Moon Knight #197 - Marvel Comics

MOON KNIGHT No. 197, September 2018

Selling just 18,019 copies in July 2018, a fall of over five hundred readers in a single month, Max Bemis’ penmanship for Issue One Hundred And Ninety Seven of “Moon Knight” was probably never going to win over a new audience due to its focus firmly fixing upon the four chosen of the Bi-Annual Feast of the Societe Des Sadiques, rather than anything whatsoever to do with the titular character. True, the New York musician’s detailed histories of Liberation McAllister, Lyla DeCriscio, Sol Edmund and Tilt afford a modicum of entertainment with their short trips into the macabre world of snuff couture, mafia hits, serial killings, and piercing people to death.

But such utterly random journeys into the disconcertingly unpalatable past of a comic’s supporting cast can only capture, and then hopefully hold, the attention for just so long. And as a result, by the time Moon Knight does reveal himself to the disreputable diners in order “to throw my hat in the ring”, the twenty-page pedestrian-paced periodical has already almost run its course and there’s little room left for Marc Spector to do anything except beat up a couple of purple-hooded machine-gun toting minions.

Similarly as disappointing as the vast majority of the America author’s narrative is his bizarre so-called cliff-hanger of a conclusion, which was presumably written to subvert the expectations of the West Coast Avenger's faithful fans, just as much as it clearly does the Fist of Khonshu himself. This splash-page illustration of the masked vigilante being inexplicably hugged in greeting by the leader of the mass murderers’ cadre would probably ordinarily have garnered a giggle, yet as it is, the criminal’s cuddle frustratingly just brings about an abrupt halt to the only few exciting action-packed panels in this publication.

Fortunately, what this comic lacks in storyline, it unquestionably delivers in its artwork with Jacen Burrows eerily seeming to be able increasingly replicate the clean-lined drawing style which made the late Steve Dillon such a successful illustrator. Moon Knight in particular seems to benefit from this master class in pulse-pounding pencilling, with his all-too brief battle against the plot’s executive-level Madame and a pair of goons proving the high-point of the comic; “I won’t lie. I enjoy it. I look forward to it, sometimes. Hard to admit, but it’s true."

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