Last month, the team of Scott Mescudi, Joe Clark, Kyle Higgins, and Federico Bertoni finally got into the origins of Moon Man, delivering my favorite issue since the first. After last issue’s time-bending psychedelic trip through Ramon’s backstory, Moon Man #7 deals with the immediate aftermath of the crew’s encounter with an unexplained cosmic force. Unfortunately, while the previous issue managed a strong balance of the various threads, time periods, and character development, this issue stumbles a bit when it comes to forward momentum.
Much of the issue is spent with the crew arguing amongst themselves about what did or did not just happen, with some of them refusing to acknowledge the traumatic cosmic event for various reasons. It’s interesting to see how they deal with this: Some of them are scared to acknowledge the gaps in their knowledge while others are more afraid of ruining their reputations by admitting defeat and heading back to Earth. Buckley goes so far as to sabotage the ship’s radio in an attempt to force the mission to move forward. Unfortunately, some of these hangups are addressed almost as quickly as they’re brought up (Buckley immediately agrees to fix the radio), while others drag on in a series of repetitive arguments.
The other conflict in this issue is the sudden appearance of some kind of smelly plant in the hull of the ship, which the crew has to deal with Ellen Ripley-style. This sounds a bit more exciting than it is in practice. Once the crew finishes arguing about who will deal with it, the plant is disposed of in a sequence that I had a bit of a difficult time following sequentially. There’s a cool moment where a flashback/flash-sideways in time mirrors their actions in the present, but otherwise, I wasn’t terribly clear on the blocking in this sequence. I know the threat was dealt with, but I’m not 1000% on the how.
There are still some strong points here, of course. The fraying nerves of the crew and the rising tensions among them are interesting, even as some of the arguments trod familiar territory. This issue also has some fun with the near-future setting by throwing out some acerbic and strangely topical references (a throwaway line about Elon Musk kind of blew my mind). And while some of the blocking and spacial issues dinged my enjoyment of the book, Bertoni’s artwork here is still largely impressive. In particular, the plant thing that they deal with in the issue looks truly gnarly, while the flashbacks that keep intruding on the present are nicely rendered in colors that starkly differentiate them from everything else around them. It’s a nice visual signifier that things aren’t what they used to be, which ties neatly into many of the series’ ongoing themes.
Despite my criticisms, Moon Man continues to be a series that intrigues me. Look at it this way: At one point in the issue, Buckley tries to write off the crew’s scary experience as nothing more than “turbulence,” and that’s kind of how this chapter felt. It’s a shaky installment that doesn’t ruin the experience as whole, but it has me hoping that the next issue provides us with a smoother ride.
