by Gavin Foo
MOON KNIGHT #1
Writer: Warren Ellis
Art: Declan Shalvey
Colours: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Variant Covers: Adi Granov/Bill Sienkiewicz/ Skottie Young/ Katie Cook
Before we even begin this symposium - let us discuss the facts.
Warren Ellis returns with an ongoing! Not counting OGN’s. A writer that can take a singular character or a team and dissect them into all the finer details, follow by expanding it in a billion brilliant tangents, and then converge them into a singular definitive point.
Declan Shalvey & Jordie Bellaire!!!!!!!!
Moon Knight - that crazy character you’ve always been curious about but haven't read yet… or simply hadn't found its ‘pocket’.
MOON KNIGHT #1
Writer: Warren Ellis
Art: Declan Shalvey
Colours: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Variant Covers: Adi Granov/Bill Sienkiewicz/ Skottie Young/ Katie Cook
Before we even begin this symposium - let us discuss the facts.
Warren Ellis returns with an ongoing! Not counting OGN’s. A writer that can take a singular character or a team and dissect them into all the finer details, follow by expanding it in a billion brilliant tangents, and then converge them into a singular definitive point.
Declan Shalvey & Jordie Bellaire!!!!!!!!
Moon Knight - that crazy character you’ve always been curious about but haven't read yet… or simply hadn't found its ‘pocket’.
With all their powers combined, whether you have been a long-time Moon Knight fan, or just a first-timer, this first issue is hopefully in for a long and dubious run - because it is one heck of a different book.
Marc Spector, to put things in short, suffers from dissociative identity disorder. He is Moon Knight and a lot of other personalities as well. At one time he was (sort of) Spider-Man, Wolverine and Captain America. In his head. Yes. Right.
The hardest aspect of any sort of writing or creative process is to be able to submerge oneself into the character, to perceive in their shoes. Enter Warren Ellis. Have you read Transmetropolitan? Planetary? Supergod? Then you know what I’m talking about. Load, aim, and fire. This team has taken this character in a very different direction. Spector seems to be a lot more confident than he once was. The issue plays out like a very tasteful noir, and our lead character’s sensibility is more akin to a detective rather than a caped and hooded vigilante. Yet his deductions come to him in a very twisted, say perhaps, like a Will Graham or Dexter Morgan.
The art, panel structuring and placement make a huge impact on the tone of this issue. From afar, as the pages turn, the stark white and the ripples in his 3-piece suit place him brilliantly in each panel and page, creating this superb space and presence. It is visually striking as he moves from place to place, and whilst the moods and tones and palettes around him may change - he himself does not - which asks a question of his or our perception of his sense of self. Notice that he doesn't get shadowed - which then asks another question in regards to his or our perception of his depth. In just under 25 pages, Bellaire had covered a large range of colours yet never once did it stutter.
Great premise, great artwork, suspected crazed and delusional character in the midst of it all? Marvel have struck gold on this one.
Marc Spector, to put things in short, suffers from dissociative identity disorder. He is Moon Knight and a lot of other personalities as well. At one time he was (sort of) Spider-Man, Wolverine and Captain America. In his head. Yes. Right.
The hardest aspect of any sort of writing or creative process is to be able to submerge oneself into the character, to perceive in their shoes. Enter Warren Ellis. Have you read Transmetropolitan? Planetary? Supergod? Then you know what I’m talking about. Load, aim, and fire. This team has taken this character in a very different direction. Spector seems to be a lot more confident than he once was. The issue plays out like a very tasteful noir, and our lead character’s sensibility is more akin to a detective rather than a caped and hooded vigilante. Yet his deductions come to him in a very twisted, say perhaps, like a Will Graham or Dexter Morgan.
The art, panel structuring and placement make a huge impact on the tone of this issue. From afar, as the pages turn, the stark white and the ripples in his 3-piece suit place him brilliantly in each panel and page, creating this superb space and presence. It is visually striking as he moves from place to place, and whilst the moods and tones and palettes around him may change - he himself does not - which asks a question of his or our perception of his sense of self. Notice that he doesn't get shadowed - which then asks another question in regards to his or our perception of his depth. In just under 25 pages, Bellaire had covered a large range of colours yet never once did it stutter.
Great premise, great artwork, suspected crazed and delusional character in the midst of it all? Marvel have struck gold on this one.
SWAMP THING #29
Writer: Charles Soule
Art: Jesus Saiz
Colours: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Since the New 52, Dr Alec Holland, otherwise known as Swamp Thing, has seen some tremendous changes. Most notably his origins, which changed most of everything we have known about the character pre-52.
The building of this character since then has seen some very welcome changes as well as a more ‘human’ personality. A brilliant execution by Scott Snyder & Jeff Lemire of the Rotworld arc with Animal Man, which introduced the elements of the Green and the Red.
Picking up from the Snyder / Yanick Paquette arcs, Charles Soule has introduced the Seeder, Capucine and one world changing decision by Swamp Thing to destroy the parliament of trees. We are now in the midst of the Green forever changed, a couple of past avatars on earth and in human bodies, and introduced to a new sect of Green-worshippers - the Sureen.
I cannot help but notice Jesus Saiz’s artwork in the past few issues. I follow artists as much as I do writers when I read comics, and sadly I must admit I have never run into his name nor his books before, but I must say this - I am glad I have seen it. Whether intentional or if it is simply his style, he picks up where Yanick Paquette left off seamlessly. And even so, there is a method of simplicity which delicately balances out the extreme details, akin to Pia Guerra in Y: the Last Man. Matthew Wilson provides a vast colour palette and a watercolour and sponge technique thats quite superb, and it really makes me want to feel the texture off the pages.
The Gift of the Sureen, Part 1 of 3. Exciting new arc just starting up… get onto it!
IMAGE
East of West #10
Invincible Universe #11
Revival #18
Starlight #1
DARK HORSE
Lobster Johnson: Get the Lobster #2
Veil #1
VERTIGO
Trillium #7
MARVEL
Moon Knight #1
Uncanny X-Men #18
Wolverine & the X-Men #1
DC
Swamp Thing #29
COLLECTED EDITIONS
Uncanny X-Force Omnibus [oversized hardcover]
Hellblazer: Shoot [paperback]
Animal Man Volume 4: Splinter Species [trade paperback]
Writer: Charles Soule
Art: Jesus Saiz
Colours: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Since the New 52, Dr Alec Holland, otherwise known as Swamp Thing, has seen some tremendous changes. Most notably his origins, which changed most of everything we have known about the character pre-52.
The building of this character since then has seen some very welcome changes as well as a more ‘human’ personality. A brilliant execution by Scott Snyder & Jeff Lemire of the Rotworld arc with Animal Man, which introduced the elements of the Green and the Red.
Picking up from the Snyder / Yanick Paquette arcs, Charles Soule has introduced the Seeder, Capucine and one world changing decision by Swamp Thing to destroy the parliament of trees. We are now in the midst of the Green forever changed, a couple of past avatars on earth and in human bodies, and introduced to a new sect of Green-worshippers - the Sureen.
I cannot help but notice Jesus Saiz’s artwork in the past few issues. I follow artists as much as I do writers when I read comics, and sadly I must admit I have never run into his name nor his books before, but I must say this - I am glad I have seen it. Whether intentional or if it is simply his style, he picks up where Yanick Paquette left off seamlessly. And even so, there is a method of simplicity which delicately balances out the extreme details, akin to Pia Guerra in Y: the Last Man. Matthew Wilson provides a vast colour palette and a watercolour and sponge technique thats quite superb, and it really makes me want to feel the texture off the pages.
The Gift of the Sureen, Part 1 of 3. Exciting new arc just starting up… get onto it!
IMAGE
East of West #10
Invincible Universe #11
Revival #18
Starlight #1
DARK HORSE
Lobster Johnson: Get the Lobster #2
Veil #1
VERTIGO
Trillium #7
MARVEL
Moon Knight #1
Uncanny X-Men #18
Wolverine & the X-Men #1
DC
Swamp Thing #29
COLLECTED EDITIONS
Uncanny X-Force Omnibus [oversized hardcover]
Hellblazer: Shoot [paperback]
Animal Man Volume 4: Splinter Species [trade paperback]
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