Doug Moench was born on February 23, 1948, and twenty five years later he became a comic book writer. His work can be pretty polarizing. He has done some great things (listed here) and some truly terrible one (like his run on Fantastic Four).
Moench is at his best when he is working with characters who operate in the shadows, with ambiguous moral compasses and murky backgrounds. He can do what many cannot: Write a subtle comic book susceptible to more than one interpretation.
He also brought out the best in some of the most forward-thinking and best artists of his day, including Paul Gulacy, Mike Zeck, and Bill Sienkeiwicz.
Here’s ten things I love about him, in honor of his birthday…
10. Godzilla. Along with Herb Trimpe, Moench made a Godzilla comic that was fantastic–and brought the media licensed character into Earth 616.
9. Batman: Prey. An amazing adventure from Legends of the Dark Knight #11–15
8. Weirdworld. An entire universe created with Mike Ploog, and nominated for an Eagle Award.
7. Werewolf by Night.
By all rights, this should NOT have been a great series. And tbh it wasn’t ALWAYS great. But it certainly was great more often then it wasn’t, and its legacy–seamlesslly blending superheroic action with horror–has been profound.
7. Batman and Dracula: Red Rain.
An elseworlds story with Kelley Jones. Amazing read.
6. Captain Marvel #58-62. This series was more than just not good by the time Doug Moench arrived to end it. It was boring. But he brought in a whole bunch of guests and gave us a very forward-looking, paranoid story about the evils of artificial intelligence.
5. Colleen Wing. Larry Hama and Doug Moench created the nonpowered ninja/samurai partner to Misty Knight.
Later, she killed Angar the Screamer.
4. Deathlok. Along with Rich Buckler, Moench created the super-cyborg-soldier’s debut in Astonish Tales #25. Buckler gets most of the credit, but surely some of it belongs to Moench.
No, they weren’t great comics. But they were good enough–and they arrived long before the Terminator movie that bears several striking similarities.
Deathlok is one of those guys who is like Ghost Rider: He looks really cool but his stories are often lacking. Moench’s initial scripts were the best of the decade for this character.
3. Jason Todd. Gerry Conway created Jason Todd before DC rebooted its universe with Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it was Moench, during a stint on Batman, who turned Todd into the next Robin and made Jason the tough and abrasive character we all love to dislike. Moench’s wonderful characterization was undone via a retcon in Batman #400 for no good reason at all, where his argumentative and pugnacious tendencies were explained as pubescent hormones.
2. Moon Knight. Not only did Moench create him, during his also-wonderful and frequently overlooked run on Werewolf by Night (see earlier on this list), but he was practically the only writer to work with Moon Knight for the first decade or so of his existence. The work included one of the earliest direct market runs, printed on glossy paper, with highly experimental art from Bill Sienkiewicz.
1. Master of Kung Fu. Like so much of Moench’s work, MoKF is not remembered like it should be. It was at time brilliant and almost always fantastic. Although he did not create the character, Moench gave Shang Chi enduring depth and a rich backstory, partnering with some incredible artists like Paul Gulacy and Mike Zeck. It’s been reprinted and it is worth your time to seek out and read his 8-year run on this title.
English (US) · 