These days, you haven’t made it as a superhero until you have your own “dark mirror” guy. Moon Knight pulled off that feat forty-five years ago.  Prepare to meet… The Midnight Man! Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Moon Knight #3 awaits!

MOON KNIGHT #3

Writer:  Doug Moench
Penciler: Bill Sienkiewicz
Inker: Bill Sienkiewicz
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Denny O’Neil
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: 50 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $35.00
Release Date: October 14, 1980

Previously in Moon Knight: Debuting as a foe of Jack “Werewolf by Night” Spector, Moon Knight was successful enough to get his own solo series in the pages of the anthology title, Marvel Spotlight, within the year. That story contained the first of many retcons about the man in the silver cape, revealing that his mission for The Committee was actually an undercover operation by the hero and that he was undercover to investigate The Committee itself. It also introduced the concept that Moon Knight had multiple false identities, including cabdriver Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant. At this point, they’re seen more as tools for detective work than the separate identities they would become. Moon Knight’s own ongoing title kicked off in 1980 with another retcon and the official origin, bringing us to this issue, and the dead of night on a Saturday in May 1980.

While Moon Knight tries to keep the city safe, the masked Midnight Man, whose all-black costume with cloak is in complete contrast to Moon Knight’s, robs a penthouse and sets off the alarms as he exits, as if trying to increase the difficulty of his heists. For three consecutive nights, the Midnight Man strikes, including a brazen theft of a massive diamond necklace off the neck of an opera singer IN MID-PERFORMANCE. On the fourth day, millionaire Steven Grant turns his attention to the matter of the Midnight Man, with a little help from his lady love and executive assistant, Marlene.

Though Bill Sienkiewicz hasn’t gone full impressionist with his art yet, the building blocks of the style that would transform Elektra and the New Mutants can be seen in the excellent rendering in these pages. Witness the angular design of one Anton Mogart, a member of the hoi polloi who makes his appearance during Steven Grant’s latest charity soiree, looking to hire a little hired muscle in the form of Grant’s “associate,” the mercenary Marc Spector.

Thanks to Mogart’s invitation, it’s Moon Knight and not Spector who arrives to investigate Midnight Man’s threats against the art collector. Of course, thanks to Lockley’s street-level contacts, our hero has enough information to believe that, in his own words, “the cat may be disguised as the cheese.” His suspicions prove correct when he arrives at Anton’s home and is immediately shot at, then greeted by the remarkably familiar voice of his opposite number.

It’s been said that Moon Knight was an attempt to bring a Batman-inspired character into the Marvel Universe and it is interesting to see that dynamic play out in these pages, even as it feels out-of-place. Midnight Man Mogarth’s insistence that only the Moon Knight might stop him in a city where Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Heroes For Hire, Daredevil, and more are operating feels more like something you’d say to the Guardian of Gotham. (Indeed, Moench would later create a character who was both visually and narratively similar to Midnight, The Shadow-Thief, as a foe for Batman.) Hero and villain fight their way across Mogarth’s mansion, making their way to the roof outside, where the man in black prepares for a killing blow!

As the clock strikes midnight, Mogart tries to make good on his threat to kill the Moon Knight, only to take a bullet from Marlene, who has arrived in the nick of time, thanks to Marc’s pilot, Frenchy. As the story ends, The Midnight Man is declared dead by the NYPD, but Jake/Marc/Steven/Moon Knight knows better, handing the Midnight Man’s cape in his mansion in preparation for the time when the villain will obviously return for it. That ending, with the back-and-forth banter of Marlene and Steven, makes Moon Knight #3 feel every bit like the Bronze Age Batman tales it’s meant to stand in for, with absolutely note-perfect art by Sienkiewicz making Moon Knight’s black-cloaked opposite number memorable even though he has only appeared a handful of times, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall. 

Also, because I didn’t realize it until we were well into this comic, The Midnight Man is not the same character as Midnight, Shang-Chi’s foe, even though they have the same black-costume-and-cloak aesthetic going on.

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MOON KNIGHT #3

83%

83%

All We're Missing Is A Boy Wonder

Doug Moench shows off the chops that would make his Batman memorable a few years later, while Sienkiewicz absolutely kills it with expressive, clear and moody art throughout.

• Writing

  7
• Art

  10
• Coloring

  8
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