Mind Full Of Danger — Reviewing ‘Moon Knight: Fist Of Khonshu’ #9

Achilles Fairchild won the battle against Moon Knight. He left the caped vigilante broken, beaten, and beside himself for some time.

While the Asgardian won the battle, he most assuredly did not win the war. Moon Knight is back and bringing the heat down upon his adversary, and he’s playing for keeps. Moon Knight: Fist Of Khonshu #9 takes Mr. Knight on a brutal trip ahead of his final pushback. Another compelling chapter in this engaging series comes from Jed MacKay, Devmalya Pramanik, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Cory Petit.

I love this book.

Pure and simple, I love what MacKay and tons of others have been doing through every series incarnation. Never did I think I would be a huge fan of Moon Knight and his slice of Marvel but here we are.

MacKay packs so much into these issues it feels wild. There is a great set of references to Mutants and their creation of Mysterium on Krakoa. There are solid moments with Hank Pym and the cure creation, Moon Knight and Tigra interactions, and a painful drug trip with Moon Knight that really puts a mirror up for the character. Oh, and it ends with some badass stuff as they take the battle right to Fairchild’s doorstep.

One would almost feel like this was two issues, except it all fits smoothly into the regular issue page count in a flowing bold way.

Having the right artwork for a story does many things. Pramanik is an artist who just seems to get what needs to be here for this gritty street character to work. There are plenty of rougher textures and semi-exaggerated visuals are paired with a firmer realistic style. This allows the story to feel authentic to our eyes in some respects but fantastical in others.  It’s befitting of a street-level hero powered by an ancient god taking on beings of unearthly origins at every turn.

As usual, the shadow levels of the issue are off the charts. As with the last issue, those shadows play a major part in the storytelling objective. They make the hallucinations of foes, past and present, seen by Moon Knight even more ominous. This leads up to their semi-reveal masterfully, because of the shadowy nature. That nature hinted at some sort of deceptive reveal but also could be brushed off as the obscured visuals from a drugged hallucinating mind.

Tapping into that as well is Rosenberg. Her ability to play with the darker tones and the far lighter ones, even some white space, continues to excite. She gives every sequence its own unique feeling, even though the same color palette and choices fill many of those pages. This allows the stark white of Moon Knight and a few of the other popping visual colors sing as loud as possible, cutting through the darkness at the exact right time for all the right effects.

Cutting voices plague Moon Knight here. It lands on Petit to give everything the right visual elements dialogue wise to make the words flow and gain more power. He really allows the words of each of the villains to feel familiar but also different, leading to the revelation of Moon Knight’s talking to himself as all things crumble aspect.

Moon Knight: Fist Of Khonshu #9 is now available from Marvel Comics.