Marvel held its latest "Next Big Thing" press conference call Thursday afternoon, with writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Alex Maleev—a team that has previously collaborated on definitive runs on "Daredevil " and "Spider-Woman," as well as their creator-owned "Scarlet"—on hand to discuss the new May-debuting "Moon Knight" ongoing, along with Senior Vice President of Publishing Tom Brevoort and moderator James Viscardi.
Part 4
Brevoort began by speaking about Daredevil before Bendis interrupted to joke, "Wait a minute, he was blind? I might need a do-over."
"It's part of Marc Spector—all the good he does, all the bad he does, it's mixed up in that," Brevoort said of Moon Knight.“I guarantee there are more upset that I'm not using Konshu,” Bendis added. “They'll say I'm anti-Egypt, and that will be taken as my political statement on Egypt.”
Asked what was the first thing that popped into their heads about "Moon Knight," both Bendis and Maleev said "Sienkiewicz." Bendis added that they are working with Bill Sienkiewicz on "Daredevil: End of Days." "With the deepest respect I have for him, I almost try to not look at his issues—I don't want to be influenced by them," Maleev said. "The books sitting on my desk right now are not Bill Sienkiewicz 'Moon Knight.'"
Bendis praised earlier takes on "Moon Knight," but said that the new series would be a fresh beginning. "Maybe that will make people curious about how he got this way," Bendis said, which may lead readers to pick up earlier runs.
"You're going to get a lot of cool villains, like Mr. Hyde, Thundra, Titania, but the mystery of the Kingpin of LA is a major Marvel villain," Bendis said, with Brevoort adding that this is a character Bendis has written before.
Brevoort added that "Moon Knight" #1 will be double-sized, "and not a short story with a reprint in the back." Bendis and Maleev's story will fill the space between the covers.
"Moon Knight" #1 arrives in May.