Moon Knight #1
Marvel Comics
Writer: Jed Mckay
Artist: Alessandro Cappuccino
I call myself a casual fan of Moon Knight. I’ve certainly read fantastic Moon Knight stories, but often they fall into the trap of being too esoteric for their own good. Given the mental state of the protagonist, I get why that is the case. Still, it can be difficult to ground yourself in stories like that. For a long time, I’ve just wanted to see a street-level Moon Knight book that establishes a status quo worth exploring. It may be too early to say, but Moon Knight #1 by Jed Mckay and Alessandro Cappuccio lays a very good groundwork that has the potential to be great.
The thing that’s been the essential ingredient of great Moon Knight runs in the past is the art: Bill Sienkiewicz, Declan Shalvey, Greg Smallwood, etc. While I’m not quite prepared to put Alessandro Cappuccio up on that level, he undeniably draws a fantastic looking book. With costumes as striking and noticeable as Moon Knights’, the art has to take full advantage of it. It needs big action shots, dynamic angles, and artistic flair, and Cappuccio more than achieves these things. The quiet dialogue is just as well composed with an effective atmosphere that permeates through the pages. It’s a style that isn’t unfamiliar, yet I can’t place a definitive influence. I see hints of Stuart Immonen, Matteo Scalera, and various other talents.
Jed Mckay does a good job of keeping things simple and grounded to start things off. He establishes a version of Marc Spector that doesn’t lean too hard into either extreme of his character. He’s not too edgy anti-hero, and not too much Deadpool crazy. It reigns in these two versions that we’ve seen before and pulls them more towards the middle to create a more rounded and defined version of the character. If Mckay can keep this balance consistent without falling to the temptation of the gimmicks, then Moon Knight could come out of this series with a definitive characterization.
Mckay also manages to keep things fun. In the midst of the doom and gloom, you get Moon Knight hunting creatures of the night. It’s in the character’s history to often rub up against horror tropes, and the addition of it in this book works very well for balancing the tone. It also establishes Moon Knight’s role in this world. He’s not just fighting thugs; he’s fighting vampires and the like. I can’t quite articulate it, but it’s so much fun.
Moon Knight #1 doesn’t break a lot of new ground, but it does make a complex character with a convoluted history feel easy to grab on to and understand. The art by Alessandro Cappuccio is a delight, and Mckay’s dialogue is precise enough to stay out of the way. The team avoids a multitude of pitfalls other teams have fallen prey to with the character, and as a result, has set up a Moon Knight status quo that is brimming with potential.
Moon Knight #1 doesn’t break a lot of new ground, but it does make a complex character with a convoluted history feel easy to grab on to and understand. The art by Alessandro Cappuccio is a delight, and Mckay’s dialogue is precise enough to stay out of the way. The team avoids a multitude of pitfalls other teams have fallen prey to with the character, and as a result have set up a Moon Knight status quo that is brimming with potential.
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