Ravingnerd Reviews: Moon Knight #1

As promised, I have decided to do an old fashioned review of Moon Knight. To be fair, I wasn’t super excited about this book. I have always enjoyed Moon Knight, but was taken aback by his new look. Given how abruptly his most recent series ended and how much I found myself drawn in by it, I wasn’t sure I would be able to get behind another concept. Yet with Warren Ellis at the helm, the book was bound to have some potential. Here is what I liked about it.

1. Declan Shalvey’s art is fantastic. The book is well drawn from front to back, often having Shalvey’s rendering of the character snatch the scene. The colorist also is to be credited here, as his dynamic contrast of the dark and gritty with the white is to be applauded.
2. The opening of the book, where Moon Knight is seen in the street arguing with Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Captain America is a brilliant reference to the previous series.
3. He’s brilliant. In just a few pages, Ellis makes sure the readers know that Moon Knight is far more than a psychotic. He’s also a brilliant detective.
4. The final scene, where he is looking at all of his other personalities. Pure brilliance.

Rating before reading: 6
Rating after reading: 8

This book was one of the most solid reads I’ve seen in a while. Stemming off of the Hawkeye effect, if you remove the character from the rest of the heroes, you are left with a fascinating character. One who is even more dynamic solo. Moon Knight #1 proved to us that he is in fact not insane, but damaged. This way of telling the story of an insane hero is different than it has ever been done before. With such a complicated and awkward history, it would be easy for a lesser creator to get the character wrong, yet Ellis does it masterfully. Though I still think I prefer the original, the solid white formal suit flows so well with the art of the book that I can’t really complain about it. Ultimately this book succeeds in a similar manner to Hawkeye. A talented team removing the hero from the heroic universe. With narrative’s focused on just a few heroes. It’s an odd pick, but with Ellis on board I think Moon Knight could grow to rival Hawkeye as Marvel’s premiere title. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Until the next time,

Rn