Ms. Marvel & Moon Knight #1 - Marvel Comics

MS. MARVEL & MOON KNIGHT No. 1, October 2022

Touted as “the super hero spectacle of the summer” by “Marvel Worldwide”, Jody Houser’s narrative for Issue One of "Ms. Marvel And Moon Knight" definitely delivers a ferociously-paced fright-fest, which barely slows down the moment Kamala Khan nervously enters the Midnight Mission and asks its smartly-dressed owner for help dealing with “swarms of tiny robots in your neighbourhood.” Indeed, many a perusing bibliophile will probably have found themselves hooked just as soon as they saw this publication’s opening page depicting some hapless New Yorker being chased down an alleyway by a horde of apparently tiny, unseen nightmares.

Enjoyably, this thirty-page periodical doesn’t simply contain dynamic fight sequences just for the sake of it either, courtesy of the “New York Times best-seller” thickening her plot with ever-adapting, intelligent automatons which repeatedly threaten to overwhelm the titular characters with a terrifying tide of metallic claws and teeth. This overriding mystery as to the purpose of the relentless rats genuinely manages to hold all this comic’s set-pieces firmly together, and even allows for the audience to be potentially wrong-footed on occasion, such as when the highly anticipated second wave of rodents diverts away from Marc Spector in order to attack the city’s other Fist of Khonshu.

Ultimately however, this comic will probably be primarily judged on its portrayal of pulse-pounding pugilism, and it’s definitely not lacking in this department. The American author is seemingly at the very top of her game penning Ms. Marvel’s team-up with Moon Knight, and isn’t at all stingy in giving both crime-fighters plenty of spotlight to demonstrate their significantly contrasting close combat skills. In fact, Houser even manages to squeeze in a brief altercation between the Crescent Crusader and a local dealer, who stupidly catches the cowled vigilante’s ire just as this book’s adventure is starting; “There’s been a man lurking on our corner. Trying to push drugs on the neighbourhood kids.”

Helping Jody not pull any punches with this book is Ibraim Roberson, whose awesome pencilling adds an extra element of adrenalin-laced action to its proceedings. The visual artist is particularly impressive sketching all the razor-fanged, red-eyed rats scampering around the different locations, and imbuing Khan’s giant-sized fists with plenty of pulverising power whenever she throws a hefty haymaker.

The regular cover art to "MS. MARVEL & MOON KNIGHT" #1 by Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee