Marc Spector: Moon Knight #25 – 34 (April 1991 – January 1992)
Written by Howard Mackie (#25, 33), JM DeMatteis (#26-31) Chuck Dixon (#34)
Plot by JM DeMatteis (#32)
Script by Howard Mackie (#32)
Penciled by Mark Bagley (#25), Ron Garney (#26-33), JJ Birch (#34)
Inked by Tom Palmer (#25-33), JJ Birch (#34)
Coloured by Christie Scheele (#25-34), Joe Rosas (#25), Nel Yomtov (#27)
Spoilers (from thirty-two to thirty-three years ago)
After Chuck Dixon left this book, the series went through an unstable period, anchored by a short run written by JM DeMatteis. I’ve decided to group all of these issues together in this column, before digging into writer Terry Kavanaugh’s long run (if I can make it through that stuff – I didn’t read it when it originally came out, and it looks like a form of self-punishment to read it now).
Early 90s Moon Knight was not a very interesting character. He did not have his other personalities, and he gave the impression that Marvel was trying to shoehorn him into being a Batman-like figure, only without many of Batman’s attributes. It was starting to look like no one really knew what to do with him, so two options presented themselves – have him team up with the big stars of the 90s (leading to the Ghost Rider appearance in #25 written by Howard Mackie), or return to the character’s roots, which is probably why DeMatteis had him interacting with Stained Glass Scarlet.
I originally dropped this series during the DeMatteis issues, but I don’t remember why. Honestly, I don’t remember anything from this small stack beyond Bill Sienkiewicz’s covers. Let’s see what happened here together!
Let’s track who turned up in the title:
Villains
- The Knights of the Moon (#25)
- Plasma (#25)
- Stained Glass Scarlet (Scarlet Fasinera; #26-30)
- Hobgoblin (Jason Macendale; #31-33)
- Randall Spector (#32-33)
- Killer Shrike (Simon Maddicks; #34)
Guest Stars
- Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch; #25)
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker; #32-33)
Supporting Characters
- Frenchie (Jean-Paul Duchamp; #25-28, 32-34)
- Marlene Alraune (#25-26, 28-29, 31-34)
- Bertrand Crawley (#26)
- Gena (#26)
- Chloe (Marc’s housekeeper; #27, 32)
Let’s take a look at what happened in these books, with some commentary as we go:
- For the twenty-fifth issue of this series, Howard Mackie and Mark Bagley took over. A group of terrorists in Moon Knight-derivative outfits are attacking Liberty Island. Moon Knight drops in from his helicopter and starts to fight them. One of them declares themselves as the Knights of the Moon, and claims they are working for Khonshu; he then pulls the ankh from his neck and immolates. Some gunmen not dressed like the cultists start shooting at Marc from above, and Frenchie reports seeing a trail of flame shooting across the water towards them. It’s Ghost Rider (the 90s Danny Ketch version), and he drives up the side of the Statue of Liberty’s base to pull these gunmen down with his chains. Moon Knight stops him from killing the second of the two men, saying he wants information first. They learn that there is another attack planned for that night at Grand Central Terminal. Marc calls for Frenchie to come get him, Ghost Rider disappears, and we learn that Marlene is at the station attending a benefit for the homeless. At the Terminal, we see a woman in a headband enter the charity gala with a bunch of suspicious looking men before heading down to an underground train track and using her mutant power to blow up a train. Her followers, some of whom are dressed as Knights of the Moon, while others aren’t, take over the whole station. A man is shot, and Marlene comforts him. The woman reveals herself as Plasma (she’s got one of those hideous costumes we saw in the 90s, often designed by Mark Bagley – one bared leg, a half-skirt, a half-cape on the opposite side, capped off by a big pair of Blue Blocker sunglasses), but she doesn’t explain her intent. Frenchie and Marc arrive above ground, but realize they are too late to get into the station. The leader of the Knights, a guy named Hashim, tells the cops outside that if they enter the station the rich hostages will be killed. Marc has to take to underground train tracks and finds some of the Knights wiring a subway tunnel under the station to blow up. He attacks. One of the regularly-dressed goons tells Plasma something’s happening down below, and she decides she needs a volunteer hostage; when she says that if no one volunteers she’ll kill five people, Marlene offers herself. MK keeps fighting, taking out a bunch of the Knights and one plainclothes guy. That guy gets stabbed by a Knight and as he dies, tells Marc he’s a mercenary who joined up for money, and that Plasma is going to blow up the whole place. Plasma goes to a window and blows the head off the man who was dying, and throws his body at the cops. This is when Ghost Rider returns and starts taking on the Knights. Plasma blasts him to bits and then takes her men and heads downstairs. Moon Knight comes to Marlene and tells her to evacuate the place. Plasma and her men head to an abandoned tunnel, where they climb into a train to escape before the station blows up. MK makes it to the platform where he has to fight more Knights, and isn’t able to learn if they really serve Khonshu. Ghost Rider revives and picks up MK; they go after Plasma’s train, dodging bullets along the way. Once they’re on the train, Plasma blasts Ghost Rider again, and then starts to explain to Marc how she’s inherited the power of the Living Pharaoh (she’d appeared in Marvel Comics Presents fighting Havok and Wolverine), and now she wants to unite a bunch of Middle Eastern cults under her banner. Marc struggles to fight her, and when she almost knocks him off the train, he realizes it’s running towards a wall. He keeps fighting, and tries to get her to stop. Ghost Rider catches up to them, and MK jumps onto his motorcycle just before the train runs into the wall and explodes, apparently killing Plasma. As the two heroes depart, Marc wonders who Khonshu really is.
- Issue twenty-six starts the Scarlet Redemption arc, by JM DeMatteis, Ron Garney (is this his first Marvel work? I wouldn’t recognize this as his art), and Tom Palmer, which revisits the character of Stained Glass Scarlet from the first Moon Knight run. Moon Knight’s old associate Crawley is wandering down the street when he comes across Scarlet, dressed in a red robe. She fires a crossbow bolt into his shoulder. Gena’s back working at her diner, telling some regulars that she missed New York. Crawley comes running right through her door, and Gena sees Scarlet following him. Scarlet, who is running an odd internal monologue, sets fire to the diner with a burning crossbow bolt, then shoots another bolt into the stove, making the whole place explode (we see that Gena is already outside). Later, Scarlet is at her church, and there are three women dressed like her, tending to her. It’s clear that she’s trying to get Moon Knight’s attention. MK, for his part, is chasing down some break and enter street punks. He decides to just rough them up and scare them and then let them go. While this is happening, his narration is telling a story about a snake that terrorized a Polish shtetl, until a rabbi convinced the snake to change his ways; the villagers then terrorized the snake, and after feeling that the villagers ruined his life, the rabbi commented that he never told the snake to stop hissing. Back home, Marc explains to Marlene and Frenchie that he wants to give young criminals a second chance, like Khonshu gave him. Scarlet prays at her church, and receives a vision of Moon Knight, whom she sees as her ‘angel of mercy’. Marc wanders his house at night, and when he looks at Khonshu’s statue, he sees a vision of Scarlet. He suits up and heads to Gena’s, sees the damage, and then goes to visit Crawley in the hospital. He tells Gena, who is there, that he’ll pay for all of her damages and Crawley’s treatment (he’ll be fine); he tells Gena that Scarlet is an old friend of his. Marlene looks up Scarlet in Marc’s computer. Marc goes to the grave of Scarlet’s husband, and while he gets attacked by the women that were hanging out with her before, he retells Scarlet’s backstory (nun, falls for a tough guy, abusive relationship, husband is killed, son goes bad, she ends up shooting him to save MK’s life). Moon Knight tells Scarlet he wants to help her, but she says that it’s not time; they seem to be in each other’s minds and she disappears. At the church, Scarlet recites scripture and sets a model of New York City on fire. At the same time, Marc is looking at the statue of Khonshu and sees it shoot fire from its eyes while Marc finishes the verse Scarlet is reading. We’re off to a weird start with this.
- Frenchie and Chloe, Marc’s housekeeper whom we haven’t seen in a while, are at a penthouse apartment Marc owns in Manhattan, making out on the couch, when Stained-Glass Scarlet comes through the skylight. She shoots a crossbow bolt through Frenchie’s hand, pinning him to the couch and disarming him. Chloe picks up the gun and threatens to shoot Scarlet, but is surrounded by Scarlet’s women (there are now at least five). Scarlet takes the gun from her and makes her think she’s going to cut her; instead she cuts her own hand and draws her symbol on the wall in her blood. Moon Knight approaches an old church where he believes Scarlet is staying, but as he walks, his mind returns to Egypt (even though it was actually Sudan where he became Moon Knight). In the church, he finds a bunch of homeless people who tell him the church is about to be demolished, leaving them with no shelter. Marc slips in time again, finding himself in the tomb where Khonshu resurrected him before his mind returns to his surroundings. He’s confused and trying to figure out how he and Scarlet are becoming so connected. He leaves the church. Scarlet is in a garden full of statues of angels that appear to come to life and dance with her while she talks to God. The statues appear to turn into flames and burn her. She’s in mental anguish, and goes to check on Frenchie, who is sleeping. She tells Frenchie that she needs Marc to save her. At home, Marc makes love to Marlene off camera, while she makes him declare his love for her. Later, he stands in front of his Khonshu statue again, with a William Blake poem (that Scarlet keeps reciting) running through his head. Chloe knocks on the door and tells Marc what happened to Frenchie. Marc takes out one of his new one-man flyers, which he calls “Angel Wings” to meet Scarlet on the Brooklyn Bridge. He finds her dancing. He approaches her and she says that Frenchie is back in the penthouse. She tells Marc that he needs to save her, and they embrace and start kissing. She pulls out a knife and stabs him in the back, and pushes him off the bridge. He falls into the river below. She says she doesn’t deserve to be saved, and fires a single crossbow bolt at the hovering Angel Wing, which explodes.
- We see Marc fall from the bridge again, as he questions why Scarlet would have hurt him. We are given panels of black and green, with no pictures, as Marc struggles to breathe and realizes that he’s going to die again. At Marc’s home, Marlene wakes up with the knowledge that he’s dead; Scarlet, already back home in her bed, feels guilt. Marc continues to sink, and goes through a lengthy internal monologue, where he feels that his life has not had worth. He sees Khonshu, but when he swims towards him, instead sees his father’s image. He thinks about how his father tried to teach him a way of living that he liked, but also rejected out of embarrassment. His father appears to pray over him, and we see that Scarlet is making the same prayer in her church. Marc sinks again, into the arms of Khonshu, but he turns into Randall, Marc’s brother that he idolized. Randall appears to save him, to lead him towards the surface, but Marc finds himself in another river, filled with dead bodies. Marc confronts his feelings for Randall, who got him into the mercenary business. Marlene goes to the statue of Khonshu to ask for help, while Scarlet goes to a statue of someone else (Jesus?) to ask for the same thing. Marc continues to sink. Both Marlene and Scarlet fall to their knees in front of their respective statues, and in both cases, it looks like the statues reach out to touch them. Marc finds himself in front of Khonshu again, in the tomb where he was previously reborn. He thinks about how he can combine the rabbi’s son with the mercenary, and be better. The statue looks like Marc’s father, Jesus, and Khonshu at the same time, and Marc sees a light leading him to the surface. As he swims, he realizes his role is not to judge or punish but to provide hope. He surfaces, alive, and we see that Frenchie is hovering the moon copter right above him (I guess Scarlet did let him go and that he’s healed). Marlene is on the rope ladder, and she helps pull him up. They head for home, and we see that Scarlet has come to the same place in a boat, having received the same vision that led Marlene to the spot. She feels spurned by Marc or God, and decides that she needs to purify the world with fire.
- Scarlet lies on her bed, engulfed in incense smoke (I assume; she also has a lot of candles lit, but they shouldn’t be this smokey). She thinks about how the demons of Hell and the angels of Heaven have rejected her. She feels that Moon Knight is the only one who can save her, but she doesn’t know why. Marc lies in his bed, recovering from his injuries. He wants to go to Scarlet, whose mind he’s connected to, but Marlene refuses to let him up; Scarlet can see them embracing and kissing, and it makes her feel betrayed. She remembers her father, who we learn was her only parent. We see that he used to abuse her sexually (it’s hinted at pretty clearly), although she thought that it wasn’t exactly her father doing this to her, but something she called the ‘daddy-thing’. Marc picks up on some of these memories. At some point, her father broke his leg and had to lie in traction. Scarlet set his bed on fire with one of his cigarettes while he slept, and this killed him. She went to live with an aunt and uncle and had trouble accepting their kindness. She studied poetry and theatre and began to thrive, but always saw herself as an irredeemable sinner. She became a nun because of this, and then we see her story much as it was shown in her first appearances. She fell for Vince Fasinera, who was abusive, and then he died. We get a recap of the events that led to her choosing to shoot her own son to protect Moon Knight, and remembering this upsets her so much that she knocks over a table and some candles. The room catches on fire, and we the women that follow her (who are these women, and why do they follow her?) flee. At the same time that Scarlet stands defiantly on top of the burning building, Moon Knight leaves home to go to her. Scarlet yells out that the city will burn that night, while Marc yells out that the madness is going to end.
- Issue thirty opens a few days after the last issue ended, and we learn that during that time, Scarlet has carried out a relentless and random fire bomb campaign (I’m not sure where she got the materials and know-how for this) across New York. She remembers a dream she used to have as a child that had a highly abstracted man and woman dancing around a fire in a sacred (and maybe a little culturally appropriative) way until the man would leap into the flame, and the woman, a priestess, would hesitate. Scarlet sets fire to a tenement building. Moon Knight arrives and rescues a woman and child who were sheltering in the abandoned building. He spots four of Scarlet’s women, and goes after them, but they somehow manage to take him down. He wakes on a rooftop, and thinks about what is going on with him and Scarlet. He now can see the same dream she had, only he is the priest dancing around the fire. In the flames, he can see Khonshu and his father, as well as another nondescript face. He figures out where Scarlet is going to be. Scarlet is at the hospital, and she enters Crawley’s room. She lights a match, but it is Moon Knight waiting in the bed, and he extinguishes it. He again asks Scarlet to let him help her, but she hits him and sets off a fire bomb in the hospital. They fight, and their fight is juxtaposed with images of them dancing around the fire. Scarlet feels that the fire is all that can save her, and Marc decides to try to rescue patients rather than continue to fight. Later, Scarlet is on top of the Brooklyn Bridge again (I think this is a good place to remember that she’s a former nun who raised a young man almost to his twentieth year, and she has no powers; I don’t understand how she’s so fit and young-looking). She dances, and Moon Knight approaches. She explains that she tried to get salvation from angels and fire, but both let her down. She feels a strong bond to Moon Knight, whom she keeps calling ‘sweet angel’. She pulls out a knife, and Marc stops her from killing herself with it. He takes off his mask and explains that he’s a terrible man who was given a second chance in life. He says the fires in her vision are fires of love, but she decides to jump from the bridge. He jumps after her, hitting the water right behind her, but he’s not able to find her. He swims to a ladder, and behind his back, we see Scarlet’s hand emerge from the water and then sink. Moon Knight stands on a dock watching the night and says a prayer for Scarlet.
- In a dramatic sequence, Moon Knight jumps from the mooncopter and glides towards a rooftop where he has to avoid being shot. The shooter has been on the roof shooting at people for a few hours (not sure why MK didn’t respond sooner), but he knows who the man is (there’s a lot of him just knowing things without it being explained in this issue) and speaks to him about understanding how his personal problems have caused him to snap (we learn he hasn’t hit a single person, despite being good with a gun). Moon Knight comforts him and tells him that he’s going to pay for his lawyer as the police come and arrest him. Next, Moon Knight finds a small child who ran from his home because of a bad report card, and gives him a lift home. When a young woman stops outside a church, some lowlife holds a gun to her back to rob her. MK swoops down and talks to the man, trying to convince him to give up. He has to throw a crescent dart at him, followed by his truncheon, and he warns him to not cross the line again. Marlene is piloting the mooncopter (this is a bit of a surprise), and she tries to convince Marc to take things more slowly, but he wants to keep going (we learn it’s been a month since the affair with Scarlet). As they fly off, we see someone watching from a rooftop. At an Italian restaurant, a stereotypical mobster is enjoying dinner when some gunmen come in to attack him. Moon Knight breaks through a window and takes them out using the weapons we saw him use in the Fists of Khonshu series. The mobster is grateful, and offers MK a job, but he turns on the guy, beats up his bodyguards, and tells him to get out of his shady businesses. A little later, Marc and Marlene stand looking at the water and talking about how Marc is focusing on trying to be a hero with more compassion, and to give people a second chance at life. He explains that he was reborn after Scarlet stabbed him, and they end up kissing. Moon Knight pays a visit to Crawley, who is still in the hospital (and honestly hard to recognize), then tells Marlene that he’s going to be released in a week, and that Gena is going to take him in while Marc has her diner rebuilt. Marlene mentions how much money Marc is spending these days, and he replies that he doesn’t really care. As the mooncopter flies off, we see Hobgoblin flying through the city on his glider, yelling out the word ‘repent’.
- Hobgoblin attacks some guy outside a fancy restaurant because he’s a former mercenary. When Hobgoblin kills the guy, he talks about it being ‘His’ will, which he is serving. Moon Knight is sparring with Frenchie, and notices that his old friend is attacking him with more ferocity than usual. At first he thinks he’s doing it to help him recover from his injuries, but then starts to suspect that Frenchie is bothered by Marc’s new compassion. It looks like Frenchie is going to stab Marc in the face, but he defeats him, and when he offers to help him up, Frenchie smacks his hand away in anger. Hobgoblin keeps returning to his human form, and we learn that he was changed after an encounter with Ghost Rider. When he turns into Hobgoblin, he gets a Venom-style tongue, and rages against himself and other mercenaries. Marc broods, and when Marlene comes to him, she insists that he and Frenchie can work through their differences. He heads out, as someone watches from outside (it’s not Hobgoblin, but I have no idea who it might be). Marc heads out in one of the individual Angels Wings fliers. Spider-Man, wearing his black suit, swings through the city looking for Hobgoblin, and feeling resentful that this problem is his to deal with. Frenchie walks around with Chloe, saying that he doesn’t know Marc anymore (it’s very strange that Frenchie, who has devoted his life to Moon Knight’s mission, would be upset that Marc is trying to be more kind in how he serves that mission). Hobgoblin attacks him, and after Frenchie shoves Chloe into a storefront for her safety, he starts shooting at the villain and his glider. Hobgoblin says he’s after both Frenchie and Marc Spector. This is when Spider-Man intervenes and starts beating on him. Hobgoblin gasses him, and then turns human again; Frenchie recognizes him and says his name, Macendale. Hobgoblin takes off, and when Spidey figures out that Frenchie knows where Hobgoblin is going, he insists on coming with him (it’s not clear if Spidey recognizes Frenchie, even though they fought the Secret Empire together). Marc returns home and starts to kiss Marlene. An explosion draws their attention and they rush upstairs. Marc finds Hobgoblin looking for Spector, so he attacks him from behind. As they fight, Hobgoblin turns into Macendale again, explaining that Hobgoblin wants to kill all the old mercenaries Macendale used to work with. He turns back into Hobgoblin, blasts MK, and then prepares to stab him with one of his batarang things.
- Hobgoblin keeps alternating between his Hobgoblin form and that of Jacon Macendale, and appears to be arguing with himself as he prepares to kill Moon Knight. MK throws his boomerang, bringing his chandelier down on Hobgoblin, allowing him space to escape. Frenchie arrives with Spider-Man, having borrowed a helicopter from somewhere. He explains that Marc Spector is rich, and when the lights go out in Spector’s home, they assume that it’s because Moon Knight did it. Hobgoblin frees himself and goes looking for Marc, yelling about how once all the mercenaries are dead, he’ll be able to kill Macendale and get his body back. Marc cuts the lights and goes looking for Hobgoblin. He thinks about how Macendale used to run with him, then became the Jack O’Lantern. He wonders what’s happened to him now. Hobgoblin attacks him, and they fight until Macendale takes control again and asks for help. Marc reaches out his hand to him, but that’s when Spidey and Frenchie come breaking through the window. Macendale turns back into Hobgoblin and flies off while holding onto his glider. Spidey goes after him while Marc and Frenchie have a brief argument; Frenchie thinks the only way to get through to Macendale is to kill him. Hobgoblin and Macendale each control one half of their shared body. MK catches up to Spidey and they follow. Marc wants to try to reach Macendale before they attack, and explains that he’s trying a new approach to being a hero. They see Hobgoblin writhing around in the air, and both heroes try to grab him. Marc tries to get through to Macendale, but Spidey gets inpatient and sends Hobby through the window. The fall seems to have knocked Hobgoblin out so Macendale is in charge. Marlene rushes to the scene (where has she been?) and Macendale grabs her, planning to use her as a hostage to secure his freedom. She knocks him down, but Macendale drops a pumpkin bomb. Spidey throws up a web shield to protect Marlene, but she’s caught in the blast. Marc thinks back to when his brother threatened her (way back) and goes to her. Frenchie joins them and again insists that Macendale be killed. Marc wants to catch Macendale, and sees Spidey being towed through the air by Hobgoblin’s glider, which is being summoned to its owner. MK grabs Spidey’s ankle to get dragged as well. Somehow, MK gets to Macendale first, and he slams him into a tree, talking about how violence is the only thing he’ll understand. He starts beating on Macendale until Spidey pulls him off. Frenchie and Marlene join them and they all look at the unconscious villain. Somewhere close by, someone (he calls Marc ‘brother’ in his internal monologue, so it’s probably Randall, which would explain why he’s getting mentioned again) is watching, and thinking about the things he has in common with Marc.
- Chuck Dixon returned to write issue thirty-four, which followed up on something that happened back in issue ten of his run. We see that the supervillain Killer Shrike is going on a rampage in Atlantic City, tearing up the casinos owned by one guy. He’s decided that he wants him to give him the Palantine, a new casino, and he makes it clear that he’ll be there the next night. One of the casino employees makes a call to Frenchie to let him know what’s happening, since he’s been looking for Killer Shrike ever since he put him in the hospital during the Acts of Vengeance event. He wants to go after him on his own, without involving Marc, so he leaves. Moon Knight, meanwhile, is on a late night peanut brittle run for Marlene when he spots some guys robbing the local 7-Eleven. He takes them all out, and on his way home, tries to call Frenchie to get him to fire up the mooncopter. He goes to check why he’s not there after he gets home, and figures out that he’s gone to Atlantic City. Frenchie drives his truck, and thinks about his fears. Marc flies the mooncopter, with Marlene tagging along, and somehow Marc knows that Frenchie’s gone after Killer Shrike; they talk about how Frenchie is as big a risk taker as Marc is. Once he gets to the Palantine, Frenchie puts on a bunch of protective gear and prepares the weapons he’s planned to use. In the Palantine, Killer Shrike goes on a bit of a rampage, insisting that the owner give the casino to him. He doesn’t like the man’s counter offer, but negotiations are cut short when Frenchie drives through the casino and right into him. They start to fight, and neither knows that Marc and Marlene are watching from the top of a large statue of Khonshu that just happens to be in this Rome-themed casino. Marc jumps into the fight to keep Shrike’s goons out of the fight. Frenchie has a special needle filled with a drug that he expects will disrupt Shrike’s ability to fly, but his pistol is blasted apart, and he has to run. Shrike goes after him, and Frenchie uses bullets filled with expanding metallic foam to jam up his wrist blasters. Marlene covers for Marc so he can go help his friend, but Frenchie tells him to stay out of it still. Marc agrees, and goes back to fighting goons while Killer Shrike catches Frenchie and starts to beat on him. While Marc wins his fight, Frenchie writhes in pain. Shrike gets close enough that Frenchie is able to stick him in the chin with that needle, and suddenly Shrike flies into the ceiling, knocking himself out. Marc helps Frenchie out as the cops arrive. They head to the mooncopter and head out as the cops try to figure out how to drag Killer Shrike into their paddywagon.
This ended up being a bit of a random collection, taking up space between the long runs by Chuck Dixon and Terry Kavanagh. We can more or less dismiss the issues by Howard Mackie and Dixon’s filler issue, and spend more time focusing on JM DeMatteis’s work with Moon Knight.
DeMatteis should have been a no-brainer for MK. He’s a writer with many strengths, one of the main ones being that he can write dark, intelligent thrillers that are character-driven. I think of his Kraven’s Last Hunt arc on Spider-Man, and how that would be a tonally perfect match for what I would look for in his Moon Knight. I like that he was paying homage to much of Doug Moench’s work with Moon Knight (minus the dissociative identity disorder), bringing back Crawley and Gena, and giving us a story focused on Stained Glass Scarlet that leads to Moon Knight reexamining his mission and purpose.
The problem is that the story is a bit of a mess. It’s never clear just what Scarlet wants from Marc, who the women that follow her orders are, or how she has the material and means to be such a big threat that she’s terrorizing an entire city. Nor is it explained how she and Marc are spiritually or psychically connected to the extent that they share dreams and can almost read one another’s minds.
What I liked about the story was the way it had Marc examining his beliefs. It brought the mystical aspects of his resurrection at the hands of Khonshu back into the mix, and also had him think about the lessons his father taught him, and how his upbringing in Judaism helped to shape him. This examination led him to believe that he needed to take a new approach to being a superhero, and to act with more kindness and compassion.
The way that kindness caused him to have conflict with Frenchie was silly and handled ham-fistedly in a story that was already confusing because Howard Mackie wanted to finish off some Ghost Rider related nonsense with Hobgoblin (I’m pretty sure Macendale was not the OG Hobgoblin). I thought it interesting that DeMatteis and Mackie introduced the idea that Marc’s brother is still alive, although I’m not sure why he was hanging out outside his home for such a long time. I think that gets picked up in Kavanagh’s run, so we’ll have to see where it goes.
Artwise, it’s nice to see Tom Palmer inks on anything, but Palmer working over early Ron Garney was kind of anonymous. I never would have guessed it was Garney’s art I was looking at, and nothing about it stood out. I thought the JJ Birch art on issue thirty-four was cool, but that’s only because I remember when Joe Brozowski tried on the Birch name and switched up his style in Firestorm, and I liked it.
It was cool to see Bill Sienkiewicz turn up to do the covers for the Stained Glass Scarlet storyline, even if they aren’t the most visually spectacular thing he’s ever done. I liked the sense of continuity his name brought to the storyline.
In the final analysis of this small stack, I think they blended some of the best and least-desirable elements of the era. On the one hand, we had some of the most overused characters of the 90s (Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, and Hobgoblin), but on the other, we got an attempt to respect the roots of the character and to give him a reason for existing, which had been lacking during Dixon’s run.
I don’t know if DeMatteis was supposed to stick around longer, or what happened with the writer changes, but after this, Terry Kavanagh settled in for a good long run. Kavanagh is not a household name, and I wasn’t reading the book at this point (I did pick up the Infinity Crusade tie-ins for some reason), so we’ll find out together how that turned out next time.
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