I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that a lot of you have never even heard of Moon Knight. Like most superheroes, he's a guy who dresses up in a costume at night and saves people. The hook is that he's not driven by some traumatic childhood event, but an Egyptian god named Khonshu. Also, he might be insane.
When writer Jeff Lemire (formerly of "Green Arrow") took over the character earlier this year, he seemed to be using the character to ask the quintessential superhero question: is this guy really a powerful vigilante or is he nutjob in an asylum imagining these adventures? Since then, Lemire's left both the character and readers wondering and "Moon Knight" has been one of the most fascinating and confusing comics on the market.
At least some of that is thanks to the art. Usually, Greg Smallwood shepherds us through Moon Knight's kaleidoscopic adventures through his own mind. However, for this arc, his work is mostly restricted to the covers while a rotating group of artists helps Lemire tell the story—each one rendering one of the character's personalities. The bulk of the work in this issue goes to Francesco Francavilla, who does his own coloring as well as drawing. Francavilla handles the Jake Lockley persona, a taxi driver who moonlights (sorry) as a costumed vigilante. With his dark, heavy lines and bright, solid colors, Francavilla gives Jake's life a distinctly noir-ish feel, which is fitting considering the character starts the issue in police custody.
We last saw Jake walking into his friend Gena's diner only to discover that she and all the customers had been brutally murdered. This issue begins with Jake being questioned by a pair of detectives who look suspiciously similar to the violent nurses from the previous arc. There's something comforting in the characters' familiarity even if they are villains and Lemire lulls us into thinking that this is the real version of Moon Knight's life right before he knocks us off balance all over again. Suddenly, we switch to the movie producer-version of the character, Steven Grant, and the interrogation is briefly revealed as a scene for a movie before it becomes reality again once the director yells, "action!" It's a jarring moment, but hardly the only time Lemire plays with the form within the issue. Perhaps the best moment comes later, when–rather than let a typical hero/villain fight scene play out normally–Lemire deconstructs it through the Grant persona, having the characters comment on the cheesy dialogue even as they say it.
Still, surprising and often fun as it can be to watch Lemire play, there is something to be said for how exhausting it can be. We are 8-issues into this series and it's still not really clear what is and isn't real. The plot has always centered around both the character's and our attempts to understand who Moon Knight is and we are no closer to discovering the truth than we were at the beginning. As Crawley, Moon Knight's friend says in this issue, "I'd hoped you'd be further along by now." As the character's mind devolves as the issue goes on–sometimes switching from one panel to the next–it's difficult not to feel that same fatigue.
"Moon Knight" #8 is not an easy read. Moon Knight himself can't even control his personalities and it can be difficult for any reader, especially those new to the character, to understand what's even happening. However, what Lemire is doing is worth the effort it takes to read it. Moon Knight isn't just trying to defeat another villain. He's questioning the very nature of heroism. It's heady stuff and you won't always understand what's going on, but you can always enjoy the art until you do.
