What If...? Dark: Moon Knight #1 - Marvel Comics

WHAT IF...? DARK: MOON KNIGHT No. 1, October 2023

Described by its New York City-based publisher as being part of “a new series of stories in the classic Marvel What If? tradition…but with a darker twist”, Erica Schultz’s narrative for Issue One of “What If…? Dark: Moon Knight” probably didn’t strike its audience as being any more morbid or tragic than many of the other publications set in the alternate reality “outside the mainstream Marvel Universe continuity.” Indeed, in many ways the American author’s main premise to simply replace Marc Spector as the avatar of an Egyptian deity with a witness to his brutal demise is arguably pretty standard stuff when it comes to Marvel’s long-running heritage; “I am Khonshu, Every decision has infinite outcomes… and not all outcomes are positive.”

Happily however, that doesn’t mean that what follows the masked mercenary’s death at the hands of Raul Bushman is simply a play by numbers plot, with “the first woman to write a Spawn comic” swapping out both the now deceased schizophrenic titular character and his sinister lunar god for girlfriend Marlene Alraune, and the hawk-headed divinity Ra. This somewhat surprising switch is well-written, and actually allows the ghost of Spector to lurk in the background of everything which the female history graduate later achieves in her role as Luminary – Whether it be battling thugs in dark alleyways or holding expensive events, such as an auction selling Burundan antiquities.

Furthermore, the former art director does a great job in depicting both the small African nation’s murderous General, and his similarly abhorrent subordinates, as the book’s central baddies. Of particular note is arguably the confrontation between Marc’s successor and a lieutenant from the Burunda People's Defense Force, which has all the satisfying hallmarks of a bully getting his just comeuppance at Alraune’s hands when the braggart least expects it.

Equally as entertaining are artist Edgar Salazar and colorist Arif Prianto, who together do a great job in depicting all the high-octane action (and quite considerable heartfelt grief) Schultz’s script requires. In fact, one of the highlights of this thirty-page one-shot is the sheer chaos crafted during its opening, where guns are blazing, numerous bullets whizzing and a helicopter dramatically landing, all whilst an understandably distracted Moon Knight is fending off the colourfully-costumed Bushman.

Writer: Erica Schultz, Artist: Edgar Salazar, and Color Artist: Arif Prianto