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As a comic book fan, I am thrilled with how Jed MacKay’s ongoing Moon Knight saga has proven that the character, without a doubt, is a Marvel Legend. The series of books, covering 2021’s Moon Knight, 2024’s Vengeance of the Moon Knight, and the ongoing Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu, all stand out within the character’s expansive history as some of the best stories told with the character.
While I was reading Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #2 – written by Jed MacKay, with art by Alessandro Cappuccio – I was taken aback by the appearance of Cubist, an obscure Moon Knight villain who had only appeared in two issues which were published in 1993. His sudden reappearance helped me put into words a quality that makes Jed MacKay’s Moon Knight stand out, and it’s the attention to continuity and history.
Much more than that, Jed MacKay ties Moon Knight’s modern history together into one arc into one cohesive narrative, and uses it to strengthen every aspect of the character.
In The Last Few Years, One Of Marvel’s Best Writers Has Changed How Moon Knight Stories Are Written
Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #2 – Written By Jed MacKay; Art By Alessandro Cappuccio; Color By Rachelle Rosenberg; Lettering By Corey Petit
Over the past several years, Jed MacKay has woven an influential Moon Knight run, and has used every aspect of the character’s history to do so. In fact, I think it might just be the best Moon Knight run. An apparent trend within Moon Knight’s history, especially his modern history, is that there is an almost disconnected nature to each of his runs. While each of his runs makes references to his 1980s solo series and the characters featured within, his modern storylines don’t necessarily connect to one another in the same way other runs for other superheroes do.
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For sure, there is some connective tissue, such as the Mister Knight identity introduced in Warren Ellis’s and Declan Shalvey’s 2014 Moon Knight run, but the connective tissue is few and far between. While I wouldn’t necessarily say this is a bad thing – and I admit, Moon Knight’s relatively obscure status as a character allows creators to take risks they wouldn’t be able to on higher profile characters – it does present a problem when going through his publication history. Each modern Moon Knight run, as a result of their disconnected nature, doesn’t feel like one continuous narrative to me.
At least not in the same way Spider-Man or Daredevil do. As such, it makes Moon Knight stand out within continuity and history, as readers are unsure which aspects will be carried over and which will be left behind. Jed MacKay’s Moon Knight alleviates this trend completely, by making reference to nearly every aspect of Moon Knight’s history. While the run obviously mentions his backstory from his 1980 solo series, every aspect of the character is important to the narrative.
Jed MacKay Unifies Moon Knight History Into A Single Cohesive Narrative
All The Pieces Matter
I’m not being hyberbolic when I say that Jed MacKay has made better use of Moon Knight lore than almost any of his predecessors writing for the character. MacKay’s ability to weave the character’s past into his present narrative has been that impressive. From his history with the West Coast Avengers, to the legacy of violence started in the 2006 Moon Knight run by Charlie Huston and David Finch, to the Shadow Cabinet from 1993’s Marc Spector: Moon Knight, and even his history with Jack Russell from Moon Knight’s first appearance, every aspect of the character from across his history matters.
Jed MacKay’s run builds upon Moon Knight’s history, letting the hero move forward and put together a new life – still connected to his old one, but not bound by it.
Further, MacKay turns Moon Knight’s modern, disconnected runs into a singular narrative. Those runs, from Charlie Huston’s and David Finch’s 2006 Moon Knight, through 2020’s Avengers: Age of Khonshu, by Jason Aaron and Javier Garron, now tell the story of Marc trying to regain control of his life and put the pieces back together, failing time and time again until he hits rock bottom. Jed MacKay’s run builds upon Moon Knight’s history, letting the hero move forward and put together a new life – still connected to his old one, but not bound by it.
Contemporary Moon Knight Comics Emphasize One Of The Things I Love Most About Comics
How Many Story Threads Weave Together Over Time
All of that said, MacKay’s run is far from being a remix of Moon Knight’s publication history, as he introduces brand-new characters and elements. Reese, Soldier, and Hunter’s Moon are wonderful additions to Moon Knight’s supporting cast, which has unfortunately been lacking in the past decade. Zodiac and Plesko, now reimagined as the new Black Spectre, are great additions to his rogues’ gallery, taking his past and spinning it into something new. The very concept of the Midnight Mission is delightful, symbolizing Marc’s development in MacKay’s ongoing saga and I hope it’s here to stay for good.
MacKay’s
Moon Knight
run stands as an example of one of my favorite things about comics: the way a character’s entire history, written by different authors, can be woven into a single, unified narrative.
Jed MacKay’s Moon Knight stands out among a pedigree of fantastic runs in Moon Knight’s history. The author’s love and adoration for Moon Knight’s continuity makes each aspect of the character relevant, while also turning his fantastic but disconnected modern runs into a complete character arc with the benefit of hindsight, as well as adding new elements to the mythos. Above all else, MacKay’s Moon Knight run stands as an example of one of my favorite things about comics: the way a character’s entire history, written by different authors, can be woven into a single, unified narrative.
6/10
Moon Knight
Moon Knight stars Oscar Isaac as Steven Grant, a gift-shop employee in London who discovers he has dissociative identity disorder. He shares a body with Marc Spector and together, they travel to Egypt to uncover a deadly mystery surrounding the gods. Moon Knight consisted of six episodes and was the fifth live-action TV show in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4. Also starring in the series is Ethan Hawke as the villainous Arthur Harrow and May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly.
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