWO trap-doors built into the floor – one leaving Marlene hanging precariously over a pit full of ravenous crocodiles, and the second leaving Moon Knight plummeting into Conquer-Lord’s most unique trap yet. The second trap door leads to a life-size chessboard rigged with explosives!

After a vicious battle, Moon Knight is able to not only overpower Conquer-Lord, but also rescue Marlene mere moments before she becomes crocodile food!

As Marc and Marlene leave in Lockley’s cab, they hear a news report on the radio proclaiming that the mayor was expected to make a full recovery from the assassination attempt.

CAPSULE REVIEW: Doug Moench’s script is excellent and there are a lot of memorable moments; one that I enjoy in particular is when Moon Knight confronts one of the henchmen and says, “I doubt it. Y’see, strapped to my left calf muscle – I have something called a TRUNCHEON. It’s for THROWING,” and then proceeds to disarm the goon with the aforementioned weapon.

On the negative side, the excessive use of insults (like “Tinkerbell”, “powder-puff pansy” and “twinkle-toes”) has not aged well.

The true highlight of this issue is Don Perlin’s masterful artwork. His art makes every page a visual thrill, and his depiction of Moon Knight remains one of my favorites. It is so much fun to see our hero in his original costume with the glider-cape wings, especially considering how quickly that aspect was altered. There is an excellent panel in which one of Conquer-Lord’s goons opens a door and sees Moon Knight standing there, with only the silver parts of his costume visible against the blackness beyond. “Omigod,” indeed!

You can’t help but wonder at that point in time how exciting it was for readers who were introduced to this character for the first time – some of whom might not have seen his debut appearance in Werewolf By Night. The costume, his weaponry, the different personalities – it is easy to see why he caught on so quickly and was embraced by comic book fans.

I liked Conquer-Lord as a villain quite a bit, especially his costume, but felt that he lacked depth as a character and could have used some more fleshing-out, which would have been ideal if he had made another appearance. Unfortunately, this is the only time we see him! This reinforces one complaint that some readers may see cropping up in my reviews from time to time. I love Moon Knight and always will – he will always be my favorite Marvel character – but I feel that his rogues gallery has been criminally underdeveloped over the years.

Rather than have villains who could be used later, or developed into more interesting characters for future stories, many villains are killed off, used once or twice, or simply never heard from again – as was the case with Conquer-Lord. I don’t know if this was a deliberate decision on the part of Doug Moench – maybe he felt that Conquer-Lord should just be a one-off. In any event, he was a good nemesis for Moon Knight’s first solo adventure, even though he had more trap doors in his floor than Dr. Evil from Austin Powers!

For new Moon Knight fans, I strongly recommend this two-part story, as is sets the foundation for all of those which followed. It is a rare time to see the character’s creators craft a story just for him, for the very first time, and that is reason enough alone to enjoy it. The original issues are running for quite a lot right now – but thankfully are available to read in the magnificent Epic Collection: Bad Moon Rising!

What did you think of Marvel Spotlight #29 and the Conquer-Lord? Let us know below with a simple one-click login from your Facebook, Twitter or Gmail account.