#gena

[drawnwithrage]

Ok, here’s one for my BK brothers and sisters! Momma Gena and her baby boy Sagi. I wanted to add their wings somehow but couldn’t quite figure out how. Oh well next time for sure. So since I am on this healing journey I figured I will draw family love. It’s always been very tough for me to understand people that love their parents. I don’t think I’ll ever truly get it and that’s ok. However, I’m willing to try and hopefully one day I can sympathize with it. (P.S. I think I messed up on Sagi’s hair. Shhh don’t look at it 🫠)

What’s this? A preview 🫢???

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the comics: The worth of a person.

Issue #2: How many more must die: (1980) 

What's interesting is that Moench had something to say. A lot of older comics had messages to give and lessons to teach. Comics weren’t about making people laugh, but about giving people a platform. Making you think and perhaps, taking note of the world around you. 

There was a lot of thought put into the cast of Moon Knight. 

Aside from the thought put into the stations of Jake, Marc, and Steven, he found stories to tell with the supporting cast. 

Jake's friends make up the main side cast. There is, of course, Gena and her two boys. 

A single African American mother of two high school aged boys. Owns a diner with long hours in a lower part of town.  

More than a few issues are dedicated to the struggles Gena faces. There is even an issue that shows her in an abusive relationship. (I’m probably going to go dig that one up and do a piece of Gena later.) 

There's an issue where her diner is robbed and she's forced to defend herself and it ends on her repeatedly checking to see if the doors are locked at night. 

It deals with the boys encountering street gangs and getting involved in drug dealings. 

Many times, the boys are excited to help Jake and Moon Knight and more than a few times it has put them in danger. 

Much later on, this becomes a huge problem and leads to the reason why Gena has broken off from Moon Knight, but that's a later issue. 

For now, in just issue two, we see Jake going to Gena's after a long night of being Moon Knight. He goes there to relax and be himself. None of Jake’s people know about Moon Knight, Steven Grant, or Marc Spector. 

There, he isn't expected to be Steven or reminded of his time as Marc. He is just a cab driver asking how his friends are doing. 

A good peak into the time is the conversation they have here. 

"How's the kids?" 

"Still black, but not so proud anymore. Whatever happened to the sixties?" 

"Put to sleep by the seventies, and as for the eighties, aside from the economy and the persian gulf, all seems quiet on the eastern and western fronts." 

Looking at the times and location, a lot has happened. Historically, Vietnam has ended, the sixties and seventies were their own thing, civil rights have come but the mistreatment has only changed. Gangs are becoming more popular, drugs are starting to hit the streets, and the aids pandemic is only a few years away. There was a lot of disillusionment in this time of people that saw the fight for better things and then saw the world shrug and say it was good enough. 

Immigration to New York was at a high, new generations are being raised by a severely traumatized generation and let's not forget the red scare, the Gulf war brewing, they are deep in the cold war with no way out, and they are hitting a huge economic recession. Not to mention Regan is about to become president. The 1980s were a fun time. 

Speaking of economic recession, that brings me to Crawley.

Crawley has always interested me because he speaks like a walking dictionary. He uses refined speech and big words but refuses handouts and a higher way of living. 

He has always acted as Jake's street connection. 

Right now, the pressing matter is that someone has been killing the homeless. 

What's telling in these frames is that Jake reads about it in the paper and it's a small side bar that says "Skid-Row Slasher strikes again. Details in later editions." 

Skid-Row is a name that brings with it very specific imagery of drugs, drunks, criminals, and bums. 

When Crawley comes in, he's crying. His best friend was just killed by the Slasher. 

Moon Knight had been hunting the slasher and missed him by just a little. Angry with himself for letting someone else get hurt, Jake returns to the mansion as Steven. 

Here we have a conversation with Marlene that has always struck me. There has always been debate in the fandom on if Moon Knight is an alter himself, a blended form of the boys, or one of the boys putting on the mask. 

"He's got to be stopped, Marlene--and stopped fast." 

"And you're appointed, Steven?" 

"Not me, Marlene, Moon Knight's appointed." 

"Oh? In case you haven't noticed, sir, there isn't much difference between you and Moon Knight." 

"There's a big difference, which is why Moon Knight exists. Me, Lockley, and even Marc Spector are too normal, capable of too much emotion... Including fear. Moon Knight is pure. A primal force stripped of emotion, a being who can get the job done without conflicting feelings." 

I'm conflicted in what I think Moon Knight actually is. Sometimes he seems like his own entity. Perhaps an alter, perhaps something created supernaturally by Khonshu himself. Perhaps Marc as a way to not be Marc and still be able to work out his violent tendencies. Perhaps a shared experience. It's really hard to say. Even written by the OG Moench himself, it's hard to say. 

Anyways, we go back to Crawley. We see what it's like to live that life. 

"The day is too long, too bleak and gray, too shot with memory. Long walks to nowhere, endless subway rides from one line's end to the other." 

I once spoke with a homeless woman in my city and she noted that sometimes the best and safest way to pass the time and day was to get on a bus and ride it to the end of the line then get back on and go back. This was back when the city didn’t charge to ride in the city. Since then, the city has started to charge and I have indeed noticed less homeless people riding the bus. Just something to think about. 

Crawley thinks about his dead friend. A dead man with no home, no family to claim him, no money to bury him. Only a brief line in a paper and an old mugshot to mark his passing from existence. 

We see Crawley struggle to find shelter, kicked from his temporary rented room for failure to make payment and denied a place to stay with the other homeless due to overcrowding. 

It's only a matter of time before he too runs into the slasher and is attacked. 

He survives the attack and manages to seek out Gena for help. 

At the hospital he's patched up, but they know he's broke. The doctor asks about pay/insurance. Gena is angry at the doctor, saying it was clear that Crawley didn’t have it. She demands to see him to make sure he was given proper care. 

Despite Crawley being the only survivor of the slasher and having seen his face, the police are reluctant to do anything. 

When Gena confronts them: 

"Face it, honey, it ain't exactly top priority. When a rich dude gets offed, they call out the marines - but when it's just a bunch o' bums... [...] Even Jack the ripper got more heat than the Slasher, an' saucy Jack only hit on Hookers - But bums, they're even lower. No one cares about bums. If anyone did, they wouldn't be bums." 

Ouch. 

She's told to hire a private detective because the police aren't going to do anything. 

She doesn't have the money for that, but she does know a guy... 

Enter Ray and Ricky, Gena's two sons. They spot a familiar cab and follow it to Grant Mansion. 

Now keep in mind, this is issue two. Gena has only met Jake and knows him as Jake. 

When the two boys call out to Jake at the mansion, he's startled and attacks them, thinking someone's followed him home to cause harm. 

He finds out they are Gena's boys. "Mama said she had a suspicion you're more than what you seem." 

And right on cue, Marlene shows up calling out for Steven. Naturally, they’re confused by the other name.  

The gig is up so he invites the boys, Gena, and Crawley over for 'tea'. 

Turns out, Gena and Crawley thought Jake was an undercover cop. 

It's here that Jake makes the proposition to use Crawley as an 'agent of the trenches'. Someone to keep the homeless network open for information. 

He reveals his 'true identity' to be Moon Knight. 

Gena decides to let the boys also work for Moon Knight, if he pays them cash and keeps them away from dangerous things and as long as it doesn't interfere with their school work. 

Crawley is hesitant to offer his help to Moon Knight. It's here that we find out about Crawley's past. 

A salesman that was always on the road. He had a wife and a house and a respectable job. Until he started to hit the booze. He drank till he was fired and the bank foreclosed on their house. 

They moved to the city where "the rent was cheaper but the booze cost the same." 

They had a baby and he started to fight with his wife. After years of drinking and fighting, his wife left him with their son and he never saw them again. That was all twenty years ago. 

Since then, he’s taken up gambling and living in the streets. He’s afraid to disappoint Jake, but thinks it’s time he try to make something of himself and earn some cash through his own work. 

After a few more slasher killings, Moon Knight disguises himself as a bum and waits for the slasher to attack. 

He catches the slasher and the police take him in. Crawley agrees to be a witness in court as the only survivor of the attacks. 

But something is bothering Crawley. He feels like he's seen the Slasher somewhere before. 

He returns to his rented room that Steven has paid for and starts going through his old photos. 

Later, in court, Crawley is called as a witness. But he suddenly recants his statement and swears he didn't see anything! He breaks down on the stand and admits that he can’t give a statement against the slasher because it’s his fault the slasher is the way he is. 

The slasher is his son! 

His son blames Crawley for his mother's death and for abandoning them. He tracked Crawley down and knew he had become a bum. He attacks Crawley but the police stop him. He manages to grab a gun and shoot someone then makes a run for it. 

Moon Knight gives chase up to the roof tops. 

During the chase, Moon Knight confronts him and tries to make him listen to reason. The Slasher babbles about how he lost all the love when his mother died and blames his father for taking it from him. While Moon Knight tries to calm him down, the Slasher falls from a rooftop and dies. 

Crawley finds his son’s body in the street and cries over him while Moon Knight apologizes, looking stricken that he tried to help and failed. It’s very similar to how Marlene’s father died. In fact, his reaction is just the same. 

"I tried to stop him, Crawley, believe me, but he wouldn't listen! He wouldn't..." 

Crawley tells him that it isn’t his fault. He blames himself for not being there to help and letting his life fall to such ruins because he put his own life in the gutter. 

Many years and issues later, Marc adds Crawley’s son to the list of people he couldn’t save and Crawley to the list of people he has hurt. 

An example of how Marc takes everything as a sign that he is only capable of bringing people pain. 

So what’s to take away from this issue? 

The way the police look at social standings and use it as a gauge on who to help? The neglect of the homeless? The way that if no one cares then no one will help and the situation won’t get better? 

Perhaps it’s the way Crawley’s life went. A product of his own shortcomings and dive into booze and hurting his family? 

Or how one thing leads to another and the pain travels down the line till the son is killed? From the father to the mother to the son to the innocents that were hurt back to the father? 

In early Moon Knight, there are a lot of issues like this that are brought up. Some that deal with racial injustice, a lot that deal with antisemitism, social-economic discrimination, and even mental health discrimination. 

Original Moon Knight was pretty deep. 

Perhaps that is why Moon Knight stands with those that do not belong. Those that have no one else to turn to for help. 

 “I belong with the persecuted." - Issue 37. 

[imnosupaman]

[rodder-rodder]

dreamgena

[richardarmitagefanpage]

Three years ago, Still Watching Netflix shared an interview with Richard and Jennifer Saunders about The Stranger.

[mk-uultra]

Черная весна | Chyornaya vesna | Black spring

Ep. 2

START ORIGINAL SERIES

[britishguy10]

One of the girls we love.

[histi27]

finally getting my oc Gena out there

just designs for now, but she's pokemon professor (specialized in chemistry) turned celebrity (cosmetics brand owner) turned pokevillain (leader of corporation aura)

still working out her team

[musingartblog]

just some demons

[soaptheart]

Brother: “Hey mom, do all the 12 months combined make a year?”

Mom: “yeah”

Brother ��OMG HAHAHA!! NA NA NA NA NA IM SMARTER THAN (my name here)”

I swear if this is where genA is going Society is doomed.

[fluff-and-such]

Fat Cat. Itty Bitty Kitty. +1 human

Nero and Ari are closely related species! One is big, the other is bigger. Nero looks bitty next to Ari, until you see them next to a full size human.

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the Comics: Power Imbalance.

Moon Knight, Issue #6: White Angels

I'm be honest, I'm a sucker for the Marc Spector stories. In the original run, they were actually kinda rare. 

Marc hated being himself so much that he was hardly around. Most of the time you alternated between Steven and Jake trying to build their lives away from the Marc Spector days. 

You focused on Steven building up his connections, his love with Marlene, and his money. 

Then you focused on Jake and his friendship, his connections with the street and common people, and his outlook on life. 

When you did get Marc, you got a few panels of him being emotional or angry. 

Many of the comics in the first runs open with a description of who they are and it was always stressed how different they were. 

"Jake Lockley: Easygoing, streetwise cabbie. Marc Spector: Grim veteran of wars fought for money. Steven Grant: Refined millionaire financier." 

And it was easy to see that Lockley was a favorite because of how much care and time was spent following Lockley and his friends: Gena, Crawley, and the two boys. 

There was also a heavy push for Moon Knight, of course. They were trying to get a superhero comic off the ground, after all. 

But they treated Moon Knight like his own entity back in the original run. A force that was none of the three. Cold, emotionless, and powerful. 

But sometimes the emotions of one of the three pushed through to Moon Knight and complicated matters. Then it was unclear on just who Moon Knight was. 

In this opening comic, we see Grant's butler, Samuels, waiting for their return. 

"Good evening Master Grant... Ah, that is.... Master Moon Knight!" 

"Relax Samuels, I'm Grant now. What have you got there?" 

"A telegram, sir. But it's not actually for you... Ah, that is, it is for you, but it was addressed to Marc Spector." 

"I'll read it to him." 

An interesting exchange. The narration says it was a joke, but you have to remember that the system has yet to declare itself a system and still thinks it is one man trying to use disguises. 

Though with each opening, we get more a distinct introduction on Steven, Marc, and Jake, and even Moon Knight. It's as if Moench is pushing for them to be themselves and Marc is pushing back in denial. 

Steven reads the telegram, which is a coded message addressed to Marc. 

Instantly they blank and clearly dissociate. 

"The man of many names and many pasts does not answer, his eyes glassy, staring at one of those pasts." says the narrator. 

Marc tells Frenchie to prepare for a 'holiday' and heads down into the mansion. 

Here we find Marlene waiting for him. We also see where I have conflicting feelings on Marlene. 

She jokes that she was dreaming of four men while waiting for him. 

"But WHAT a four! First there was this goofy guy named Jake - He made me laugh. Then Marc was your typical darker, no-nonsense type of lover. My favorite, as usual, was dreamboat Steven. But the fourth one, I hae to admit, added a touch of forbidden spice... He was almost like a silver ghost." 

And it makes Marc smile. 

Marlene clearly has a favorite. She's deeply into Steven and wishes that he would just stick with Steven as an identity. She only ever calls him Steven and is always teasing them. 

But now and then she does acknowledge that she is aware of the differences in them. 

At this point, it's easy to defend her and brush it aside. She has never heard of DID, the Moon Knight system is in denial, and they are presenting as one man that is trying to claim a new identity. So of course she wishes he'd just stick with Steven, the normal dreamy guy that likes high class and loves her. 

But there are more and more instances where he will flat out tell her to use a different name and she refuses, only ever calling him Steven. These moments start to make themselves more clear and she still refuses to acknowledge them. 

Her blind love for Steven starts to edge into ableism and abuse. But that's something that comes along a lot later on. 

For now, Marlene is a strong supporter of them. She helps them with their other 'identities', She listens when they break down, and she acts as a grounding tool more than a few times. 

But I digress. That's an argument for another time. 

After Marlene brightens his mood, we see him changing out of the Moon Knight outfit and into Jake's clothes. 

He tells her that they need to head to St. Lucien on vacation. 

"Well, as long as we'll be together -- and alone, Steven..." 

"Not quite alone, Lady, an' call me Jake, now. And not that I don't like Nedda's cookin', but cabbies prefer the chow at the joints like Gena's diner. [...] And her kids, too. Not to mention, Crawley. Grant promised them a vacation for their help against the committee's five hitmen... And Steven Grant, I hear, is a man of his word." 

This is interesting because this is the first time Jake has outright corrected her like this and spoken of his preference for the life he's building on his own. 

It's also worthy to take note that Jake, Steven, and Marc are more and more starting to talk about the other's as separate people. 

They are aware of one another now, or at least becoming more aware of their own identities. 

Can I also take this opportunity to say that Jake's unique accent is most prominent in this issue too? 

"Guess you're lucky the Angel O' Moicy just arrived." - Jake Lockley, a new york cabbie. 

So they hop in a plane and Steven takes them all to St. Lucien. They're put up in a fancy hotel and one of Gena's boys notices something. 

"The Ghetto. They got invisible walls here too, Ray, just like at home. There's only one difference... The color's the same on both sides of the wall." 

in Steven Grant's hotel room, Marlene finds the telegram. 

Image supplied because holy crap: 

"I unpacked your bags, and something tells me you're not going 'sight seeing.'"

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean this wire sent to you, Steven!" 

"Not to me-- It was sent to Spector." 

"It's no longer funny, Steven, but I hope you are joking -- Because if you really think of yourself as two or three or four separate people--" 

"I just forget once in a while, Marlene -- It's a problem, yes, but I'm able to control it..." 

WHOA. WHOA WHOA WHOA. Steven Grant is aware there is a problem. We've just reached awareness. 

AND THE DENIAL. "I'm able to control it." A line put in the MCU said by Marc. 

HMMMMM. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM. 

Back to the story. 

So why are they in this country? Marc has a friend from his time in South America. They were up against a rebel coup and this man apparently saved his life. 

He's now director of police and has called in an owed favor. 

What's interesting is that he introduces Marlene as "My friend and aide." 

It further puts in the idea that Marlene acts more of a guide and grounding tool. 

It would seem Marc's friend has a voodoo problem linked with missing persons. 

There is belief in the poor side of town that someone is using Voodoo to turn people into zombie slaves (this is a legitimate thing that happens in certain cultural beliefs so color me impressed for 1980s writing). 

They discuss the power of belief and using it against people. 

Marc sets out to interview the families of the missing, but Marlene stays behind to ask his friend something. 

"I'd like to ask you something about ste- About Marc. Was he ever really ruthless? A heartless killer?" 

"Yes and no." 

"Marc Spector is a strange man. A man with many sides to him." 

We have to remember that Marlene met Marc as a mercinary that was raiding her father's dig site and aided in the eventual death of her father. 

While Marc did come back and save the other archeologists and fight against Bushman, Marlene has mostly been watching Steven and Jake try to clean up Marc's life. 

While out talking to people, Marc learns there is a leader called "The White Angel" that is kidnapping people. 

He interrupts an attempted kidnapping and saves the people, but the kidnappers get away. 

TIME OUT: Something important comes up here! 

MOON KNIGHT HISTORY: Moon Knight was originally introduced in "Werewolf by Night" where he was hired to kill Jack Russel (the funniest name in the world to give to a werewolf and even funnier when you learn that the person that named him had no idea there was a dog breed called jack russel terriers). 

In his dealings with Jack Russel, Moon Knight was bitten by the werewolf! But, he was somewhat resistant! Rather than turn into a wolfman every full moon, instead he becomes stronger and faster! 

At this point in the Moon Knight story, it's unclear what Khonshu is. As far as the story has said, it's just a statue that may or may not hold the mystical power of an Egyptian Moon God of vengeance. 

So during the full moon, as Moon Knight, he attributes his strength and power to the werewolf virus! 

Now, for a while now, the virus has started to fade and with it, his strength. 

This is really bumming out Moon Knight, making him feel weak and useless. 

During the fight with the kidnappers, he struggles against all the men and he feels the werewolf virus fading. 

So when Marc returns to the hotel, he's in a MOOD. He complains about the werewolf virus leaving him and how soon he'll just be a regular man in a cape. 

It's also making him think about Voodoo. How the poor people are at the mercy of something because they believe in it. 

He and Marlene have a discussion about how 

"Those are just the poor and uneducated, Steven. Others have adapted to modernization - Even prospered under it." 

"Yes, and those are the ones responsible, in part, for the plight of the ones I saw tonight...And the ones I saw tonight are precisely the kind of people Marc Spector never thought twice about. If a campaign meant stamping out a village, tough!" 

"What are you trying to say, Steven?" 

"I don't very much like Marc Spector." 

Uh oh. Now the question is, who is talking here? Is it Steven Grant becoming aware and viewing Marc as just a killer? Or is this Marc voicing how much he hates himself and wishes he was someone else? 

And in the very next page we have Marc, and it is Marc, up to shady business. 

He waits for Gena to go for a swim before he approaches her boys: 

"Listen- I've heard you two talking about people in shantytown. How'd you like to help them? How'd you like to risk your lives by walking in their shoes as targets for the zuvembies in hopes of slamming the lid on a certain voodoo houngan's kidnapping operation?" 

"Yeah, as long as Mama doesn't know." 

MARC. This is why you have no friends in the current runs. The things you do with Lockely's friends that puts them in danger! 

Meanwhile, Frenchie and Crawley are out doing their own thing and stumble on a poppy field being used to make Heroin. They also discover that the White Angel is a white man that owns the plantation. 

Frenchie and Crawley get captured and the two boys also get 'kidnapped' as planned. 

They watch as the White Angel uses drugs to turn the prisoners into zombies and manage to use a radio to contact Moon Knight. 

Moon Knight shows up and fights. Marlene also shows up with the police. Marc's friend gets pinned down by gunfire much the same way Marc was years before and Moon Knight manages to save him just as he was saved. 

They defeat the bad guy and free all the prisoners. 

Back at the hotel we see a pissed Gena telling the boys that they are not to work for Lockley anymore. 

Jake cuts in that the boys were heroes and saved everyone. 

Gena says that they are banned for working for Lockley for at least a whole week. It's hard to say no to Jake. 

Okay so, this was a really interesting issue. We are 6 in and we’re starting to see the system not only become aware, but also imbalanced. 

It also gets into a bit about the power of belief and power imbalance with the poor class. It doesn’t go too heavy on it this time, but you can see the unrest there. 

What’s interesting is that we are starting to see Steven also getting more power and opinions on Marc. Also a power imbalance? 

And because I’m me, I did my reviews backwards and started with the end of the run then jumped to the beginning. So we already know that at the end when Marc is at his most vulnerable with his father’s death, Steven steps up to help him and protect him. But at this point, we get disgruntled Steven and he’s about to go off. 

Raise a glass to classy Steven everyone. He’s a real pistol people and I’m excited to show you him! 

We’re leading up to a serious system meltdown and it is heartfelt. 

I'm be honest, I'm a sucker for the Marc Spector stories. In the original run, they were actually kinda rare. 

Marc hated being himself so much that he was hardly around. Most of the time you alternated between Steven and Jake trying to build their lives away from the Marc Spector days. 

You focused on Steven building up his connections, his love with Marlene, and his money. 

Then you focused on Jake and his friendship, his connections with the street and common people, and his outlook on life. 

When you did get Marc, you got a few panels of him being emotional or angry. 

Many of the comics in the first runs open with a description of who they are and it was always stressed how different they were. 

"Jake Lockley: Easygoing, streetwise cabbie. Marc Spector: Grim veteran of wars fought for money. Steven Grant: Refined millionaire financier." 

And it was easy to see that Lockley was a favorite because of how much care and time was spent following Lockley and his friends: Gena, Crawley, and the two boys. 

There was also a heavy push for Moon Knight, of course. They were trying to get a superhero comic off the ground, after all. 

But they treated Moon Knight like his own entity back in the original run. A force that was none of the three. Cold, emotionless, and powerful. 

But sometimes the emotions of one of the three pushed through to Moon Knight and complicated matters. Then it was unclear on just who Moon Knight was. 

In this opening comic, we see Grant's butler, Samuels, waiting for their return. 

"Good evening Master Grant... Ah, that is.... Master Moon Knight!" 

"Relax Samuels, I'm Grant now. What have you got there?" 

"A telegram, sir. But it's not actually for you... Ah, that is, it is for you, but it was addressed to Marc Spector." 

"I'll read it to him." 

An interesting exchange. The narration says it was a joke, but you have to remember that the system has yet to declare itself a system and still thinks it is one man trying to use disguises. 

Though with each opening, we get more a distinct introduction on Steven, Marc, and Jake, and even Moon Knight. It's as if Moench is pushing for them to be themselves and Marc is pushing back in denial. 

Steven reads the telegram, which is a coded message addressed to Marc. 

Instantly they blank and clearly dissociate. 

"The man of many names and many pasts does not answer, his eyes glassy, staring at one of those pasts." says the narrator. 

Marc tells Frenchie to prepare for a 'holiday' and heads down into the mansion. 

Here we find Marlene waiting for him. We also see where I have conflicting feelings on Marlene. 

She jokes that she was dreaming of four men while waiting for him. 

"But WHAT a four! First there was this goofy guy named Jake - He made me laugh. Then Marc was your typical darker, no-nonsense type of lover. My favorite, as usual, was dreamboat Steven. But the fourth one, I hae to admit, added a touch of forbidden spice... He was almost like a silver ghost." 

And it makes Marc smile. 

Marlene clearly has a favorite. She's deeply into Steven and wishes that he would just stick with Steven as an identity. She only ever calls him Steven and is always teasing them. 

But now and then she does acknowledge that she is aware of the differences in them. 

At this point, it's easy to defend her and brush it aside. She has never heard of DID, the Moon Knight system is in denial, and they are presenting as one man that is trying to claim a new identity. So of course she wishes he'd just stick with Steven, the normal dreamy guy that likes high class and loves her. 

But there are more and more instances where he will flat out tell her to use a different name and she refuses, only ever calling him Steven. These moments start to make themselves more clear and she still refuses to acknowledge them. 

Her blind love for Steven starts to edge into ableism and abuse. But that's something that comes along a lot later on. 

For now, Marlene is a strong supporter of them. She helps them with their other 'identities', She listens when they break down, and she acts as a grounding tool more than a few times. 

But I digress. That's an argument for another time. 

After Marlene brightens his mood, we see him changing out of the Moon Knight outfit and into Jake's clothes. 

He tells her that they need to head to St. Lucien on vacation. 

"Well, as long as we'll be together -- and alone, Steven..." 

"Not quite alone, Lady, an' call me Jake, now. And not that I don't like Nedda's cookin', but cabbies prefer the chow at the joints like Gena's diner. [...] And her kids, too. Not to mention, Crawley. Grant promised them a vacation for their help against the committee's five hitmen... And Steven Grant, I hear, is a man of his word." 

This is interesting because this is the first time Jake has outright corrected her like this and spoken of his preference for the life he's building on his own. 

It's also worthy to take note that Jake, Steven, and Marc are more and more starting to talk about the other's as separate people. 

They are aware of one another now, or at least becoming more aware of their own identities. 

Can I also take this opportunity to say that Jake's unique accent is most prominent in this issue too? 

"Guess you're lucky the Angel O' Moicy just arrived." - Jake Lockley, a new york cabbie. 

So they hop in a plane and Steven takes them all to St. Lucien. They're put up in a fancy hotel and one of Gena's boys notices something. 

"The Ghetto. They got invisible walls here too, Ray, just like at home. There's only one difference... The color's the same on both sides of the wall." 

in Steven Grant's hotel room, Marlene finds the telegram. 

Image supplied because holy crap: 

"I unpacked your bags, and something tells me you're not going 'sight seeing.'"

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean this wire sent to you, Steven!" 

"Not to me-- It was sent to Spector." 

"It's no longer funny, Steven, but I hope you are joking -- Because if you really think of yourself as two or three or four separate people--" 

"I just forget once in a while, Marlene -- It's a problem, yes, but I'm able to control it..." 

WHOA. WHOA WHOA WHOA. Steven Grant is aware there is a problem. We've just reached awareness. 

AND THE DENIAL. "I'm able to control it." A line put in the MCU said by Marc. 

HMMMMM. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM. 

Back to the story. 

So why are they in this country? Marc has a friend from his time in South America. They were up against a rebel coup and this man apparently saved his life. 

He's now director of police and has called in an owed favor. 

What's interesting is that he introduces Marlene as "My friend and aide." 

It further puts in the idea that Marlene acts more of a guide and grounding tool. 

It would seem Marc's friend has a voodoo problem linked with missing persons. 

There is belief in the poor side of town that someone is using Voodoo to turn people into zombie slaves (this is a legitimate thing that happens in certain cultural beliefs so color me impressed for 1980s writing). 

They discuss the power of belief and using it against people. 

Marc sets out to interview the families of the missing, but Marlene stays behind to ask his friend something. 

"I'd like to ask you something about ste- About Marc. Was he ever really ruthless? A heartless killer?" 

"Yes and no." 

"Marc Spector is a strange man. A man with many sides to him." 

We have to remember that Marlene met Marc as a mercinary that was raiding her father's dig site and aided in the eventual death of her father. 

While Marc did come back and save the other archeologists and fight against Bushman, Marlene has mostly been watching Steven and Jake try to clean up Marc's life. 

While out talking to people, Marc learns there is a leader called "The White Angel" that is kidnapping people. 

He interrupts an attempted kidnapping and saves the people, but the kidnappers get away. 

TIME OUT: Something important comes up here! 

MOON KNIGHT HISTORY: Moon Knight was originally introduced in "Werewolf by Night" where he was hired to kill Jack Russel (the funniest name in the world to give to a werewolf and even funnier when you learn that the person that named him had no idea there was a dog breed called jack russel terriers). 

In his dealings with Jack Russel, Moon Knight was bitten by the werewolf! But, he was somewhat resistant! Rather than turn into a wolfman every full moon, instead he becomes stronger and faster! 

At this point in the Moon Knight story, it's unclear what Khonshu is. As far as the story has said, it's just a statue that may or may not hold the mystical power of an Egyptian Moon God of vengeance. 

So during the full moon, as Moon Knight, he attributes his strength and power to the werewolf virus! 

Now, for a while now, the virus has started to fade and with it, his strength. 

This is really bumming out Moon Knight, making him feel weak and useless. 

During the fight with the kidnappers, he struggles against all the men and he feels the werewolf virus fading. 

So when Marc returns to the hotel, he's in a MOOD. He complains about the werewolf virus leaving him and how soon he'll just be a regular man in a cape. 

It's also making him think about Voodoo. How the poor people are at the mercy of something because they believe in it. 

He and Marlene have a discussion about how 

"Those are just the poor and uneducated, Steven. Others have adapted to modernization - Even prospered under it." 

"Yes, and those are the ones responsible, in part, for the plight of the ones I saw tonight...And the ones I saw tonight are precisely the kind of people Marc Spector never thought twice about. If a campaign meant stamping out a village, tough!" 

"What are you trying to say, Steven?" 

"I don't very much like Marc Spector." 

Uh oh. Now the question is, who is talking here? Is it Steven Grant becoming aware and viewing Marc as just a killer? Or is this Marc voicing how much he hates himself and wishes he was someone else? 

And in the very next page we have Marc, and it is Marc, up to shady business. 

He waits for Gena to go for a swim before he approaches her boys: 

"Listen- I've heard you two talking about people in shantytown. How'd you like to help them? How'd you like to risk your lives by walking in their shoes as targets for the zuvembies in hopes of slamming the lid on a certain voodoo houngan's kidnapping operation?" 

"Yeah, as long as Mama doesn't know." 

MARC. This is why you have no friends in the current runs. The things you do with Lockely's friends that puts them in danger! 

Meanwhile, Frenchie and Crawley are out doing their own thing and stumble on a poppy field being used to make Heroin. They also discover that the White Angel is a white man that owns the plantation. 

Frenchie and Crawley get captured and the two boys also get 'kidnapped' as planned. 

They watch as the White Angel uses drugs to turn the prisoners into zombies and manage to use a radio to contact Moon Knight. 

Moon Knight shows up and fights. Marlene also shows up with the police. Marc's friend gets pinned down by gunfire much the same way Marc was years before and Moon Knight manages to save him just as he was saved. 

They defeat the bad guy and free all the prisoners. 

Back at the hotel we see a pissed Gena telling the boys that they are not to work for Lockley anymore. 

Jake cuts in that the boys were heroes and saved everyone. 

Gena says that they are banned for working for Lockley for at least a whole week. It's hard to say no to Jake. 

Okay so, this was a really interesting issue. We are 6 in and we’re starting to see the system not only become aware, but also imbalanced. 

It also gets into a bit about the power of belief and power imbalance with the poor class. It doesn’t go too heavy on it this time, but you can see the unrest there. 

What’s interesting is that we are starting to see Steven also getting more power and opinions on Marc. Also a power imbalance? 

And because I’m me, I did my reviews backwards and started with the end of the run then jumped to the beginning. So we already know that at the end when Marc is at his most vulnerable with his father’s death, Steven steps up to help him and protect him. But at this point, we get disgruntled Steven and he’s about to go off. 

Raise a glass to classy Steven everyone. He’s a real pistol people and I’m excited to show you him! 

We’re leading up to a serious system meltdown and it is heartfelt. 

[eveeonaartz]

All Defenses on Gena!!

Artists: @tangscats & @duskffyart!!

Thank you to both of you for these amazing pieces of Gena!! ^^

[theoccultranch]

Also a transparent one

[luxshine]

Moon Knight Primer Part Nine

Moon Knight (2016) #1

Prologue, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII

Ok, so yeah, I am going to divide the issues of Lemire’s run one by one, two by two at the most, at least for the first 10 issues because on one hand, the art, done mostly by Greg Smallwood,  is so gorgeous you guys deserve to see as many pages as I can cram here without, you know, posting the whole issue.

On the other… it is so deep, so full of symbolism and different little things that reference the past runs, but twisting them in a way that now, canonically, they have a completely different meaning.  So yeah, we’re going to go there.

Now… unfortunately, there’s a little bit of a spoiler I have to give right away or this is going to be as incomprehensible as the comics were for the month to month readers at the time. See, Lemire did a lot of what we saw in the series, specifically in episodes 4 and 5, where at times we couldn’t tell what was real or not.  Every time we thought we were back in the real world? Lemire pulled the rug from under the Moon System and our feet!

So yeah, everything that we’re going to see now, and up until I say otherwise? Is happening in the Moon System’s headspace, so we’re going to get to know them pretty well. This means that a lot of the secondary characters who do reappear, such as Jean Paul (Frenchie), Gena, Crawley, and yes, Marlene, can sometimes act very out of character but that is because we’re not seeing the real people, we’re seeing the way in which the System sees them (Which also explains why some of them disappear when a specific Alter is fronting. If that Alter has no real relationship to the person, the person is not part of their private part of the mind space)

This includes the enemies, by the way. The only real characters we will see for a long time are the Moon System. Everyone else?  A creation of the Moon System’s mind in order to heal and work towards a better co-consciousness.

Because yes, one of the beauties of the Lemire’s run is that it points out that the reason why the Moon System is seen as ill? Is not because they are a System. It’s because they are working against each other, and not communicating. This is the FIRST run to say “No, No guys. You are NOT Broken. Yes, you’re neurodivergent, but that doesn’t make you ill or wrong. It just makes you “you””. And while at some point it uses some incorrect language to depict this? It doesn’t take away from the main message that people who are not neurotypical are not broken, nor they need to be fixed. (We may need treatment, but that’s not different from, say, wearing glasses)

Anyway, enough introduction. No more gilding the lily, let’s get into the Moon System head with issue 1 of the Lemire Run. Welcome to New Egypt, part 1

And we open with a very sketchy looking page. An unreal page, if you will, as the Moon, Khonshu, calls Marc to an ancient looking temple. Marc says he’s not sure if he IS Marc, and Khonshu replies that, if he comes in, he will see his true face.

And here I give an annoying pause to explain something about comic narrative.

See, panels are very important in comics. The bigger, longer they are, the longer the moment they are supposed to represent is. The shorter they are, the faster the action happens. And of course, when they have no borders, the action is spilling out from one moment to the next, in a way that they blend together.

This page and the two that follow? Have borders, but they are sketched in, unsure and confused… but are THERE. However, once we get to the last room of the temple? The panel borders disappear.

Yes, we can see the panels separation, thanks to the white gutters. But there’s no real border to them, and they change shape easily. And THAT is our narrative clue that what we see? Is not real. The REAL part was the beginning, Marc talking to the moon, entering the temple, and LEAVING reality. We actually see him put his hand to the panel and LEAVE the boundaries of the comic book reality into his meeting with Khonshu.

Yes, Marc is face to face with Khonshu. Once he leaves the temple, the panel borders disappear completely (And, since unlike the Asylum, here they are in a completely white void? There’s NO reality to get our bearings. And thus, we have two possible readings: either this is Khonshu, the real Khonshu in the void between reality and the Moon System’s mind space, giving Marc a choice to die or be remade again… or it is the System’s mind way of re-framing their first meeting with the god: You are dying, if you want to live, if you want to be more, then put this mask on and become MORE.

And, as he remembers everything (and, very importantly, we see in his head Moon Knight, Mr. Knight, Steven AND Jake… but not a specific MARC memory) he wakes up… and the inking and color become SHARP.

Again, no panel borders, so we, the readers, know that this is still not real. But everything is sharper, more solid than in the moon and Khonshu scenes, so we know that for Marc? THIS is reality.

At first, the Asylum seems normal. Abusive as hell, since the two orderlies we meet Bobby and Billy, seem to delight on punching and doing electroshock therapy to Marc.  Importantly, Booby is a big black man, like Bushman, while Billy looks a bit like Det. Flint when drawn by Smallwood. This is NOT to say they’re them, of course, but it is interesting that the two men who are tasked with keeping Marc in the Asylum part of his mind? Look like the two figures of authority he mostly had connections with as Marc and as Moon Knight.

But after the second shock session, we get to see the full asylum and we immediately know that something is not right, and not just because we still have no panel borders but because the architecture of the Asylum looks wrong. Parts of it are perfectly fine, white and tiled, but then the walls become ruined, full of cracks. And every window is boarded up with a lattice pattern. And of course, then there is the very first patient Marc hears speak:

Gena, getting herself psyched up to start her day at the Diner.

And her voice brings Marc a sketchy, confusing memory from Jake.

On TV, he sees a news segment about Moon Knight fighting with Stained Glass Scarlet. Interesting here because the news call her “his nemesis” but anyone who has read Moon Knight know that she was more like a strange ally.  So once again, we realize that there’s something OFF even if we hadn’t been tipped off by the panels.  But before Marc can get his bearings, he gets interrupted by Crawley.

And here we have an interesting thing.

See, in the past? Marc and Crawley barely interacted. Crawley was Jake’s friend, first and foremost, and later would go to the Grant mansion, where Marc never fronted. By the time Marc got to be fronting for most of the time, we were deep in the dark-grim-gritty era, and there Crawley became Marc’s rock and pain killer dealer. The one who tried to keep Marc in contact with his friends and later, helped Jake disappear.

So for Jake, Crawley was a friend, and a trusted source of information. But for Marc? Crawley was a rock, a mentor, and the one he could trust to get him out of any mess he got himself in.

Which is why THIS Crawley in Marc’s mind? Not only knows precisely what is going on, but also seems to know that this is not their first rodeo there as he introduces himself and tells Marc he knows he doesn’t remember him, then tries to make Marc realize exactly where they are.

So this Mind-Crawley is a wise mentor, a patient one which is the exact opposite to Khonshu. In fact, where Real-Crawley was on the fence about the whole Khonshu thing, just as everyone in the System’s lives? THIS Crawley calls Marc the Fist of Khonshu and reminds him of his promise to protect and free the travelers of the night. His role will expand much more later, but it’s again an interesting way to introduce this “out of character” thing the other people in Marc’s mind have.

Because right after Crawley, we get to see Marlene. But remember how Marlene was Steven’s girlfriend and refused to have anything to do with Marc? Well, the Marlene in Marc’s mind is completely catatonic, drugged into unconsciousness, just staring at nothing. Because for Marc? Marlene is a non-entity. He remembers her from Steven and Jake’s experiences, and he loves her because the System loves her… but he doesn’t have anything to give her a personality, so he… doesn’t.  She becomes the uber-damsel in distress, that needs to be saved because she can’t save herself… but because she doesn’t speak? She can’t break Marc’s heart by reminding him that she doesn’t want him, she only wants the Millionaire.

From there we move to the office of Dr. Emmet who is the first 100% original character we meet in Marc’s mind. She is his psychiatrist, and claims to be very worried because now Marc claims not to remember how he got there, but he remembers bits and pieces of Moon Knight, Jake and Steven, that he’s sure are real.

But again, we the readers know something is wrong because the Dr. Office looks like a desk and a fireplace in the middle of a tomb chamber. No decorations at all, no windows, nothing to make it look like an actual place where a real person works. And if we had ANY doubt? The words of Dr. Emmet seal it because apparently? There IS a Moon Knight, but it’s not Marc since Marc has been entrusted to the care of the hospital since he was twelve. He is an orphan, and he has never stepped outside.  She even has his notes on his fantasy of Moon Knight, a fantasy that the child that Marc was created to make his life a bit better.

And yes, she’s cruel, she’s direct, she doesn’t coddle Marc -in fact, Series’s fans will see that she acts much like Dr. Harrow did in episode 4 and 5- because, once again, that’s how Marc sees ALL psychiatrists. Because let’s be honest, in all his different series? He hasn’t seen one worth their  Doctorate’s weight in rice.

Oh, and thankfully, we’re back to the DiD diagnostic, none of the “brain damage caused by an extra dimensional entity” nonsense.

Not that Marc believes her. He is ready to escape, and in a very interesting twist, he steals a pen from the doctor in order to, that night, use it to create a makeshift mask and cape from his bed-sheets and fight his way out of the hospital.  Because with the mask on? When he IS Moon Knight? He can see the true faces of his captors, who are Egyptian Jackals.

Following Khonshu’s voice, Marc runs to the roof of the hospital, where he sees a changed New York skyline as the buildings are half buried in sand and there’s a giant pyramid in the horizon. Khonshu tells him that all this is a full blown invasion by Seth, and that his enemy must be stopped, but unfortunately Marc is caught by the Jackal-orderlies who tear off his makeshift mask and thus, take away the ability Marc has to see what’s going on.

And now New York is normal again, and Marc tries to contain his tears as he is unsure of what is going on in his own mind. (Not that he realizes yet that he is on his own mind. He truly believes this is the outside world)

And so we end the issue, without having one single moment outside the System’s head, and, in fact, no scenes outside MARC’s corner of the mindscape.

And because we’ve gone long enough, I’ll have to pause here. But we’ll be back with the next issue soon, I promise.

Part Ten

[mk-uultra]

Черная весна | Chyornaya vesna | Black spring

Ep. 4

START ORIGINAL SERIES