This week, Moon Knight gets a new number one… but is it a good moon rising or a bad moon rising? Read on to find out!


MOON KNIGHTMoon Knight #1

Written by Jed McKay
Art by Alessandro Cappuccio
Color art by Rachelle Rosenberg
Letters by Cory Petit
Cover by Steve McNiven Frank D’Armata

Moon Knight #1 hits the ground rolling, with a great opening splash page that soon gives way to an exciting introductory chase sequence. This scene is both fun to look at and engaging in content – there’s great movement in the action here, and what can I say, I will always be a sucker for a vampire pyramid scheme!

The opening sequence not only gives us a chance to get familiar with the comic’s current status quo: Moon Knight as a dark and violent defender of his neighborhood, unafraid to use graffiti in order to establish his territory and warn criminals of the fate that will befall those who would sully his street with illegal activities.

MOON KNIGHT

Plus, this action sequence gives us the meeting between Mr. Knight and Reese, who it seems will serve as his “Vampire in the Chair” for this series. With an intriguing setup and a sharp tongue, this character reminds me a bit of Tilda Johnson in the 2016 run of Nighthawk… And like Tilda, Reese has tons of potential in this (and any related spin-off) series.

This book also utilizes the “therapy session” frame, allowing Knight’s internal psychic struggles to be narrated by a professional. While this Sopranos-esque concession may at first seem cliché, it’s hard to imagine effectively telling a Moon Knight story without some degree of mental health exposition. Furthermore, although Knight’s therapist doesn’t displaying any especially memorable personality traits over the course of this issue, she does give voice to what seems to be the central concern of this run: what it means to be a priest at odds with one’s deity.

MOON KNIGHT

This holy man versus his own god theme dovetails nicely into the introduction of the villain for this arc. While I won’t get too specific, in order to avoid spoiling what amounts to the last-page reveal, suffice to say that this antagonist makes perfect sense as a foil for our protagonist, and promises to tear through the boundaries of violence which Knight always seems to be testing.

As you can see, this book covers a lot of ground… but thanks to a smart, tight structure and an emphasis on the introduction of the book’s supporting cast, the necessary expository groundwork for the status quo update for this series is accomplished painlessly (painlessly for the reader, anyway; not so much for Mr. Knight’s victims – but hey, at least 8-Ball doesn’t get his face carved off).

MOON KNIGHT

With a good balance of violent action and intriguing thematic foundation, Moon Knight is primed to deliver on the potential of this first issue… but only time will tell whether this tale waxes or wanes.

VERDICT: STRONG BROWSE.


Next week, Amazing Fantasy #1 arrives, Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade concludes with #5, and the sophmore issue of U.S. of Cap introduces Nichelle Wright, the Captain America of Harrisburg.