There would have been a time at some time in the past when Uatu the Watcher would have greeted readers who had come to him to hear tales of alternate timelines and parallel universes. Readers are welcomed to another sight altogether in one of the latest issues of the series as the Egyptian god of the moon greets them in What If...Dark--Moon Knight #1. Kohnshu narrates a tale of Moon Knight that is written by Erica Schultz with artist Edgar Salazar and colorist Arif Prianto. Schultz crafts an entirely fresh take on the character and introduces a whole new hero with great potential. 

The Moon Knight tangles with Bushmaster. It’s a familiar scene. He’s there to rescue Marlene. She manages to make her way out of captivity, though...which naturally takes Moon Knight off-guard. One thing leads to another, and the Bushmaster strikes a fatal blow to Moon Knight. Marlene handles it as best she can...but anger against Khonshu brings the attention of Ra--god of the Sun. Ra sees great potential in Marlene’s heart and transforms her into Luminary--a knight of his own. 

Schultz does more than just create a female version of Moon Knight. She’s creating a whole new character with a palpably interesting tragic backstory that would serve a completely different heroic dynamic. Schultz paces the story quite well, though...it IS a little weird that the fight between Moon Knight and Bushmaster takes up the entire first third of the book. It doesn’t give Marlene a whole lot of room to kick ass when she DOES make it to the page, but it’s a fun adventure anyway.

It IS cool that Salazar has the entire first third of the book to kill off Moon Knight, though. Rarely is a combat between two people allowed to play out over the course of ten pages. When it DOES have that kind of space, it tends to feel a bit repetitious. Salazar does a really good job with it. Salazar also does an admirable job of making Marlene look suitably heroic as Luminary. It’s a clever modification of the Moon Knight costume that works with traditional notions of ancient Egyptian style. Prianto gives the light of Ra some very classy, depth-defining detail that makes for quite an impressive visual impact. 

It’s not just Ra who sees great potential in Marlene’s heroism. And..y’know...if editors at Marvel are listening...with great potential comes great responsibility. I’m ready for Luminary to have her own series. Really. It would be totally cool so long as Shultz wrote it. It’s a clever idea and a fun concept, and really...it would make a nice contrast to the adventures of Marc Spector. The contrast between the Sun and the moon would be really interesting on the comics rack within the Marvel Universe. Schultz doesn’t have to do much to set Marlene up as a fun hero, though it WOULD be interesting to see what kind of a costume Bill Sienkiewicz might have rendered for her in some parallel universe...

Grade: A