Review by Ian Keogh
Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio were the writer and artist team chosen to relaunch Moon Knight’s comic to coincide with the arrival of his TV show. As seen in The Midnight Mission, theirs was a quality act, and it seems to have outlasted the TV series.
Moon Knight’s undergoing therapy, and committed to being a neighbourhood protector with a store front office during the hours of darkness. Despite numerous betrayals by Moon God Khonshu, and Khonshu blessing a new champion in Hunter’s Moon, Moon Knight retains a degree of loyalty. A bigger immediate problem is a villain calling themselves Zodiac who’s been committing gruesome murders claiming to be testing Moon Knight. MacKay has that occupying the opening chapter.
A great strength of MacKay’s writing is uncertainty. Beyond therapy he doesn’t make a great deal of Moon Knight’s sanity being questionable, but because Moon Knight is wired differently MacKay has him come up with unconventional plans and solutions, acknowledged via noting that the moon changes. A trip to what would traditionally be a haunted house results in an accord serving the needs of two different parties, and there’s a great solution to the threat of a shape changing villain. The therapy sessions likewise captivate, whether or not you accept Moon Knight’s honesty, or feed into his consideration of the world.
The art of Alessandro Cappuccio continues to develop, becoming ever more intricate and taking greater chances with the layouts, echoing Moon Knight first coming to prominence when drawn by an artist in progress. While the style is nowhere near what Bill Sienkiewicz arrived at, Cappuccio’s work with shadow and contrast echoes the moon theme, and Rachelle Rosenberg’s colours are bold, yet sympathetic. Federico Sabbatini on the opening and closing chapters delivers thinner linework, fewer shadows and an altogether looser approach. It’s different, but no great step downward.
Mackay seems to be bringing the major plot threads to a close in the final main story chapter, but in keeping with the general unpredictability, throws in one hell of a curve for a cliffhanger ending leading into Halfway to Sanity. The caveat, though, is it will mean little to anyone who isn’t familiar with Moon Knight of old.
The actual final chapter ties in with Devil’s Reign, and has Moon Knight in jail, but parked with the villains. The guards are running a book on one on one fights, and Moon Knight wants in. Like the remainder of the collection, it’s a clever story with an ulterior purpose, although even more brutal, with the red ink plentiful.
