Moon Knight [2016] #13 - Marvel Comics

MOON KNIGHT No. 13, June 2017

Selling some 24,287 copies in April 2017, at least according to “Diamond Comic Distributors”, it’s not hard to see why this title was only the ninety-third best-selling book of the month. True, Issue Thirteen of “Moon Knight” does contain a harrowingly engaging re-imaging of Marc Spector’s downfall as a mercenary “some years ago” near the Sudanese-Egyptian border, but the majority of Jeff Lemire’s tediously tiring plot unfortunately focuses upon the Fist of Khonshu’s contemporary exploits, rather than the exciting ones from his past.

Indeed, for much of this twenty-page periodical the Canadian cartoonist simply depicts the titular character wandering back through the self-same hieroglyphic-infested brick tunnels Mister Knight has tediously trodden down since the story-arc “Death And Birth” initially started three editions ago, and even spends a laboriously lengthy time battling his way through his own brain’s cerebrum, only to find himself back at the skeleton-infested underground station the hooded crime-fighter fought his way through when this comic book series first started; “I’m home. And I’m coming for you, Dad.”

Fortunately, the soldier of fortune’s deadly encounter with the Bushman at a remote archaeological site makes for a far more gripping read, especially when it becomes clear to both the audience and Spector that the ‘white-faced’ murderer will actually kill everyone at the dig if they don’t show him where the Tomb of Khonshu’s treasure is buried. In fact, this comic’s most shocking moment comes at the turn of a page, when the muscled mercenary cold-bloodedly stabs Peter Alraune straight through the stomach and out his back with a large combat knife, simply to intimidate the elderly man’s daughter, Marlene and the rest of the young woman's native colleagues.

Interestingly, Greg Smallwood’s pencilling for this book also seems to favour the Joe Shuster Award-winner’s flashback sequences rather than those progressing “Marc’s last and most difficult fight”. Sedentarily paced, with plenty of negative space either being coloured black or left simply blank, Marc’s journey back to the modern-day Moon God genuinely appears to have been designed in order to utilise as many sheets as possible in as short a time as possible. Whilst, the Will Eisner Award-nominee’s superior work illustrating the vigilante’s much earlier escapade is packed full of small(ish), dynamically-charged panels with plenty of movement taking place with which to hold the attention.

Writer: Jeff Lemire, Artist: Greg Smallwood, and Color Artist: Jordie Bellaire