Comic Book Review: Moon Knight #7: Civil War

Moon Knight has been a consistently excellent read. Huston has impressed me with his incredible writing on this title. Unfortunately, it appears that Moon Knight #7 is going to be a Civil War tie-in issue. Hopefully, Huston doesn’t dwell too much time on Civil War, because Moon Knight doesn’t really fit into the landscape of the Civil War storyline. At any rate, I’m confident that I’m going to enjoy Moon Knight #7. Let’s hit this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Charlie Huston
Penciler: David Finch
Inker: Danny Miki

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Moon Knight hunting down a criminal in an alley way. Moon Knight brutally beats the crap out of the criminal. Spider-Man arrives on the scene and asks what Moon Knight thinks he is doing. Moon Knight responds that he is marking his territory. Spider-Man tells Moon Knight stop. Moon Knight responds that he is done anyway. Spider-Man tells Moon Knight that he wants to talk to him. Moon Knight ignores Spider-Man and leaves.

We see Moon Knight get into his big limo. Khonshu asks how much longer they will be using the limo. That the copter was a visible symbol and excellent signage. Moon Knight tells Khonshu to fuck off. Samuels, who is driving the limo, asks Moon Knight who is he talking to. Moon Knight tells Samuel to just drive and take him to the Estate.

We cut to Moon Knight in his underground base at the Estate trying to repair the copter. Moon Knight tells Samuels to pack up all of his weapons and then for them to go home.

We shift to some unidentified man getting “medical” treatment from some nurse or female doctor of some sort. During the treatment, the man keeps hitting on the nurse and grabbing her butt. The nurse says that all of his organic matter is interfering with the force feedback contracts. We see that the man is more machine than flesh. The man makes a sexual suggestion to the nurse who responds that the man doesn’t have enough material remaining for him to feel anything.

The man then grabs a clock and asks the nurse if she wants it to be early again. If she wants him to make time fly. The nurse tells him to just be more careful and take better care of himself. The man says he will take care of himself. He then talks about some unidentified person who he is going to tear off his arm and legs and crush his head with his hands. After that, the man says he will turn his attention to the nurse and give her all the good loving he has left.

We shift to Marc Spector getting up out of bed. His beaten and bruised body barely allows him to walk. Samuels helps take Marc into the kitchen so he can get some breakfast.

We cut to Marc in his limo reading the newspaper about the Registration Act. Khonshu asks Marc what he is going to do when the government comes for him. Marc says that the government won’t come for him. And that Captain America’s team won’t come for him either. That Captain America’s team knows better than to ask for him to join them.

Marc arrives at Frenchie’s restaurant. Marc meets with Frenchie and asks for his help to fix the Moon Knight copter. Frenchie says no. Frenchie says that he is not a soldier or a mercenary anymore. That Marc’s fight was never his fight. That Frenchie is tired of hospitals. Marc responds that he understands, but he needs help right now.

We shift to Marc and Frenchie arriving at a diner. Frenchie asks Marc who is going to pilot the copter after he gets it all repaired and ready to go. Marc says he will pilot the copter himself. Frenchie scoffs at the idea. That Marc will wreck the helicopter. Frenchie asks who will drop Marc off and pick him up at the last second? Who will make that daring rescue to whisk Marc out of trouble?

Frenchie and Marc then enter the Diner. Marc says he doesn’t know if this is a good idea for him to be here. Marc and Frenchie then both say “hi” to Gena who is the owner of the diner. Marc tells Gena that he was sorry to hear about Ricky. Gena snaps on Marc. Gena yells that friends come visit when a person loses their son. That when her son goes off to war and gets killed that she expects the friend who put all those visions of war in his head and then took him with him to fight gangsters and murderers to come by to offer comfort.

One of Gena’s sons walks over and tells him mom to calm down. Gena just storms off. Marc and the son then talk. The son tells Mark that Gena doesn’t really mean what she said. The son says that he saw Moon Knight in the papers last week. He asks how that is working out for Marc. Marc asks the son what he is doing now. The son says he came home to help his mom after Ricky died. That he may leave soon and take a job with one of the contractors. That he is not good with the civilian thing. The son was a military helicopter pilot. Marc then gets an idea.

We cut to Marc and Frenchie back in the limo. Frenchie tells Marc that he will go out to the Estate to take a look at the helicopter. Frenchie then tells Marc to keep Gena’s son safe. That it is better that her son fly Moon Knight’s helicopter than to go back to the desert. Frenchie then tells Marc to stop calling him Frenchie anymore. Frenchie then tells Marc to be careful once he finds Wilde. Marc asks who is that? Frenchie responds Jeffery Wilde. The annoying boy. Frenchie then shows Marc a newspaper article about a serial killer preying on women.

We shift to Marc arriving back at his brownstone. Neda, his cook, tells him that he has a visitor. Marc goes into the parlor and is face to face with Captain America. Captain America says that he wants a word with Marc. We see Khonshu in an Uncle Sam outfit telling Marc that this should be interesting. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Moon Knight #7 was another solid read. Huston continues to display his amazing fell for Moon Knight’s character. I never thought that Huston would be so well connected with Moon Knight’s personality. Huston simply knows what makes Moon Knight tick. Huston has done an amazing job delving deep into Marc Spector’s deranged and fractured mind.

Moon Knight #7 was no exception. Huston does a brilliant job showing Marc Spector on his road to recovery. Even though Marc has regained his fighting spirit and his desire to be Moon Knight one again, it doesn’t mean that he is completely back to his old form. Marc is clearly lost without his support group. Marc relied heavily on Frenchie and Marlene in his war on crime. By himself, Marc feel overwhelmed.

The scene with Marc in his old “Moon Cave” was well done. You can feel Marc’s frustration as he realizes that he is unable to properly repair and maintain all of his hi-tech equipment like his copter. I dig Huston’s little dig at the goofy “Fist of Khonshu” version of Moon Knight when he wore all the goofy gold jewelry and weapons. Marc tells Samuels not to pack them but Khonshu tells Marc to take them. I never really liked how Marvel changed Moon Knight’s character for the “Fist of Khonshu” mini-series.

Huston does a nice job handling Frenchie’s character. Frenchie is exactly what he should be: a worn out old mercenary. You can see the fight has left Frenchie’s eyes. That Marc’s war is not Frenchie’s and never was. However, when Frenchie was younger he was willing to fight any battle regardless of whose battle it was. Huston gives the reader a much more mature Frenchie. He has his own restaurant and his partner who he loves very much. Frenchie is looking to live the quiet good life and understandably wants no part of running around the night with Moon Knight.

However, the bond between Frenchie and Marc is incredibly strong and Huston shows this by Frenchie deciding to repair and maintain Marc’s equipment and copter. Frenchie may no longer want to pilot the copter, but he can’t just abandon his old friend when he needs him most. Huston does a nice job showing the deep friendship that Marc and Frenchie share.

Huston also takes this opportunity to slide out Frenchie as the pilot for Moon Knight and insert Gena’s son as the new Moon Knight pilot. This move accomplishes several goals. First, it freshens up the title introducing new supporting characters rather than recycling old ones. This helps to differentiate Huston’s Moon Knight from the original Moenich Moon Knight.

Second, it helps to give this title more diversity. All of the supporting cast members where white which is pretty much a big no-no in modern day comic books. Gena’s son being black helps bring a more diverse look to the comic book. If you care about this sort of thing then you’ll enjoy this move.

Khonshu continues to be highly entertaining. I love how Huston is handling Khonshu’s constant harassing of Marc at ever possible moment. Khonshu is certainly one seriously high maintenance god. Khonshu is an effective plot too for showing the battle that rages inside of Marc’s fractured brain. Khonshu is the manifestation of Marc’s rage, pain and desire for violence and vengeance.

Plus, it makes the reader wonder if Marc is actually being visited by his god or if Marc is merely hallucinating everything. Especially since nobody else can see or hear Khonshu as evidenced by Samuels asking Marc who he is talking to while sitting in the limo.

This mystery villain certainly seems to be one twisted individual. Obviously, this new villain has the ability to manipulate time in some sort of fashion. I don’t recognize this character so I have no idea if he is brand new or a new version of an old Moon Knight villain. At any rate, this villain seems pretty interesting. I definitely look forward to seeing what Huston has planned with this character.

Huston does a nice job dealing with Moon Knight’s relationship with the other costumed heroes in the Marvel Universe. The scene with Spider-Man was perfect. Moon Knight just completely blows off Spider-Man as if he was someone totally insignificant. As if the two characters had never met before. This scene highlighted Moon Knight’s incredibly violent tactics compared to your average costumed hero running around in the Marvel Universe.

This scene also displayed Moon Knight’s complete indifference that borders on total disdain for other costumed heroes. Moon Knight has no desire to be a part of their fraternity. Moon Knight doesn’t view himself like some type of modern royalty like most of the costumed heroes view themselves.

Huston then continues this plotline by having Khonshu question Moon Knight why he didn’t talk to his costumed friend. Moon Knight responds with the fact that neither side in the Civil War event is going to approach him. That both sides no better than to approach him.

Moon Knight was actually an Avenger for a short time. Moon Knight joined the West Coast Avengers, which was a move that alienated him from Marlene and Frenchie. Eventually, Moon Knight talks directly to Khonshu and points out that it was Khonshu who wanted to join the Avengers and not Moon Knight. With that, Moon Knight left the team.

During the third volume of Moon Knight, he is brought before an Avengers Tribunal for his extreme actions against Dr. Doom. Rather than go through the trial, Moon Knight destroys his Avengers membership card and walks out saying the “They won’t even miss me.”

So, Moon Knight has a history with the Avengers and it isn’t a very pretty one. Huston did his job researching Moon Knight’s character and is now building off of this friction between Moon Knight and the super hero community. Huston ends this issue with a great hook by having Captain America stop by Marc’s house to talk with him.

Trust me, Moon Knight may not support Tony Stark’s pro-registration side, but he sure as hell isn’t going to want to join up with Captain America’s little Secret Avengers group. Moon Knight doesn’t view himself like modern day royalty like most of the other costumed heroes do. This discussion between Captain America and Moon Knight should be interesting.

And who in the world is this Jeffrey Wilde character? I don’t know if I’m supposed to recognize that name or not. Either way, Huston certainly grabbed my attention with this little teaser.

The Bad: Huston has really impressed me with his deep knowledge of Moon Knight’s history. And I appreciate his using all of Moon Knight’s old supporting characters as much as possible. However, this approach, while fantastic for long-time Moon Knight readers, makes this new volume of Moon Knight very difficult for new readers. Huston definitely hasn’t created a title that is new reader friendly.

I think that Moon Knight #7 may have been the toughest issue yet for a new reader to navigate. Even I was struggling with characters like Gena, her dead son Ricky and her other son who is a military helicopter pilot. I felt a bit lost during this issue. I can only imagine how a new reader to Moon Knight would have felt.

Now, I don’t think you should ignore the past in order to make ever new series new reader friendly, but I think you definitely have to keep it in mind that many of your readers are new to your character. And Huston has eschewed giving many flashback scenes, which again is great for longtime readers, but makes the new reader struggle even more.

I can’t say that I’m thrilled to see the Civil War storyline creeping into Moon Knight. Huston has been doing a wonderful job on this title just by doing his own thing and ignoring the all of the silliness that has crippled the rest of the Marvel Universe.

Unfortunately, the Civil War storyline is rearing its ugly head and threatens to destroy the incredible mood of this title and the perfectly paced storyline and the excellent flow that Huston has created on this title. Hopefully, Huston can give the Civil War storyline a cursory treatment with the next issue and move on with the storyline he has created on this title.

Overall: Moon Knight #7 was another solid read. This issue was probably the weakest issue so far on this title. However, a weak Huston written Moon Knight issue is still better than your average comic book on the market. If you haven’t given Moon Knight a try then I seriously recommend you do so. This title is certainly worth your money.