There was a brief time in the early 1980s when Moon Knight was my favorite character (basically the Moench/Sienkiewicz run of the character's solo series). Although I have reread Moon Knight from time-to-time over the years, I always go back to his earliest appearances, either from Werewolf By Night through the HULK! back-up feature, or just the HULK! back-up feature. I haven't reread the solo series since the '80s... until now.
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This topic has generated little interest, but I have done the requisite reading and feel compelled to cap it off. (I'll be brief.) Moon Knight spearheaded the "grim 'n' gritty" movement before it even had a name. In retrospect, I see it somewhere on the spectrum between Frank Miller's Daredevil and Mike Grell's Jon Sable Freelance. Early on, the series was plagued with inconsistent inkers. Other than Sienkiewicw (who inked #3, 9-15 in volume one of the omnibus), his best inker was Klaus Janson, who inked #4-7. My first issue was #18, part two of the "Nimrod Stange" storyline, which was right before the series would get really, really good.
Moon Knight was introduced as a mercenary in Werewolf by Night, then bopped around the MU as a guest-star for a while before landing his own back-up feature in HULK! magazine, which in turn led to his own solo title. It is the Moench/Sienkiewicz issues of that series I'm going to examine today. Immediately Doug Moench begins building Moon Knight's personal rogues gallery, with Bushman in #1 (who would return in #9-10), Midnight in #3 (who would also return in #9-10), Morpheus in #12 (who would return in #22-23) and Scarlett in #14 (who would return in #24). Nimrod Strange and Black Spectre were also formidable adversaries, and Detective Flint became a trusted ally. Issue #1, 4 and 28 all deal with Moon Knight's origin, and his story comes full circle as he is reintroduced to Jack Russell, the "Werewolf by Night," in #29-30.
The absolute best run of the series is #22-26, 28-30. Bill Sienkiewicz left after #30 to join Chris Claremont on New Mutants (where to this day I feel his talent was wasted), and Doug Moench left after #33. Sienkiewicz with a five page portfolio story in #37, featuring and narrated by Crawley. After Moench & Sienkiewicz left, the series took a steep nosedive. I haven't read a version of the character that interests me since. Althought the best issues of the series are in the second volume of the omnibus, that's only eight out of 22; volume one is the better buy, tracing as it does the development of a character across multiple titles into his break-out series.
Omnibus v1:
1. Real origin (Frenchie, Marlene, Bushman)
2. Skid Row Slasher
3. Midnight introduced
4. "False" origin explained
5. A "Ghost Story"
6. Voodoo and "zuvembies"
7-8. Terroritsts poison Chicago's water supply with madness-inducing drug
9-10. Bushman escapes prison; Midnight returns
11. Frenchie's past, New Orleans at Mardi Gras
12. Morpheus, Detective Flint
13. Daredevil
14. "Stained Glass Scarlett"
15. Xenos
17. Nimrod Strange / Master Sniper
18. Nimrod Strange / Slayers Elite
19. Nimrod Strange / Arsenal
20. Nimrod Strange / (finale)
Omnibus v2:
22-23. Morpheus
24. "Scarlet in Moonlight"
25. Black Spectre
26. "Hit It!" (theme: violence)
28. Origin revisited
29-30. Werewolf
Key issues: #1, 3-4, 9-10, 12, 14, and especially #22-26, 28-30.