Moon Knight #25 Review

Written by: Jed MacKay
Art by: Partha Pratim, Alessandro Cappussio, Alessandro Vitti
Colors by: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Steve McNiven
Cover price: $9.99
Release date: July 12th, 2023

Moon Knight #25 marks the milestone issue with a triple-sized adventure wherein Moon Knight endures a gauntlet of enemies to get to the current Black Spectre.

Is It Good?

Moon Knight #25 takes readers on an extended ride through the past and present to uncover the origins of Black Spectre’s mind-control tech and fight through a gauntlet of enemies to stop Black Spectre in his tracks. Moon Knight #25 is a quadruple-sized issue, so you get more than enough pages for the cover price, but are the pages worth your time? Maybe.

When last we left Moon Knight, he learned from Morpheus that a new Black Spectre is the mastermind behind all the mind-controlled killings. Now, Moon Knight acts on a tip from 8-Ball to track Black Spectre to his location, only to find a trap waiting for him. Meanwhile, Marc recalls a mission in his mercenary days when he was hired to kidnap a scientist with dangerous technology.

On the whole, this quadruple-sized issue is okay. The pacing is solid, which is a compliment for a comic this size. There’s plenty of action, twist, turns, and developments to keep you invested in what’s happening. Better still, the art from a small team of artists looks great. With respect to technical execution and quality, this is a solid comic.

What’s not so great about this comic? I think I created the code with Jed MacKay because a larger story like this one makes MacKay’s weak spot more evident. Jed MacKay either can’t or won’t write compelling, memorable villains. From issue #1 up to now, the villains have either been weird (remember the guy who controls your mind when you ingest his sweat? How do you even figure out a power like that exists?), unremarkable (remember the multi-level marketing vampire leader), or rehashes of known Moon Knight enemies (case in point, Black Spectre). With the exception of Zodiac, I couldn’t tell you the name of any of the villains in the entirety of MacKay’s run. Nothing makes the villains stand out, so Moon Knight’s adventures barely rise above generic.

In this issue, Moon Knight not only faces off against Black Spectre (remotely), but he’s forced to fight his way through a stream of lesser villains with unremarkable names and unremarkable abilities to eventually escape Black Spectre’s trap, accomplishing nothing.

Does that mean this is a bad issue? No, again, it’s fine, but that’s all it is… just ‘fine’. For what should be a milestone issue, Moon Knight should be getting more than ‘fine’.

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

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Bits and Pieces

Moon Knight #25 gives readers plenty of great art and a solid story in a quadruple-sized issue (counting the backup). That said, the story is just okay, underscoring this series’s inability to create memorable villains or moments.