Moon Knight (2014) Vol 2: Dead Will Rise, illustrated by Greg Smallwood
Wood takes over the series from Ellis, and it starts off similarly to Ellis’ volume 1 short story-type narrative. However, Wood weaves threads throughout each chapters that have payoff in the end. Moon Knight stops a well-armed sniper from killing a foreign dignitary, but it’s clear the man is a mercenary paid by someone very powerful. He then foils a terrorist plot at One World Trade Center, but the whole encounter is recorded on a cell phone camera and released to the world. The doctor from volume 1 is back - she tries to convince Marc to help her take down the foreign dignitary, and she gets Khonshu for her efforts. She infiltrates a security detail that is supposed to be protecting him, and without Khonshu, Marc finds himself detained yet again in something like a mental facility. Now, he’ll have to make it out without the powers of his god behind him, and stop the doctor before she ignites a civil war in an African country.
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Vol 1: From the Dead, illustrated by Declan Shalvey, colored by Jordie Bellaire
Mr. Knight is back consulting with the New York Police Department, but don’t identify him as the vigilante Moon Knight, or they might be obligated to arrest him. Moon Knight helps take care of bzd guys in situations that would endanger the members of the NYPD - he tracks one to a secret lair in the underground and another to a (mostly) abandoned building where human trafficking victims are stashed. Steven Grant's therapist tells him that he doesn’t have Dissociative Identity Disorder, but instead that he has experienced trauma, both in his childhood and as in his adulthood as a mercenary, and that he has come up with other personas as a way to justify his crime fighting and need to save people. 
Illustrated by Greg Smallwood and Jordie Bellaire
Marc Spector wakes in a mental hospital, where he has obviously been thoroughly mistreated, judging by the black eyes and a number of other bruises. His psychiatrist, Dr. Emmet, is dismayed by the lack of progress he's made, especially in that he continues to talk about his other personas. He often slips in and out of his mind to talk to Khonshu, his patron god, who is also disappointed that Marc hasn't seen through the lies and broken out of the hospital yet. Marc starts to recognize some of the other patients - Frenchie, Gena, Marlene, Crawley - as people who have been helpful or important in his life. The facade of the hospital starts to crumble, and Marc begins to see the hospital staff as agents of Ammit, with crocodile heads and very foul tempers. Marc struggles to escape the hospital with his friends and maintain a handle on what he knows to be true, while slipping in and out of his other identities: Steven Grant, the successful Hollywood producer; Jake Lockley, a scrappy cab driver; and Moon Knight, the Fist of Khonshu and protector of travelers at night. 
Illustrated by Lee Garbett
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, is murdered in cold blood in the entryway of the Sanctum Santorum. But, Stephen Strange is a crafty man. He has contingency plans for his contingency plans. His younger self arrives as part of a fail-safe he set in place years ago in case his affairs wouldn't be entirely in order. And he's not the only people to arrive upon the death of one of Earth's mightiest protectors - several invaders from other dimensions and realms set up shop on Earth, and they're all fleeing a magic-devouring baby-shaped monster with three "mothers" that scout for places to "eat". It's now up to his younger self to solve the mystery of his murder and keep everything from becoming baby food. 
Stories by Cullen Bunn, Michael Fleisher, Doug Moench, illustrated by Don Perlin, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ibrahim Moustafa, and Matt Horak
Several of Moon Knight’s adventures are collected here in this volume. The first story is a two-issue arc from Werewolf by Night, where Marc Spector is employed to capture a werewolf and bring it back to a live, captive audience for $10,000. In the next adventure, Spider-Man and Moon Knight team up to infiltrate the underground of crime families. The last adventure is a journey through time with Keng the Conqueror, with both Keng and Moon Knight them chasing sacred artifacts of Khonshu that could re-write reality itself. 
Vol 1: Before the Storm, translated by Greg Pak, illustrated by Keng, lettered (English edition) by Joe Caramagna
In an extremely non-linear plot line, we are introduced to Lei Ling, also known as Aero, a hero in Shanghai who has control over the air. When she’s not flying around her beloved city, Ling is an architect who designs homes for Shanghai citizens. Aero is currently battling animated buildings, some of which she designed, and desperately trying to stop a floating city from crashing into Shanghai. In the alternating scenes, we see glimpses of Ling’s past, where she and her boyfriend dine at a fancy restaurant just before he might get the courage and opportunity to propose to her, but she has to sneak away to save some folks trapped in a cyclone on a ferry. And then we meet Aero’s mentor, Madame Huang, who Aero is battling in the present while past Ling meets her for the first time. 
Vol 1 (2021): Only Death is Eternal, illustrated by Esad Ribić, colored by Matthew Wilson
The story opens up on the resurrection of Ikaris, the last of the Eternals to be “woken” again. He is given instructions to release Sprite, an eternal who caused a lot of problems for the Eternals recently and has been “reset.” The two travel to the main city of The Eternals and soon find Prime Eternal Zurus has been murdered. This isn’t a majorly big deal because he’ll be resurrected soon, but then they find out The Machine, the system that keeps Earth alive and maintains The Eternals, has been sabotaged, including the mechanism to revive Eternals. There’s no shortage of suspects who would want to bring down Eternals and/or destroy the Earth. Together with Sersi, Thana, Ikaris, Sprite, and a few others try to track down the traitor while keeping humans safe and alive. 
The Amazing Spider-Man (2014), Vol 1: The Parker Luck, illustrated by Humberto Ramos
Peter has finally retaken his body after having his brain swapped with that of Doc Ock for several months. He “reawakenes” to a completed Ph.D, his own research business, Parker Industries, a girlfriend who isn’t Mary Jane, and loads of other surprises. Black Cat is completely ticked off at him for being caputured and humiliated; Electro’s powers are going wonky, and he blames the experiments Spider-Man (Doc Ock) ran on him. J. Jonah Jameson has to resign as Mayor of New York and blames Spidey. So, there’s a lot going against Peter! An encounter with the beings who killed the Watcher gives Peter a peculiar insight - the spider that bit him and gave him his powers also bit a girl, and she’s been holed up in a bunker for ten years, unable to leave under the threat of Morlund coming back and destroying everything. But, she just might be the one to get Peter out of this grave predicament with all these people wanting his hide! 
Penciled by Olivier Coipel, inked by Tim Townsend, Rick Magyar, John Dell, Scott Hanna, colored by Frank D'Armata
This story follows the events of Avengers Disassembled and Planet X, but if you don’t have those, don't worry - there’s a summary at the beginning of this book. Scarlet Witch is mentally breaking down after what she did to some teammates in the previously mentioned storylines. The X-men and Avengers come together to figure out what to do with her, and Pietro thinks this meeting is about whether they should kill her or not. He runs off to warn her, and the next thing we know, reality has shifted into a world where mutants are the regular, sapiens (non-mutants) are almost extinct, and every hero pretty much has the life they’ve always wanted. The problem is, Wolverine remembers everything, and so does a little girl, whose mutant powers can help unlock the subconscious of other people and help them remember the way the world was. They have to confront Wanda and make her put everything right, but this leads to an even bigger disaster! 
Black Widow (2014), Vol 1: The Finely Woven Thread, illustrated by Phil Noto
Natasha takes odd jobs in between missions for S.H.I.E.L.D. because she needs the money. She and her lawyer discuss the intricate web of safe houses as well as the trust funds she has set up that she must pay to maintain. Natasha is doing all of this to atone for her passed actions, so the implication is she is paying into trust funds that benefit the families of those she assassinated. She accepts various jobs to rescue folks, foil assassination attempts, and other feats of espionage, but she’s gotten too comfortable. She’s started to miss signs of danger, signs that someone has it in for her. |
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