Tag Archives: Jake Lockley

Moon Knight Vol 2. Dead Will Rise (Review)

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We’re back with another Moon Knight post! It’s been seemingly forever since I did one of these (I’ve been pretty much knee deep in the A Dead Djinn Universe the last couple weeks), and considering the Moon Knight show on Disney+ has uh . . . (ahem) wrapped up, I wasn’t sure when it would make sense to do another one.

But all who are mighty shall bow down before the divine authority that is a library due date lest they face the WRATH OF THE $5 FINE!

Or in other words, I quick read this one during a lunch break so it wouldn’t be overdue. I think my last foray into these comics was with the proceeding volume of this run, Warren Ellis‘ debut with the character in Moon Knight Vol 1: From the Dead. I’m not entirely sure how crediting works in comics go, but Brian Wood seems to be the main name associated with this volume (#2): Dead Will Rise.

Overall Reaction:

Overall, I thought this was a pretty straightforward Moon Knight experience. The character is still a bit of a loaner with side kicks Frenchie, Marlene and Crawley noticeably absent. Marc’s other personalities reprise their roles though and the Moon Knight we see appears to have gained some new gadgets (scarab drones lol) and a burgeoning moral compass. The Moon Knight seems to have any physical conflict well in hand, taking down single foes with ease, however his inner conflicts are not so easily pushed aside.

This would seem a bit of a course correction from the Ellis edition which relied heavily on a more surreal art style, and an extreme amount of violence, to present a pretty amoral hero who only barely cared about things like justice or protecting the innocent.

Or, it might be that — just like the duality noted in epithets of the real Ancient Egyptian god Khonsu — Moon Knight is both protector/healer, and bloodthirsty demon (who lives on hearts yummm), and now that we have seen the darkness in the Ellis books, it’s time to see some heroism.

Other Connections

Unfortunately, I don’t have a ton here. We only get one brief visit back to Egypt at the Pyramid of Giza, in which we see Khonshu’s statue (in a similar inaccuracy to those made in Moon Knight Episode 3 – The Friendly Type), but ultimately the story does not linger there long, and there were no other references to Ancient Egyptians that we hadn’t already seen (that I noted anyway).

Another possible thing of note, was the use of Marc’s alternates in this volume. I mentioned that much of the violence was turned down in this arc, but there was still one instance of needlessly excessive force which happens during a hostage situation early on. Each of the alters are working to resolve the situation in a kind of revolving door of expertise, and when the enemy is finally confronted, he is “disarmed” (literally both his arms are broken) by Lockely. It’s assumed that while this foe is rendered — quite brutally — incapacitated, that he will live to stand trial. But the final panel shows Moon Knight covered in more blood implying that Lockley went further, even though the job was seemingly finished.

For me this was interesting because one of the main changes the show made, was to make Lockley’s character a kind of brutal assassin. It seemed to come as a surprise to everyone (check out reactions in my posts on Episode 4 – The Tomb, and the finale Episode 6 – Gods and Monsters) since in the early days of Moon Knight, the Lockely persona was just a cabbie, used almost exclusively for finding information and talking with informants. Perhaps we are seeing the origin of the show’s version of Lockely in these few panes.

Finally, I did think that Marc and Khonshu’s relationship in this volume took on some more interesting complexity which leads the way for the dynamic we’ll see later in the Jeff Lemire run.

So . . . Read?

I’d say yes. I’ve fallen pretty deep into the Moon Knight hole by this point so I like to look for all the little nuances etc, but even if it’s your first take on the character, I think it’s a pretty straightforward and enjoyable story with some moral questions and lots of tension.

What did y’all think? Leave your comments in the . . . well the comments section!

See you next time!

Moon Knight Unwrapped: FINAL EPISODE!! (Ep.6) – Gods And Monsters

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Yes, I 3D printed my own Ammit Statue . . . Probs gonna do Khonshu next lol

Ugh, I can’t believe it’s finally over. I’m not crying. Shut up! You’re crying.

Jk, jk but in all seriousness, WHAT AN EPISODE!! We’ll get to everything in a minute, but if you are now experiencing a little bit of a void in your life (or even just your Wednesday nights) please go ahead and check out my list of 9 Books You (En)need to Read Now that #MoonKnight is Over. You (hopefully) won’t be disappointed.

Many of the books on this list, I’ve reviewed on the blog, and most of the others I’ve at least read, so I had some idea of what I was doing when composing the list. I’ll assuredly fill in any reviews I’ve missed so if you’re interested in reading those before you try them yourself, well just hang around by clicking the subscribe link. I’ll eventually make it through them all.

Also, if you wanted to see my thoughts on any of the previous Moon Knight episodes, I’ve gathered them all under the Moon Knight unwrapped tag. And if you’re interested in any of the comics, please check out my Moon Knight comics tag as well.

Ok. that’s enough of that, let’s talk about Gods and Monsters!!

This episode was HUGE!!

So mostly I wrote that heading because there were so many things happened during the episode, but maybe also a little bit because there were GIANT GODS fighting in Cairo’s skyline which was totally awesome. Anyway, there was so much to love in this episode, but in order to keep this post an unreasonable length (as opposed to super unreasonable) I think I’ll just give my favorite part.

So here’s that:

Are you an Egyptian Super Hero? I am.

Love, love, loved this line. I loved this line, but also Layla’s (May Calamawy’s) entire performance this episode. Everyone gives credit to Oscar Isaac (and rightfully so) for switching between the roles of Steven and Marc at the drop of a hat, but the switching being done here between Tawaret and Layla was no less impressive. And also quite a good deal more hilarious.

Then of course, Layla’s super suit, complete with bullet proof scarab wings, was just incredible. Both Steven/Marc teaming up with Layla to fight Harrow was just . . . chef’s kiss . . .

Moon Knight Unwrapped Final Wrap Up (lol)

So it turns out I wasn’t terribly good and predicting much throughout this show. But it was fun to try.

Most recently, after Episode 5 – Asylum, I guessed that Harrow and Moon Knight would fight (but missed Layla completely), that Khonshu would be freed, and that Steven would return. None of these are really that impressive considering these were things that needed to happen in order to resolve the season (although I guess they could have thrown us for a loop and left Steven dead which would have made me cry).

Episode 4 – The Tomb, was also great, but I’m not sure how much I really guessed things or whether or not they were kind of inevitable. Seems like my Overvoid comment was more or less wrong, but we did learn something about death in the MCU which was cool. Jake DID make an appearance, but it’s unclear whether or not any of the other Gods besides Khonshu made it out alive. Assumedly the Ennead’s avatars were the ones who died fighting Harrow so they might still be alive (although they sucked so maybe that’s not great), but for anyone else who was entombed in Ushabti, it’s hard to say.

After Episode 3 – The Friendly Type, I said I didn’t really think the MCU was turned back 2,000 years, or if it had, it was only briefly and that Marvel didn’t just retcon itself again. Also, I didn’t feel that Steven/Marc was journeying through the Ancient Egyptian Underworld. He does this a bit towards the end of the series, but he does not start the series doing so and didn’t seem to be during episode 3.

After Episode 2 – Summon the Suit, I did not have much in the way of predictions, but I did enjoy trying to read hieroglyphs on the scarab and search for (coptic) translations to the jackal summoning ritual. The Ancient Egyptian parts of the soul seemed a relevant topic, but I’m not sure a clear connection was ever presented by the show.

All the way back after Episode 1 – The Goldfish Problem I thought that perhaps Hathor was Sekhmet, but this was never really proven, and ultimately probably does not matter much even if it was true. But we did eventually get a full translation of the scarab.

And now that it’s over? Well I’m hoping it isn’t over.

Oscar Isaac has been quoted as saying the show was a limited run, and maybe he really believes that, but I’m hoping that these six episodes will not be our only taste of Moon Knight. There are still so many questions to be answered, like WHAT HAS JAKE BEEN DOING THIS WHOLE TIME?

I think if we get a second season, I’m sure it will delve into that, but I hope that isn’t all that it is. I hope that we get to see more of Layla as the Scarlet Scarab, and Marc and Steven bro-ing out and saving the world. I still have a whole list of 9 things I wanted to see from Moon Knight, and many of them I still do (like more Ancient Egyptian Gods).

Hopefully we’ll get that chance.

The End is Only the Beginning

As oft quoted in The Mummy: “The end is only the beginning.” So it is with Moon Knight. Just because the show is over, doesn’t mean we can’t continue to speculate, and discuss what happened. I know there are new comics coming out soon, and I’m sure I’ll be rewatching at some point.

But for now, what were your favorite parts of the show? What would you like to see in a season 2? Let’s keep the discussion going. Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments.

Bye for now!

Moon Knight Unwrapped: 4 – The Tomb

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I can’t believe we’re already two thirds through this amazing show, but dem’s the breaks, so let’s talk about this episode while we can, and get ready for the fifth(!) episode to air tonight. If you’re interested in catching up on any of my previous posts about this show, please check out my Moon Knight Unwrapped tag. Might be fun to see what theories I’ve had come true, and which were a bust.

Anyway, Episode 4: The Tomb was definitely my favorite episode so far. We went full Indiana Jones in this episode, finally raiding the tomb of Ammit, and having to solve some puzzles along the way which we could only do by knowing a thing or two about Ancient Egyptian history and mythology.

— Spoilers from here on —

The clue they have to decipher is the Udjat Eye (or Eye of Horus), which allows Steven and Layla to figure out which way to go in Ammit’s mazelike tomb. I really enjoyed the inclusion of this motif as it is one of the most prominent icons of Ancient Egyptian mythology and culture. It is often used as a macguffin of sorts with characters having to find an amulet engraved with this symbol, or in some cases the literal eye of poor Horus. But here it is just a key which allows them to unravel the latest puzzle.

Unfortunately, as Roxane Bicker points out, a bit of creative license was used in Moon Knight as well, but I still thought it was cool.

One of the episode’s major reveals, was who exactly was buried in Ammit’s tomb (and therefore presumably their original avatar). It turns out to be Alexander the Great! Again, Bicker can catch you up on the important background info relevant to Moon Knight.

I’ll admit, this was a complete surprise for me, and honestly not a particularly rewarding one. Alexander the great is a hugely important figure, but not a particularly Egyptian one. Also, with all the hints and clues this show leaves lying around to tease viewers about what future episodes may hold, I don’t feel that this was foreshadowed at allllll. Which doesn’t seem fair.

Anyway, I still enjoyed raiding the tomb with Steven and Layla (I forgot to gush about the creepy Heka priests!), and the burial chamber itself was completely amazing, and exactly the type of thing that I have been wanting from this show (or any show) for the previous three episodes up until this point. So, I refuse to be upset hahah.

I guess the next big reveal which needs to be discussed is Marc getting shot, and “falling” into an insane asylum, where he’s clearly been staying for quite some time. This entire sequence gave me Jeff Lemire vibes, specifically his first book, Moon Knight Vol 1: Lunatic.

In these issues of the comic, Marc is trapped inside an insane asylum and must fight his way out with some help from established characters from previous comics, who are also committed. In the comic version, Marc’s therapist is Ammit, who Marc sees as both a normal woman, and the crocodile headed demon depending on how shaky his mental state is. She is not the main villain of the three book run, and Marc ends up facing off against Khonshu by the end.

I really hope that this not what happens in these next two episodes as I’ve somewhat grown to like our bossy, yelling, tantrum-throwing moon god . . . but we’ll have to wait and see.

Last but not least, we see Tawaret in the final shot of the show. She says “Hi!” in the cutest possible voice, and hilariously, Marc and Steven (finally separated) scream in fright.

I’ll be honest, I had no idea what to make of this ending. I recognized Tawaret (who was properly foreshadowed in the first episode), as a hippo goddess associated with pregnancy and motherhood, but I’ve got next to nothing on what her role will be in Moon Knight. I guess we’ll have to see.

Theories . . .

Not a ton for you in theory land this time around even though we got tons of reveals and new information over which to speculate. I would definitely check out New Rockstar’s Episode 4 Easter Egg Break Down for anything you missed and a couple great theories coming out of there. For me though, I’m thinking about

Jake Lockley Appearance?

I really want to have some fresh original take on this, like “Steven’s third identity (still encased in that third tomb) is so-and-so, not Jake.” But unfortunately, I just don’t know who else it could be. Jake Lockley is just sooo prevalent in the comics, so I think it almost has to be him. However, so far none of the identities we’ve seen in the show have been very similar to what we saw in the comic. If it is “Jake”, I don’t think it will be like any Jake we’ve seen yet. Given the blackouts we witnessed in Episode 3, I’m assuming that he will be much more violent and scary than anything we’ve seen yet. Whatever it is, they better hurry up!

The Asylum is the ‘Overvoid’ which is why we saw Tawaret

I’m really hoping that the asylum is not Marc/Steven/Whoever’s true reality, and that he’s actually been sent to the “Overvoid” which seems to be the place where all the Gods hang out. Perhaps the reason it looks like an asylum, is because mortal minds cannot handle so much of the divine (or alien) in one place and so they hallucinate a reality they can believe. Since our MC has DID, perhaps an asylum is something it can make sense of. Whether the Overvoid is a heavenly Field of Reeds, or the hellish Duat, we will have to wait and find out . . .

The Climax of this show will involve Steven/Marc Freeing the entombed Gods from their Ushabti

As much as I really enjoyed this episode, one thing kind of bothered me. As soon as they got inside the tomb, Steven/Marc and Layla were so completely focused on finding Ammit’s Ushabti and preventing Harrow from getting it, that they completely forgot about Khonshu! In episode 3, right as Khonshu is crumbling to dust, he tells Steven to make sure Marc saves him . . . they did NOT do that AT ALL.

So, my prediction is that this objective is still on the table, and that once we’re out of the asylum/overvoid, we’ll head back over to Giza and start bustin gods out of statues. My hope is that in order to finally get to Khonshu, they’ll have to bust out many of the other gods we see thereby releasing them as players in the larger MCU. From promo posters, we can see Khonshu, Anubis and his scales, and (hopefully) Sobek.

We’ll just have to wait and see . . .

The End . . .

Well, that’s all I have for you this round. What does everyone thing. Will we get to see more Ancient Egyptian Gods Running around in the MCU? Which are you hoping to see the most? What other thoughts and theories do you have about this episode?

Please leave em in the comments. See you next time!

Moon Knight Vol 2: Reincarnations (Review)

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Only 13 days until Moon Knight drops on Disney+ and it seems I’m continuing my binge, scrounging for anything MK related that I can get my hands on. This week’s review is of Moon Knight Vol 2: Reincarnations by Jeff Lemire, the sequel to Moon Knight Vol 1: Lunatic which I reviewed three weeks ago.

In general, I think I enjoyed this volume more than the first, even though I believe even less context is given (at least in the beginning) for what is happening than in Lunatic. However, this time I was a little more familiar with things, as I had just come off of Essential Moon Knight Volume 1. The disparate members of MK’s team — Crawley, Gena and Frenchie — had much more emotional impact now that I had at least some semblance of a history between these characters.

The same is doubly true for any villains that show up. Moon Knight seems to have a pretty large cast of villains over the years, and I’m curious how the writer decided which one to bring back for this volume. Assuredly, it probably has to do with that villain’s significance within the Moon Knight cannon, but from what I’ve read so far, he didn’t seem any more important than any others and in some cases way less important. Maybe Lemire just liked that one . . . ?

Anyway, I also thought it was interesting that the story shows us which of MK’s personas arrived first, and gives us a little bit of history of the main character. In terms of the history of the comic (IRL), I’m not sure when “Mr. Knight” becomes one of the alters but I’m curious since I though his persona replaced Steven Grant in the role of millionaire playboy. This does not seem to be the case in Reincarnations as Grant is very much a part of the story.

My only disappointment reading was a bit of a bait-and-switch in the opening which (I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say) at first seems to depict Moon Knight fighting with Ramses, the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. I was stoked to be in Ancient Egypt, but it ends up being the set of a movie production. While I was disappointed at first, I came around to actually enjoying it as it presented an opportunity to poke fun at the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all the more ironic with Moon Knight‘s impending release on Disney+

Read?

Much like I said in my review of Vol 1: Lunatic, I think this series will give much more enjoyment if you have some Moon Knight history under your belt to give everything context. If you don’t have that history, it’s going to seem quite strange and very weird, but I think perhaps still enjoyable. Certainly a wild ride.

I’ve already got Moon Knight Volume 3: Birth and Death from the library, so I’m going to continue with this run.

My final pitch for Reincarnations however is just three words: WERWOLVES IN SPACE! If that doesn’t convince you one way or the other, then you’re on your own hahah.

Anyway, that’s all I got for this week. What did y’all think of this one? Too much? Not enough? Confusing? Or just right? I’m leaning towards just right. Leave me your thoughts and opinions in the comments!

See you next time!

Essential #MoonKnight Vol. 1: So 70’s it Hurts

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We’re about 19 days from the release of Disney and Marvel’s Moon Knight live action TV show, and I’ve been on a bit of a comics binge trying to get ready for the premier. After watching the initial Moon Knight trailer in February, I was pretty much the living embodiment of that heart-eyes emoji for several reasons, the least of which being that it just looks awesome, and the most of which being that I’m pretty much obsessed with anything even remotely relating to Ancient Egypt.

Since seeing that first glimpse, I’ve written about nine Ancient Egyptian things I hope we see in the show, and was intrigued but confused by Jeff Lemire’s Moon Knight Vol. 1: Lunatic.

On the day I’m writing this, a new Moon Knight featurette trailer dropped and we got a couple more awesome looking movie posters of Moon Knight, Mr. Knight, and Steven Grant. I got chills during the featurette when Ethan Hawke says “Every aspect of this show has a duality”, not only for it’s implications for the main character, but because duality was a central part of Ancient Egyptian epistemology and worldview. Hopefully that’s a clue that they’re considering at least one thing from my list!

Anyway, I’ve digressed. This post is a review of Essential Moon Knight Volume 1, not a gush about the newest Marvel trailer (although it is a bit that too).

Essentially, this book is exactly what I should have read before jumping into Lunatic (mentioned above). It gives the reader a ‘greatest hits’ of Moon Knight comics, starting with the character’s first appearance in Werewolf-By-Night back in 1975, and moving up through MK’s own premiere run starting in November of 1980 (the last of this run we see in this book is #10 Too Many Midnights in August of 1981).

I suppose there are two ways to review this book (speaking of duality), one being to review its merits as a “greatest hits” type publication, and the other, to review the stories within.

As a Greatest Hits?

Since I don’t have much history with this character, I can’t really review its merits as an encapsulation of Moon Knight the comic since I’m not sure which issues I would have included as I’ve only read the few displayed here. I’ll say that I was sad that each of the issues were in black-and-white. It made the lettering hard to read in many places and some of the artwork was pretty difficult to make out with only two colors.

The second bummer was that without any kind of forward, or afterword, there was no context for these issues, historically or culturally (within Marvel comics history, and the larger world). One issue of Hulk magazine, printed just before Moon Knight was about to get his own run, had a letter from Ralph Macchio about his work on issues featuring MK up to that point. Even though it was a wall of nearly unreadable text (and this was a comic book after all), I found myself wishing this kind of commentary had been sprinkled throughout.

But this book did what it said it would do, and gave the reader 26 Moon Knight comics to read and enjoy and so I can’t really knock it too much.

And the Stories Themselves?

In all honesty, they were not the droids I was looking for, and I think I would not have read them had I not been so intrigued by the upcoming show. Very little of what I had seen in the trailers, and limited Wikipedia pages I’ve read (trying to avoid spoilers) seemed apparent at first in the comics shown here.

For instance, Moon Knight’s “origin story” in Werewolf-By-Night is to be given a suitcase containing his iconic costume by a committee of nefarious financiers and told to hunt a werewolf (who’s name is Jack Russell lol). It isn’t until the 1980 Moon Knight issue #1 that we even get the connection to Khonshu (based off the Ancient Egyptian god Khonsu) and when it does arrive, it is relatively shallow and maybe a bit appropriative. Up until that point, MK’s moon powers were thought to stem from a werewolf bite he supposedly sustained during his first appearance (which I totally missed). Seeing them finagle the Khonshu storyline in later on but keep the werewolf fight and several other pieces of MK’s past was interesting in its own right.

The other issues read more like a spy story (thank you 70’s) with the MC being a caped crusader instead of a tuxedoed agent (although MK’s alt Steven Grant wears plenty of tuxedos throughout). They’re focused on mystery and intrigue, cool gadgets (a glider cape, cowl mic and a truncheon that, when doubling as “nunchaku”, a grappling hook, and billy-club, seems to have as many personas as the Moon Knight), and exotic looking vehicles (crescent moon shaped helicopter?).

And lastly, the always beautiful Marlene, who never seems to be wearing much, and always puts up with the MC’s shit no matter how rude or self-centered it comes off (the MC’s alt Jake Lockley in particular seems to have it out for her).

Now I think it is important to point out that 47 years have passed since the first iteration of this character (woah) and so clearly a lot has changed since then. It will be interesting to see which changes the show will make (one big one already is Steven Grant being a low level museum employee, and not a millionaire), and which elements (particularly the villains) they’ll keep.

Some things I hope they do keep are Moon Knight’s supporting cast. Crawley and Gena in particular were always a welcome presence. And obviously any crossovers with other MCU characters will also be a delight. In this volume MK and SPIDERMAN!! face off against each other, and then team up to take on Cyclone. I would LOVE to see that team up sometime in the future.

Read this one then?

If you’re interested in the history of Moon Knight in general and don’t mind some outdated cultural mores then I would say go for it. Despite the seemingly negative review I’ve given, I actually did enjoy getting to know the infancy (and growing pains) of this character. It certainly has expanded my horizons.

I don’t think that I’ll be able to procure Volume 2 before the show premieres on Disney Plus, but I will probably still give it a shot as I’m curious how the Moon Knight I’ve seen in this volume progressed to the Moon Knight we’ll be watching on March 30th.

Has anyone else read this book? What are your thoughts? Any Moon Knight fans out there who’ve been with the comic this long? What are you most excited for in the new show?

Leave your answers in the comments, and I’ll see you all next time!