- Written by: David Pepose
- Art by: Marcelo Ferreira, Jay Leisten
- Colors by: Rachelle Rosenberg
- Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
- Cover art by: Rod Reis
- Cover price: $4.99
- Release date: July 19, 2023
Moon Knight: City of the Dead #1 finds Moon Knight rescuing a young boy from an Anubis death cult, only to realize that saving the boy’s body is one thing, but saving the boy’s soul will take him on a more perilous journey.
Is It Good?
Moon Knight: City of the Dead #1 is okay albeit a little long. Set in the same time and place as the main Moon Knight series, David Pepose sets the Fist of Khonshu on a journey to rescue a victim’s soul from the afterlife before the judgment of Osiris sends the boy beyond the veil permanently. It’s a solid story with plenty of Egyptian imagery and Moon Knight fighting action, but there’s a lot of noise to wade through a simple plot, and I found myself checking the page count more than once.
David Pepose’s plot centers on Moon Knight breaking up a Cult of Anubis’s attack on a young boy for their next sacrifice. Moon Knight stops the cult and saves the boy’s body, but the boy’s injuries are extensive, rendering him brain-dead. In a moment of desperation, Moon Knight solicits Hunter’s Moon to help him enter the City of the Dead to stop Osiris from rendering judgment on the boy’s soul so he can bring the boy back to full life. Unfortunately, the City of the Dead is populated by a lot of folks who blame Moon Knight for their present predicament.
That’s a pretty straightforward plot. In writing terms, it’s a quest to retrieve a special object. That said, there are a lot of back-and-forth battles, confrontations, and speed bumps along the way before Moon Knight is faced with a powered-up gang of recently deceased thugs. He’s eventually aided by his dead girlfriend turned Egyptian superhero, Scarlet Scarab.
If you’re playing along at home, this issue is clearly intended to heavily reference many of the developments from the Disney+ series of the same name without adversely affecting the main Moon Knight run. That’s not necessarily a bad thing to create synergy between print and film, but in this case, this issue feels like a split into an alternate version of Moon Knight, so you don’t get the synergy. It’s weird, to say the least.
So, why does it feel like the issue is too long? Because it’s almost all meaningless action. Why is there a Cult of Anubis and what do they hope to accomplish? What are the consequences to the world if the Cult succeeds or grows? In effect, Pepose puts obstacles in Moon Knight’s way to do nothing but be an obstacle and push Moon Knight in one direction or another. The action is big, loud, and plentiful but ultimately meaningless.
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: City of the Dead #1 sends Moon Knight on a journey to the Underworld to save a boy’s soul. There are copious amounts of big, loud action and obstacles to hinder Moon Knight’s quest, but the volume of noise crowds out what amounts to a super simple plot, making for a frequently tedious read.
Weird Science Marvel Comics 