Moon Knight: City Of The Dead #2 Review

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: $3.99
Release date: August 23, 2023

Moon Knight: City of the Dead #2 teams Moon Knight with his dearly departed ex-turned-protector of the afterlife, Layla, to track down Khalil’s missing soul. What they find is an insidious conspiracy.

Is Moon Knight: City Of The Dead #2 Good?

Moon Knight: City of the Dead #2 picks up the urgency and the intrigue in David Pepose’s take on the Fist of Khonshu, designed to align with the Disny+ series. Unlike the Disenty+ series, Pepose brings Scarlet Scarab to the fore in a natural way to complement Moon Knight’s mission for an entertaining team-up tale.

When last we left Moon Knight, he traveled to the city of the dead to search for Khalil’s soul, hoping he could restore Khalil’s life if he could retrieve the soul before it crossed over. Moon Knight’s task got complicated when he ran into a host of enemies he killed or let die, all with a grudge to settle.

Now, Moon Knight teams up with his dearly departed mercenary partner and lover, Layla, aka Scarlet Scarab, to beat their way through the Underworld’s underworld, looking for Khalil’s soul. They soon find that Khalil’s soul isn’t the only one abducted and that a grander conspiracy is in play to abduct the souls of lost children everywhere.

What’s great about this comic? There’s a lot to like about this second issue, more than the first. Pepose establishes a balanced partnership between Layla and Marc that feels authentic and comfortable, which is a stark improvement over the forced superhero team-up in the Disny+ show. Converting the hunt for Khalil into a serendipitous reveal of a larger plot elevates the stakes of the arc considerably and makes the story feel bigger. As a bonus, the twist reveal of the Jackal Knight’s identity is a deep cut for Moon Knight fans, but one a new reader can instantly appreciate.

What’s not so great about this comic? Ferreira and Leisten do a great job on the action art, but it’s unclear how the action works because Pepose only hints at the rules of the City of the Dead. Everyone is already dead, so how can they die again? Is Marc in any real danger? How is Marc or anyone else feeling physical pain when they’re no longer alive? Can Marc be killed? How does that work?

The more you think about it, the more you realize you don’t know if Marc’s life is genuinely at risk because Peopose hasn’t fully laid out the rules for the City of the Dead. Punches are exchanged, and the inhabitants can feel pain, but it all may be temporary or superficial, so you don’t know what to think.

How’s the art? Barring the confusion over whether or not death is real, the action choreography is energetic, gritty, and exciting. Moon Knight is a formidable threat, whether alive or dead, and even the ancient pharaohs of Egypt learn not to mess with the Fist of Khonshu when they (and we) see the damage he can do.

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: City of the Dead #2 sets up a solid team-up between Moon Knight and Scarlet Scarab, and turns the hunt for Khalil’s soul into a mission to stop an insidious child trafficking ring. The stakes take a big step up compared to the first issue, and the gritty action looks great, but the rules of the City of the Dead aren’t clear, so you don’t know to what extent Moon Knight is in genuine danger.