Shadowland: Moon Knight #1

Moon Knight must recover the sapphire crescent if they have any hope of stopping the Beast within Daredevil. 

After finishing this mini-series I'm left with mixed feelings. I like writer Gregg Hurwitz. He's definitely a talented writer who is currently doing great work on DC's Penguin mini-series. Perhaps it was due to this being limited to only three issues, but I don't feel as if this was some of his best writing. It's sort of a forced tie-in that barely ties in to the Shadowland event. 

Most of this story is flashbacks of Moon Knight's childhood. I don't know if it's because of my lack of Moon Knight knowledge and experience with his character, but I felt the story was a bit confusing at times. The pacing and transitioning wasn't to my liking. Usually Hurwitz is clear and concise but he wrote as if everyone knows everything about Moon Knight. Not bad for longtime fans of his characters who will probably understand everything with ease but for readers such as myself with limited experience, it can be a bit confusing to follow. I managed to piece everything together for the most part and ended up enjoying the story a little. 

I did like the concept and how the story ended by pushing Moon Knight back over to Khonshu's ways. The way it all played out was pretty compelling. Moon Knight's brother had a bomb strapped to himself threatening the lives of all the civilians in the vicinity. Moon Knight not wanting to kill anymore and fall down that path again reluctantly killed his brother to save the people at the cost of his own soul. Dramatic storytelling and proof of Hurwitz's writing abilities. 

The art was average at best. Bong Dazo had decent moments of great work but often times his proportions were off. If it wasn't that then he was drawing a Daredevil on steroids which looked ridiculous. Francesco Mattina's covers were so awesome. I'd love to see him draw Moon Knight more. 

This was an average read that's not at all necessary to understand everything that happened in Shadowland. It's most likely only going to please big Moon Knight fans. If you're new to Moon Knight this won't make you a fan of his character. It's decent but it's short length almost make it not worth reading.