Moon Knight #23 Review

Written by: Jed MacKay
Art by: Alessandro Cappuccio
Colors by: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Stephen Segovia, Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: May 3, 2023

Moon Knight #23 teams the Fist of Khonshu with the current bearer of the first Spider-Man symbiote to take down a hypnotic sound engineer.

Is It Good?

Moon Knight #23 should be more fun than it is. All the pieces are present. You have a novel hero team-up, at least two action scenes, a mild amount of progress on the current arc, and stellar art. So, what’s missing? Heart.

When last we left Moon Knight, readers were treated to a Tygra-centric issue detailing her life, loves, and relationship with her son. Now, we get back to the main conflict with Moon Knight tracking down the mastermind behind a series of killings targeted at past and present Moon Knight allies. As a bonus, Dylan Brock shows up at the Midnight Mission for a little counseling and gets caught up with mercenaries who want Dylan’s symbiote for themselves, leading to a crossover discovery that gets Moon Knight further down the road in his investigation.

A lot happens, and team-up issues tend to do well, but the thing that’s lacking is a sense of “oomph” to get things moving.

We don’t know who’s the mastermind behind Sarnak’s audio-hypnotism attacks, what he/she wants, or why. Moon Knight isn’t acting with any urgency to find Sarnak or the puppetmaster pulling Sarnak’s strings. And the fights in this issue are handled so easily, you get no sense of dramatic tension or stakes.

In other words, MacKay’s script is just going through the motions. The pacing is speedy, the dialog is on-point, and Sarnak’s eventual capture is handled well, but in every way that matters, this issue and the arc as a whole are turning out to be forgettable.

Still, Cappuccio’s art is stellar, and Rosenberg’s coloring is perfect. This is a great looking comic. I just wish the story was as memorable as the art.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

Follow @ComicalOpinions on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Bits and Pieces

Moon Knight #2 teams up the titular hero with Venom to stop a gang of mercenaries and to hunt down the audio-hypnotist causing havoc. The pacing and action are fun, and the art is stellar, but the story’s lack of urgency and motivation makes this issue forgettable.