Fist of Khonshu

Moon Knight is back in the Avengers! Well, the Secret Avengers – which trumps his West Coast Avengers past any day.

Secret Avengers is written by Ed Brubaker with art by Mike Deodato – two of my favorite writers and artists in comics today. Overall, the first issue is a success – Brubaker wastes no time in setting up this team’s status quo in the Marvel Universe and in Avengers canon. The way he positions the characters reminds me of a damn good spy flick with each team member being given a specialist role.

So where does Moon Knight fit in? That, largely, remains to be seen. You do get to see him in action with Ant Man in a great infiltration scene. However, if the norm down the road becomes Moon Knight and Ant Man as a buddy cop duo, it may get old fast. I’m pretty confident Brubaker will pair up different team members as time goes on, but just pointing it out.

There’s also a nice albeit brief set up scene with Moon Knight where Steve Rogers asks him to join the team – and Moon Knight responds with a greatly ironic “Teams and me, we don’t work. Too many voices…”. It’s a cool scene and I hope we see more of Rogers and Moon Knight interacting directly.

In fact, on that note, I would really like to see (either in Secret Avengers or Moon Knight’s solo arc) someone address what transpired the last time Moon Knight and Steve Rogers had words in Charlie Huston’s solo Moon Knight arc during Civil War. For a recap, Rogers came to Moon Knight’s home to tell him that he didn’t like his style and to stay out of the Civil War – to which Moon Knight replied that he didn’t want to get involved with their egocentric battle of who had the biggest super power. While they didn’t see eye to eye there, Moon Knight definitely showed respect for Steve Rogers when he later ran into Tony Stark, telling Iron Man that Captain America looked like a hero and Stark just looked like a pussy. Well played Huston!

Revisiting that tension would be a nice touch to bring it all back full circle.

Also, I have to mention that Mike Deodato’s art has never looked better. I’ve always liked his attention to detail and the way he draws Moon Knight in this issue is excellent. The newer tricked out suit he wears doesn’t look as armor-clad as it has in his solo arc and strikes a nice balance between his older and newer look.

So… I dug it. And I’m looking forward to more! Moon Knight fans, go pick this up and relish in the fact that we’re now getting Moon Knight more than once a month.

Crescent Dart:
The new Down South arc brings Moon Knight full circle and superbly kicks off the beginning of what looks to be a fantastic journey for fans of Moon Knight. [singlepic id=17 w=250 h=375 float=right]

Waxing:

• Fantastic dialogue merges with perfectly tailored art
• Kicks off a new beginning for Moon Knight in a masterful way
• The Punisher factors into the story intriguingly

Waning:

• You’ll see Moon Knight’s costume, but not in the way you might want to

Full:

After staging his own death while battling Bullseye, at the end of issue 25, Moon Knight did away with his only publicly known persona, Marc Spector, and steered Jake Lockley out of his fractured sense of self and back into the fold. While the death of Marc Spector helps take him off the grid in a world that is trying to contain him, the resurgence of Lockley is more than just a thematic turning point for the series. (more…)