Moon Knight [2021] #27 - Marvel Comics

MOON KNIGHT No. 27, November 2023

Neatly demonstrating that Marc Spector’s schizophrenia can actually be a considerable strength given the right conditions, this ‘deep-dive’ into the mind of a physically comatose Vibro must surely have landed reasonably well with this ongoing series’ audience when published in September 2023. Of course, much of this comic’s pulse-pounding pugilism predominantly sits with Yehya Badr rather than the (true) Fist of Khonshu. But both the titular character and his multiple personalities have a much more intriguing role to play in Issue Twenty Seven of “Moon Knight” than simply socking super-villains in the jaw; “I need a few more minutes to talk to Alton. Can you hold them off?”

Indeed, the notion of a hero managing to verbally encourage “the last part of a good man” left inside the head of a vengeful criminal so that it will stand up to their numerous darker aspects is extremely compelling, and whilst unresolved within the confines of this twenty-page periodical’s plot, definitely leaves the reader with the hope that Vibreaux will somehow single-handedly manage to successfully “fight back against what I’ve become.”

Likewise, Jed MacKay’s prodigious penmanship does a good job in giving Steven Grant and Jake Lockley plenty to do in this book, courtesy of the unlikely duo being asked to interrogate a clearly terrified Alton as to what the diabolical Black Spectre’s perfidious master plan actually is, and where the mass-murderer’s secret headquarters is located. Both aspects of Moon Knight clearly have a different attitude towards whether Marc should inform the likeable geologist as to his true fate when he catastrophically fell into the San Andreas Fault – even at a time when the entirety of Manhattan’s population might be in dire danger, and these conflicting opinions genuinely helps separate the two personas from one another 

Quite wonderfully working hand-in-glove with the Canadian writer is Federico Sabbatini, who alongside colour artist Rachelle Rosenberg, provides this comic with some stunning visuals. In fact the aforementioned scrap involving Doctor Badr, as well as a fair few punches thrown by Spector himself, are so dynamically drawn that many a "Moonie" will actually hear the grunts and groans of a badly-beaten Vibro as he’s repeatedly battered throughout his own brain.

Writer: Jed MacKay, and Artists: Federico Sabbatini & Rachelle Rosenberg