New comics are back in comic shops this week and it’s an opportune time to pick up Jason Aaron’s Avengers after he wrapped up the “Earth’s Mightiest Villains’ story arc. That’s because it’s the start of a new arc involving Moon Knight and some peculiar behavior. If you dug Jeff Lemire’s Moon Knight, or just love the character in general, do not pass on this epic story arc.
Up front, I will say it’s annoying when characters of a certain power set seemingly randomly gain a boost in powers. Some of that is going on with Moon Knight here, but I’d argue there’s more to the story and we need to hang on and see what Aaron is up to. Something is up with the powers that Moon Knight exhibits that has forced him to fight the Avengers one by one. This issue builds towards the mystery by giving us very little in the way of answers, but instead showing us what Moon Knight is capable of.
Moon Knight readies his energy for a fight for the ages.
Credit: Marvel Comics
The character has been used in various ways over the years, from being depicted as just a crazy person, to having the powers of a god flow through him, and here Aaron is mixing the two nicely. The character itself has always been mysterious and Aaron has smartly wrapped his actions up into that mystery. By the end of the issue you may not agree with how powerful Moon Knight is, or how he amazingly stops certain Avengers in their tracks, but you have to respect the mystery of the character in these actions.
Drawn by Javier Garron with colors by Jason Keith, this book is sharp as heck and everything you want in a fight-comic with superheroes. The opening Iron Fist fight sequence, in particular, is excellent — complete with fight moves for every punch and kick lettered by Cory Petit — showing us a fight in Moon Knight we never knew existed. Further on in each fight Moon Knight takes up we’re forced to respect the character even more and that is largely on Garron’s shoulders. He’ll make you a believer in this character.
I’ve always liked Moon Knight, but in his mystery there has always been a lack of detail that has rubbed me the wrong way. Here though, Aaron and Garron are steering directly into that mystery and seem to be suggesting maybe that mystery is where his power is drawn the greatest. I can’t wait to see where Moon Knight goes from here and for fans’ respect for the character to grow every page of the way.
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