A Moon Knight Comic I Like

I almost always log any Marvel comics I read in "Complete Marvel Reading Order," because I am one of those fools who thinks reading 60+ years of comics in "chronological" order is a fun idea. All of that is to explain that I usually give a quick rating on a comic after reading it. I find myself rating a lot of current issues 3 stars most of the time, and it sometimes makes me wonder if I've set my standards too high for no good reason. And sometimes when I think that, I read an issue from the current Moon Knight creative team and I'm reminded that thought is nonsense.

Now, before I completely forget my bias, Moon Knight is my favorite Marvel character. I slightly prefer street-level heroes to those of grander scale, a mostly white suit can be used to play with panel layouts in striking ways, and the approach to his mental health... well that's highly variable, but it's at least been good lately. All that aside, the current writer, Jed MacKay, and recent artist, Alessandro Cappuccio (Moon Knight fans can tell this post's been a draft for a while), have been absolutely killing it. There have been multiple issues that completely steal my focus with how great they are.

Quick note about the artist role: I credit Cappuccio with my adoration of the recent runs, but other artists who have worked on it, such as Federico Sabbatini, have also done incredible work. In fact, the issue I'm about to gush about had Domenico Carbone at the helm. It's harder for me to describe what I like about pictorial art without simply showing it, which I don't want to do here for unspoken reasons, but these comics would not be as good as they are without the incredible effort put in by the artists.

"Moon Knight: Fist of Khonsu #7" is the issue to most recently ruin my plan of reading one issue and then going to bed. After reading it, I had to gush about in DMs, send a panel in a Discord server, just run my mouth as much as possible at like 11pm that night. And that wasn't satisfying enough so I'm going to say a lot of what I like about it here as well. Luckily, it's relatively standalone from the rest of its arc. The arc does progress in this issue, but it's mostly background dressing for some killer art and wonderful character interactions.

We Get a Little Silly

Page 2 of the issue meets us with a glorious splash of 8-Ball and the Pool Party! 8-Ball is an absolute nobody initially appearing as a villain for everyone's favorite hero, Sleepwalker, alongside other memorable foes such as (checks notes)... 11-Ball and 6-Ball. In this Moon Knight run, he is a full-on member of the supporting cast, often serving as some comic relief. And what better way to let him take center-stage than to throw everyone else into a silly costume as well. We've got Reese as "Chalk," Hunter's Moon as "The Pocket," and of course Dead-pool, played by Hunter.

We continue reading and find out that the Pool Party is not just your local trick-or-treaters, but rather they are luring out my favorite "chuck him in a blender" Marvel dude - Hank Pym (Hating Hank is fun). But the goofs don't end there. While we're going through the flashback to explain why the mission has decided that $10 cosplays are the best way to contact Pym, we get some delightful lines. Sure, the performers are saying things like "It's Chalk-O'Clock," but even Moon Knight hits us with: "Because I've spent a week shouting at random ants I've found, and all I got out of it were even stranger looks than I normally get."

And of course, the humor isn't just there to make us clap our hands and forget everything else. Look no further than 8-Ball's plainly stating he used to be a Jet-Propulsion Engineer. Through that one line, we are reminded that 8-Ball isn't here just because he's wacky. He has a specific role to serve and even if a grand total of 3 people would ever call him their favorite character before this run, the creators want to treat who he is with respect. And also Nadia Van Dyne's reaction to him actually being a scientist is quite fun.

Emotional Damage

Eventually Hank Pym makes his appearance and it's time to begin shifting gears. We don't fully lift our feet from the funny gas pedal yet (Two vehicle metaphors, I know so much about cars). There are still plenty of one-liners about 8-Ball being the only one who is in any danger and Tigra having "a type" between Hank and Marc. But the serious conversations start taking a larger and larger role. Moon Knight will get his turn, but first Tigra and Hank need to hash things out. The latter is drowning in regrets and refuses to look past it, while the former is furious but uses that anger to remind Hank about all his good qualities. A single detail, Tigra tells their son stories about Hank being a great person, actually being heard instead of immediately shrugged off is what it takes for the two to begin an awkward reconciliation.

And then the brooding men in white have their own conversation. It's only two pages but it's sharp and the two say exactly what they need to. Hank calls the Marc and the Pool Party Plan "crazy" and Moon Knight stops him, pointing out how both their mental illnesses are used to dismiss who they really are. They're both struggling. The mental illness is absolutely playing its part, but there are so many other parts of their lives that they just need advice with. They come back to Tigra's son and how complicated it is for Hank to exist in his life at all. Moon Knight mentions his daughter and alludes to all his own regrets. But instead of using it to fuel self-destruction, he encourages Hank to take the chance to make his, and his son's, lives better.

I just really like this run. Writing like this doesn't always seem groundbreaking, but when done consistently it really stands out among its peers. The care taken towards portraying characters' relationships and the problems they struggle with goes far beyond what is shown here. Reese and Hunter's Moon are great and they're little more than cameos right here. Again, my Moon Knight bias exists, but I highly recommend the Moon Knight (2021) run and its sequels to anyone already reading some Marvel comics.