Moon Knight #191 - Marvel Comics

MOON KNIGHT No. 191, March 2018

It must have been hard for this comic’s 21,504 readers to imagine a more anticlimactic confrontation than the one Max Bemis penned for Issue One Hundred And Ninety One of “Moon Knight”. Apparently destined to contain a fearsome face-off between the titular character and two of his deadliest enemies, as well as the blood-chilling possibility of Marc Spector’s infant daughter being hurt in the cross-fire, this fourth instalment to the New York-born writer’s “Crazy Runs In The Family” story-arc genuinely appeared set to deliver an all-action twenty-page long periodical which would arguably help the American author take a step closer to his run on the title emulating the impact of Gregg Hurwitz, Brian Michael Bendis, or more recently Warren Ellis.

Sadly however, having initially paired the ex-mercenary off against the Sun King, and shockingly shown Marlene Alraune to be perfectly capable of stabbing an off-guard Bushman in the thigh with a small knife, the ensuing fracas quickly degenerates into an appallingly ludicrous comical clash, which sees the suited super-hero hurl his fiery trousers into the face of Patient 86, and then subsequently battle the bearded fire-starter in little more than his boxer shorts. Such an utterly fantastic bout of fisticuffs genuinely undermines any sense of jeopardy or danger which this publication’s opening had created, and doubtless many a perusing bibliophile was rather glad when the scene sputters out after just a handful of panels simply because Amon Ra’s flames are in danger of ruining Diatrice’s garden swings…

Regrettably, not even the surprise return of The Truth, seemingly fully-recovered from previously having both of his eyes gouged out by a pair of Moon Knight’s crescent-shaped throwing blades, manages to imbue this book with any semblance of menace either, even when the hulking killer discloses to Bushman that he is actually unable to control his lethal influence over another person and “sometimes it just kind of happens without me trying.” Indeed, one of this storyline’s saddest sights, wistfully pencilled by Jacen Burrows, is that of a pot-bellied Raul despondently munching upon a cracker alongside the heavily-tattooed brute and being unknowingly influenced by the villain’s Truth Touch; “I can’t stop eating. I eat because I feel powerless… Not that it matters. I just got replaced as enemy number one, so I might as well just…”

Writer: Max Bemis, Penciler: Jacen Burrows, and Inker: Guillermo Ortego