I think I first encountered Moon Knight when he was with the West Coast Avengers. This was after his run as a solo character, first as a villain (or a tool of the villainous Committee in Werewolf By Night), then as a character who slowly built up enough of a following to rate his own book. Something about him spoke to me. At first he seemed like a Batman rip-off, but it soon became obvious that Marc Spector was his own man with his own motivations. The similarities between the Moon Knight and the Dark Knight were primarily cosmetic.

This Essentials volume collects the first adventures of the Moon Knight, we see him hired by the Committee to hunt down Jack Russell, his continued story as he takes down the next crime lord to cause him trouble, and his team-up with the Thing before he gets his own Marvel Preview story (high-quality, longer format, magazine-style book that was used as a testing ground for new characters, unique stories, and secondary characters that were being considered for bigger things). It rounds up with the first 10 issues of the first Moon Knight monthly series.

The Essentials collections are a great way to read some of the older issues of great Marvel comics. I highly recommend this one for fans of vigilante heroes, crime stories, or just really good storytelling in comics. ( )