Moon Knight vs. Count Nefaria!
Whilst I didn't enjoy this issue as much as last month's, I think that it was still a very solid issue. The issue can basically be summarised as "Moon Knight fights Nefaria whilst flashbacks explain how he got his weapons." The flashbacks were really helpful, as Moon Knight's weapons arsenal has been a bit vague up to this point. The series probably could have benefited had his weapons been introduced earlier, but it nevertheless still was enjoyable and helpful. One moment in the flashbacks (which I'll get into later) bugged me a bit, but other than than, they were enjoyable and helpful. I'm also starting to warm up to Buck Lime, thanks to these flashbacks. There was also a great line at the start of the issue referring to Moon Knight's role in the Secret Avengers, and I'm pretty sure that it was a sneaky reference to the fact that Moon Knight never seems to appear or do much in the Secret Avengers.
The fight with Nefaria takes up the majority of this issue, and it really is cool to see Moon Knight try every trick in the book to do whatever damage he can to Nefaria. You'd think that Nefaria would wipe the floor with Moon Knight, but there is actually a genuinely good reason for why he doesn't, and I'm glad that that was thrown in to justify things, as I would have been annoyed if it hadn't been explained. As always, Maleev's style really captures the right mood for the scene, and his artwork is consistently enjoyable to view.
Despite the fact that I had fun with this issue, there are two things that I wasn't so happy with. Firstly, as I hinted at before, was the flashbacks. I did enjoy them and all, but one line really made me stop and think- "[SHIELD] reverse-engineered Spider-Man's web formula years ago." What?! That raises so many questions, that it just sounds stupid and not-well thought out. It would have been so simple for Buck to say "This is the closest I could make to Spider-Man's web formula," or "It's based on the Trapster's paste formula," but no, instead we just get a stupid line which is almost insulting to Spider-Man. The other thing I didn't enjoy about this issue was the fact that the death mentioned in the solicit was pretty obvious, once you look at the cast of the book, so it lacked a lot more impact than it could have.
Nevertheless, I still did enjoy this issue, and I am pleased with it. I know I've said this for about half my reviews of the series, but the cliffhanger for this issue really is great, and I hope it isn't resolved too quickly. All in all, this issue has flaws, but nothing which could be considered a deal-breaker.
