Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1979-02-01 00:10:15 |
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Hulk Magazine #13-14 (Moon Knight)
Issue(s): Hulk Magazine #13, Hulk Magazine #14 (Moon Knight stories only)
Cover Date: Feb-Apr 79
Title: "The big blackmail" / "Countdown to dark"
Credits:
Doug Moench - Writer
Bill Sienkiewicz - Penciler
Josef Rubinstein & Bill Sienkiewicz / Bob McLeod - Inker
Review/plot:
See the comments regarding Josef Rubinstein's credit.
Bill Sienkiewicz gets his start at Marvel drawing Moon Knight back-up stories in the Hulk magazine. Issue #13 starts off with a nice introduction to the character (who started in Werewolf By Night and whose most prominent previous appearance was in a few issues of the Defenders) via a device where a bored criminal mastermind-type, who also happens to be a wolf-man (but not a werewolf)...
...reviews all the data about him.
Simultaneously, Moon Knight, in his various personas (a wealthy playboy, a taxi cab driver, a mercenary, and of course a super-detective), visits all of his supporting cast members so the audience can be introduced to them as well: his girlfriend, the people at the diner where he gets his information on the underworld, and his pilot.
He then gets wrapped up in the wolf-man Lupinar's plot and eventually kills him.
It's a simple story but Moench delivers it well and Sienkiewicz's art is very nice. I'm a little suspicious of how nice it is because it may have been enhanced for the prestige reprint (update: scans of the original look good too), but you can tell that it's good detailed and moody pencil work, although there's none of the really abstract stuff that Sienkiewicz eventually becomes known for.
Quality Rating: B-
Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Bill Sienkiewicz at Marvel and on Moon Knight
Chronological Placement Considerations: The Hulk is free to appear here after he leaves the Defenders but before he shows up in New York in Daredevil #163.
References:
- Discussing his past, the two criminals mention that Moon Knight has previously faced the "Conquer-Lord", in Marvel Spotlight #28-29, and the Werewolf in Werewolf By Night #32-33. He's had a number of other appearances as well that aren't listed.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: Moon Knight Special Edition #1
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Comments
Judging from the codpiece, Lupinar seems to be based on Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull.
All of the Moon Knight backups in Hulk magazine, as well as the Marvel Preview #21 story, have been collected as Moon Knight: Countdown to Dark.
For what it's worth, all but the first two (i.e., non-Sienkiewicz) stories mentioned by Anonymous were also collected in the three-issue 1983-4 MOON KNIGHT SPECIAL EDITION.
The Special Edition and other sources credit Joe Rubinstein, rather than Sienkiewicz himself, with inking the Moon Knight story in #13. I don't have the original, but I think the inker was uncredited.
The credits in the original just say "Art: Bill Sienkiewicz", which usually implies pencils and inks. The UHBMCC lists Sienkiewicz as the inker. But i see the GCD does list Rubinstein. I've added a credit for him, but hedged my bets and left Sienkiewicz as an inker too. Thanks.
Eminently fair. Of course, the Special Edition also misspells it as "Rubenstein"...
