Moon Knight #9 Review

Written by: Jed MacKay
Art by: Alessandro Cappuccio
Colors by: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Cory Smith, Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: March 2, 2022

Moon Knight #9 brings Marc Specter back from prison during the events of Devil’s Reign to accept a mission to find a collection of missing persons from a building that has one more floor than it’s supposed to.

Was it Good?

Moon Knight #9 is fine. Readers will get a post-Devil’s Reign feeling of lost momentum with the Zodiac story, but as a standalone issue, it gets the job done.

Arguably, tie-ins are both a blessing and a curse for an interconnected superhero universe. It was odd in the last issue, to see MacKay tackle the Devil’s Reign tie-in by ignoring both the event and the main character, but we’re back to normal in this issue. However, it feels like the slow buildup to speed after hitting a speed bump. Hunter’s Moon is nowhere to be found. The esoteric villain Hunter’s Moon fought is nowhere to be found. Marc’s back with the tiniest of mentions in a caption about where he’s been and nothing in this issue has anything to do with Zodiac beyond a brief mention. The net effect comes across like the series has been on hiatus for a few months.

Putting the momentum-killing pause aside, Marc investigates a building with an extra floor it shouldn’t have where residents go in but don’t come out. The issue seems to have reverted to the monster-of-the-month model from early in the series, but in this case, the solution presents an opportunity to assist with new office space for the Midnight Mission. While the resolution does address the status quo in a potentially interesting way, again, all the piece parts that matter for moving the central story forward are almost entirely absent.

Keep in mind, this issue #9, and we have no idea who Zodiac (the main villain) is, what he wants, or why. Decompressed storytelling has its place, but this ain’t it.

That said, the art is still excellent with Rosenberg elevating the entire book with spectacular coloring.

Final Thoughts

Moon Knight #9 is a serviceable, stand-alone issue that struggles to re-establish momentum, partly lost from the Devil’s Reign tie-in and partly lost due to excessively decompressed storytelling. The art looks great and reads great, but the theme of the story is almost non-existent, and MacKay needs to get something going if he wants to keep readers invested.