Fifty Is The New Thirty Something — Reviewing ‘Moon Knight: Fist Of Khonshu’ #11

Twirl the noisemakers, grab a slice of cake, and pull up a chair, folks. It’s time for a birthday party. Not just any birthday party though.

It’s a fifty-year celebration as Moon Knight: Fist Of Khonshu #11 picks up the celebratory baton carried by the previous issue. Party organizers Jed MacKay, Domenico Carbone, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Clayton Cowles have quite a story to tell.

<<SPOILERS FOLLOW>>

Sometimes the simplest of ideas and presentations on paper turn into something grand in execution. That would be the case with this very issue we’re discussing. The figures in Moon Knight’s life are preparing for his birthday, while seemingly breaking the fourth wall as they do so. They regale us with recaps, feelings, and expansions surrounding the title’s past and present.

MacKay is a rich character writer. Issues like this really put the spotlight there, as these characters we’ve followed for years get to really sink in as themselves. They show their connections, emotional depths, and dedications to their mission and each other. Just following them around through the day is beyond compelling.

Framing the issue as if the characters are talking to us only to reveal they’re actually talking to Moon Knight’s daughter Diatrice, gets two thumbs way up. It is just so fun to feel like we’re part of the story and then bask in the grand emotions that moment brings, not to mention the final moments that bring back a thought lost friend of the cast and audience in the Midnight Mission itself.

Never thought I would want to tear up around a sentient inanimate object, but here we are.

I’m glad that Carbone gets to keep stepping in to pick up issues in the series. It gives a sense of continuity and connection for the series since Carbone and Devmalya Pramanik share similar artistic sensibilities.

Characters are the key here. Their openness and emotional depth are more than apparent. There are rougher sharp angles to everything mixed with a detailed deep smoothness befitting this family of characters, allowing them to bask in the darkness that is their ally while the lightness beams around them. This gives every sense of movement that really tangible feeling, kinetic and energized from start to finish.

All of that is matched and even multiplied color wise. Rosenberg really delivers a perfect mixed palette time and time again. Those lighter aspects ranging from denser vibrant colors and splashes of bright white. The lighting situation is both authentic and exaggerated at the same time, which adds to the overall tone of the story.

Because of the nature of this issue, Cowles gets a lot to bring to the page dialogue and lettering wise, capturing the variety of voices perfectly, naturally, and delivering the cornucopia of emotional beats with ease. Dropping in the little modifications here or there adds to the emphasis or alteration of the tonal ranges.

Happy 50 years Moon Knight, raise a glass to fifty more.

Moon Knight: Fist Of Khonshu #11 is now available from Marvel Comics.