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This is part of a series on Moon Knight submitted by [personal profile] erinptah! Thank you, [personal profile] erinptah! :D See her whole post with clips here!

“It’s easy to do, dear Steven — excuse me, dear Jake. You’ve got so many different names, identities, and moods, even you forget who you are half the time.”

Blurb: After dying and being resurrected (for the first time, but not the last) by the Egyptian god of the moon, mercenary Marc Spector sets out to atone for the harm he caused…by becoming a moon-themed superhero. That’s on top of being Steven Grant, rich CEO/investor in unspecified businesses. And being Jake Lockley, who ranges from “friendly, easygoing, regular guy” to “comedically murderous sociopath” depending on who’s writing this run.

VOLUME 1 BLURB: Steven lives in a mansion with his girlfriend/sparring partner Marlene, and tries to convince himself he’s just Marc in denial. Jake drives a cab, hangs out with his friends at a local diner, and tries to convince everyone he’s just Marc playing a role. Marc goes Moon Knighting with his friend/pilot Duchamp, and tries to convince himself that he can just disappear into his other “personas.”

Although the writers haven’t committed to any mental-health diagnosis, the headmates have a little too much depth for “one guy with different aliases.” There’s no abuse backstory for the system, but it comes up with some of the minor characters, and it’s a source of sympathy even if they’re antagonists. The supporting cast is colorful and charming, including a love interest who isn’t just there to look pretty — she does research and undercover work for Moon Knight missions, and though she doesn’t like fights, she can hold her own if she gets caught up in one.

…and, okay, it’s still the ’80s. Sometimes women get kidnapped and end up in their underwear for no reason. Other times you get sketchy racial portrayals of non-white antagonists. Some of the villain plots are just aggressively, cartoonishly stupid. But the good parts are good!

Why is it worth your time?: Marvel Comics’ longest-running and most-successful attempt to portray a superhero with DID. (Some writers don’t actually attempt it — but we’re limiting this roundup to the runs where they remembered.)

“Most-successful” still means plenty of flaws, drawbacks, and general comic-book nonsense! But at its best, the writing is a heartfelt, complex, insightful, funny portrayal of A Troubled System Doing Their Best, which a lot of IRL plural readers have found relatable.

Plural tags: abuse low-focus, relationships: friendship, romantic, teamwork, type: switching

Content warnings: ’80s-typical issues with race and gender.

 

Access Notes: Most of these are available in print collections of some sort, as well as digitally through Marvel. Nothing audio or screenreadable as far as I know.

Jake having terrible table manners, and pretending he's just a role Marc plays to keep life interesting

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