Moonlit Nostalgia

The quest for my perfect nostalgic Moon Knight set

The year was 1989 and like the many ornaments adorning our Christmas tree, the vivid moon hung with perfect care in the winter sky. Its light cascading off of the freshly laid snow below, illuminating the living room where we sat waiting.

The anticipation my brothers and I held in this moment was palpable, matched only in intensity by what came next; we three boys tearing our way through the wrapping of the single gift that bore our names and that had tantalized our imaginations the many days leading up to that night.

When this flurry ceased we began digging through the contents of our newly unwrapped Marvel Comics Collecting Kit, unaware of just how much the comics within this wonderful orange box would shape our lives. While I had some some prior exposure to comics, it wasn't until we were gifted this collection that my love for them became cemented. The set had many different comics we each gravitated towards; my brothers with Wolverine and Deathlok, me towards Classic X-Men and Iron Man. However we all shared a common love for the first two issues of this Moon Knight series. We were absolutely enamoured over this silver-cloaked crime-fighter and the amazing Chris Warner art, and like those perfect lunar lit nights, Moon Knight would become a core nostalgic memory that would be revisited for years to come.

With the special place this series holds in my heart, I felt that my goal for re-collecting it should be nothing less than the best. To this end I've hunted down, and graded, a full 9.8 set, with perfect page quality as bright WHITE as the moon itself. I opted to focus on the direct editions, as my brothers and I always preferred the boxed graphics, in this case Spider-Man's head, over the rarer newsstand barcodes. However in typical crazed comic collecting fashion I could not stop there, so had each cracked and signed by the legendary Moon Knight creator Doug Moench (and then regraded)!

About the Fist of Khonshu era

The psychological stress of trying to maintain many different personalities took a toll on Marc Spector in his first comic series, so much so that he then abandoned his Moon Knight, Grant, and Lockley identities. This series picks up with Marc Spector having managed to successfully hang up his cloak as Moon Knight for a time, enjoying life as a wealthy art gallery operator and trying to rebuild his relationship with Marlene.

However, this peace did not last. Khonshu, through his cult, telepathically summoned Marc back to Egypt and infused Spector with his lunar-based strength, granting Moon Knight increased abilities depending on the phase of the moon. Unable to resist the call of Khonshu, he becomes the Moon Knight again, and for this choice in reverting to his old violent ways his relationship with Marlene ends with her leaving him.

During the era that followed this series, Moon Knight moved away from street level stories and took on more cosmic threats, battling Khonshu's fellow gods like Seth. He also became a member of the West Coast Avengers.

The Cancellation of Khonshu

While Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu is commonly referred to as a six issue 'mini-series', this second volume was always intended to be an ongoing series before it was inexplicably cancelled. Reception of the series was lukewarm at best, and while the first issue managed to place eighth on the Marvel Top Ten sales list based on direct sales (not including newsstand or subscription figures) the series quickly faded away never to crack the top ten again.

This reception was partly due to the lack of promotion by Marvel within its own Marvel Age magazine. While other new series would be previewed and have exciting creative spotlights leading up to their release (such as preview page layouts, creative team interviews, sketches) nothing substantial was ever done for Fist of Khonshu save for a few scant text mentions.

Much like its debut, the end of the series came without much fanfare and was a complete surprise to readers, as solicitations found in the 1985 September/November editions of Marvel Age magazine had still included mention of upcoming issues seven and eight for ordering - so nothing seemed amiss leading up to its sudden cancellation. This was in stark contrast to how cancellations were typically handled by Marvel at the time, who would print small notices within the magazine stating the reasons for a series cancellation as well as the expected final issue number months in advance - no such notices were ever printed for Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu leading up to its dissolution.

This lack of discussion would continue for months - with no mention of the cancellation to be found in any Marvel newswatch, solicitation, or letters page until July of 1986 when Editor in Chief Jim Shooter responded to a fan letter inquiring about the series, simply stating "the decision to cancel Moon Knight was made very quickly". No further elaboration has ever been offered, however it has been found that the decision to cancel seems to have been made right after the events in Marvel Age Annual #1 were printed.