Written By: Jed MacKay
Art By: Alessandro Cappuccio
Colors By: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letters By: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover Art By: Steve McNiven, Frank D’Armata
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: July 21, 2021

Marc Spector returns to the streets of a New York as a the proprietor of a mission that ventures out to protect his territory from assorted villains and monsters who stalk the night. With a copious amount of Moon Knight origin exposition via Marc’s latest therapist, we get a sort of character reset and the introduction of a new threat that confirms Khonshu’s right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing.

Was It Good?

It’s a setup issue that makes for an excellent jumping on point for anyone not familiar with Moon Knight, presumably in anticipation of the forthcoming Disney+ Moon Knight series. If you’re new to the character, this is a great catchup to who he is, where he’s been, and what he’s all about. If you’re already a Moon Knight fan and have at least a decent knowledge of his backstory, you won’t get a lot of value out of this issue… except for the last couple pages.

The last time we had a major run on a Moon Knight title (I believe) was written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Greg Smallwood. Smallwood focused on the surreal aspects of Marc’s mental break and rendered the panels with a noir-ish flavor to emphasize the Mr. Knight persona. Here, Cappuccio takes a stronger approach to the street-level hero aspect that feels closer to a Daredevil comic. The art is clean but still gritty and lived in with long shadows for dramatic effect.

That said, the book feels small. All panels either depict small, quiet character moments, or during the action scenes, get up close and personal. It would have helped to pull back a bit on the camera angle to give some of the scenes some space to breath. As it is, the art feels compressed, almost confining.

As for the general writing, it’s good albeit a bit bland. The few action scenes present are quick hit montage scenes that barely take up a page. The character moments, which take up the lion’s share of the book, flesh out the character for a new reading audience but don’t cover anything existing fans don’t already know. Again, it’s a lot of setup and introduction but not much else.

Ahh, but there is a little something that’s worth hanging on to for the second issue. We get an introduction to a new character with direct ties to Khonshu, and he’s none to pleased with Marc’s lack of respect for the god who resurrected him. I like the idea that Khonshu has touched more than one person besides Marc Spector, and it’s always great to see a villain come along that’s a different side of the same coin as our hero.

Final Thoughts

Moon Knight #1 is a great setup issue for new readers, but existing Moon Knight fans may feel like there’s not much here for them. However, the art is great and the new villain introduced looks to be extremely interesting.

7.5/10