A Character Driven Series
If Charlie Huston has proven anything with this series, it's that he's a capable writer. So I had to check... because I don't remember reading any other comic books by Huston before his work on Moon Knight. I found the reason for that: Moon Knight was his first comic book work. Since then he's also written Ultimates 2 Annual #2 and Legion of Monsters: Man-Thing #1. What's his background? Well I might feel stupid for not knowing, but it was crime-noir novels and it all makes sense now.
Although Moon Knight hasn't gotten to the point where it can be put in the same class as Daredevil and Iron Fist, it has the same "crime noir" feel to it. The series thus far has been about Marc Spector trying to pull himself from the lowest point in his life, and doing something with it again. Huston has managed to write him as being conflicted without making him into a whiny and annoying character. To often other writers try to make a character "conflicted" and end up making them annoying to the point of making the readers hate the character. I totally believe that Spector is conflicted on how to act and what to do when reading these issues. His mental health is also in question since he is always talking to the Egyptian Deity Khonshu who appears to him in the form of Bushman... a villain that Spector has killed. How can you not want to read this book after hearing that?
This is one of the slower issues in the series thus far. There isn't much action on MK's part, but we do get to see Punisher kill a few nameless thugs. I did like the structure of the beginning of the issue however, as Marc points out that half the world thinks Frank Castle is nothing more then a serial killer... and then questioning if he's any different then Castle. The situation in where they have their little discussion is a bit odd, but it served it's purpose. Some history between Moon Knight and Punisher is also brought up, which I had no idea about. Remember those little editor's notes you'd get in old comic books... where it would say "Editor's Note: For these events see Moon Knight Vol.2 Issue #24" or something like that... I kinda wished we still had those at that moment.
Something else Huston does well is give most of his characters distinctive voices. In a lot of comic books, dialog could be switched over to different characters and it wouldn't make a difference in the world. Here it actually would. I also like how he's handled guest appearances thus far. I always complain about how writers make guest stars look like idiots to make their own character look good, we have none of that here. This story arc is suppose to establish what Moon Knight was doing during Civil War, so we've gotten guest appearances from Spider-Man, Captain America and now Punisher... and I honestly think they were all handled great.
Even though there isn't much that happens in this issue (main reason for rating), I still think this series is worth checking out for most people. The sad thing is Huston is suppose to be leaving the title with issue #12, but I hope whoever takes over keeps the same themes going. This series is surprisingly more about character then anything else. Daniel Way should look here for a few pointers on how to write Ghost Rider.