He stayed faithful to his girlfriend Marlene but
eventually his schizophrenia drove a rift between the two lovers while his
friend Frenchie came out as gay and got a boyfriend.
Moon Knight and his helicopter pilot Frenchie made
their debut in Werewolf by Night #32 in 1975 written by Doug Moench, but their
origin wasn’t revealed until Moon Knight got his own series with Moon Knight #1
in 1980. Before Moon Knight there was mercenary Marc Spector and his friend and
colleague, helicopter pilot Frenchie. When Marc Spector helped the woman,
Marlene Alraune escape the evil Bushman, Marc Spector was left to die in a
Sudan desert.
Stumbling upon the tomb of Pharaoh Seti where Marlene
happened to be, Marc Spector came to believe he was revived by a God of the
Moon, Khonshu – the Taker of Vengeance and was inspired to don the identity of
costumed superhero Moon Knight. Gaining wealth, he set up shop in a Long Island
mansion where Marlene moved in with him as his girlfriend and Frenchie became
employed as Moon Knight’s helicopter pilot.
Marc Spector was now calling himself Steven Grant but
also assumed an identity as a cab driver by the name of Jake Lockley as a way
of keeping informed about the criminal world which he would then handle as Moon
Knight. For as long as Doug Moench handled the characters, Steven Grant and
Marlene Alraune remained a steady couple with Marlene often taking part in
Steven’s adventures as Moon Knight. She was a strong woman who could handle
herself in a fight.
In Moon Knight #19 from 1982, Marlene went undercover
in the villain Arsenal’s harem and had to sleep with him to keep her cover.
Moon Knight knew about that, but never held it against her. But when Moon
Knight had to work together with an old flame, Candace Calder in Moon Knight
(1999) #1 Marlene became worried that she might lose him to Candace even though
he assured her nothing could start up with Candace again after him having met
Marlene. And the monogamous hero stayed true to his word.
Strong role models
In Moon Knight #11 from 1981, a woman named Isabelle
Kristel from Frenchie’s romantic past showed up only to get killed, leaving
Frenchie heartbroken. So, it came as quite the surprise for Marc Spector when
his now retired partner Frenchie, also known as Jean-Paul DuChamp, introduced
him to his partner Rob in Moon Knight (2006) #3. By now, writer Charlie Huston
was handling the characters and he had Frenchie admit the women from his past
were mostly beards. Now he was the owner of a bistro with Rob working there as
a waiter.
Marc Spector himself had changed. Having killed the
evil Bushman, he had grown more violent and his previous life with four
identities had developed into schizophrenia. So, when Frenchie was attacked by
enemies of Marc Spector, he served out some gory vengeance. This new craziness
in his personality had driven Marlene Alraune away, but not completely out of
his life. She had known that Frenchie was gay all along.
In Moon Knight (2011) #8, Frenchie’s talkative
boyfriend Rob told Marc that he was cool with him giving the bad guys what they
deserved and began working for him as a physical therapist, getting Marc back
in shape after having suffered some physical injuries. Frenchie wasn’t quite
pleased with that arrangement when Rob got involved with a battle between Marc
and a villain the very next issue.
In Moon Knight (2006) #14 Frenchie and Rob were
accosted in the street by a couple of redneck bullies, but they handled the
situation excellently, not putting up with any crap. The couple served as
strong role models and great inspiration for gay readers and as great gay
representatives to the straight ones.
New writer Mike Benson had enemies of Moon Knight once
again targeting Frenchie and Rob in Moon Knight (2006) #23, thrashing Frenchie’s
bistro. Frenchie put up a good fight, but Rob landed in the hospital. After
having attempted suicide because of this, Frenchie teamed up with Moon Knight
in order to defeat the bad guys, but by Moon Knight (2006) #25, Moon Knight had
to leave New York and start a new life elsewhere. This also ended his troubled
relationship with Marlene, leaving him free to pursue other relationships in
future Moon Knight series.
