Crescent Dart:
Most people go to Mexico and get sun, surf, sights and cerveza. Moon Knight gets luchadore assassins, double crossing drug lords, a flesh eating brute and the Punisher on his tail. This is soul searching in Moon Knight’s world though, and it’s never looked better.
Waxing:
- Jefte Palo and Lee Loughridge deliver the goods on the art
- Moon Knight is returning to his roots
Waning:
- What’s the real distinction between Spector and Lockley?
Full:
Jake Lockley may have left Marc Spector’s name, life and warrant behind, but he seems to be hell bent on making peace with his past. While the first two issues of the arc have set up a web for Moon Knight to get tangled up in, there’s still the constant theme of his desire for reconciliation with his past within these pages. Except he’s not doing it as Moon Knight (he has yet to suit up) or in the name of Khonshu. Lockley is atoning for his mercenary past by… um… essentially being a mercenary again. [singlepic id=30 w=250 h=375 float=right]
It’s working for him though; this notion of reconnecting with your past by reliving it and doing it the right way. Marc Spector was a prize fighter – Jake Lockley is making money in Mexico in some underground cage matches. Spector offered his services as a mercenary for hire – Lockley winds up doing the same down in Mexico. It will be interesting to see if any more parallels develop in this arc.
Lockley seems to have a more conscience driven approach in this return to his roots. While I’m not really sure that the inclusion of the Punisher in this arc is necessarily a good thing, it might be an interesting jolt to Moon Knight’s reality to have a link to his past pop up so unexpectedly.
That said, the one potentially negative observation I have so far is there doesn’t seem to be a distinct difference between Moon Knight’s Jake Lockley persona and Marc Spector. Whether this is to downplay the multiple personality disorder or give more credence to Khonshu’s involvement with his “condition” – it will be interesting to see how this plays out, if it does indeed play out.
Something else that I’m wondering is where in the timeline of current events in the larger Marvel Universe is Down South taking place. The previous arcs have all been on a time lag behind Marvel U events, but Down South could very well be almost running parallel with Dark Reign. I say almost because the Punisher is doing his own thing in Dark Reign so his presence wouldn‘t be known in Mexico if they were exactly concurrent. It would be great to see Moon Knight’s return to the larger Marvel U though, as he could definitely go a long way in cleaning house there.
Jefte Palo’s art is perfect for this world. He draws with a pulpy noir feel that fits the tone exactly. His backgrounds are sparse but in a way that really brings out the characters and enables you to focus on the action and dialogue. A large part of this is Lee Loughridge’s coloring which allows just the right features to pop out of the page. They’re a great team.
Get on board with this arc, you won’t be disappointed.
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