Moon Knight #11 Review - Marvel Monday

Here’s Frenchie

Written by: Jeff Lemire
Art by: Greg Smallwood, Jordie Bellaire and Cory Petit
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 1, 2017
Review by: Josh Vermillion

I have been one of this book’s biggest proponents for months now. Jeff Lemire has given a take on Moon Knight that’s never been seen before, weaving in every aspect of Marc Spector and combining them into a psychological story that’s still packed with action. A great story needs a great artist, and Greg Smallwood being back on art for this arc has bumped the book up even more in my mind. So, now that I’m finished gushing over the first 10 issues, let’s jump into Moon Knight #11.

This issue continues a trip through Marc Spector’s past and showing that Khonshu was a part of his life all along. We see Marc leaving the Putnam Psychiatric Hospital, with the real Dr. Emmut, to attend his father’s funeral. We see Marc then run away from the funeral and join the Marines. We see Marc get dishonorably discharged and start up a career in an underground fight club. We see Marc meet Frenchie for the first time at that fight club.

Along with all of these events from Marc’s past, we get a look at what exactly he’s doing in the Overvoid. After fighting a couple of people riding on giant bugs, he gets locked up in a cell with the rest of the captured slaves. Among those slaves is Anput, wife of Anubis and the person Marc has come to retrieve.

Before he has a chance to free her, the guards come and take him out in front of a crowd to be sacrificed. It doesn’t show exactly what they’re going to do to him, but he looks pretty afraid of whatever it is he sees. Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure it’s going to tie into his past in some way. That’s just the way that Lemire writes this book.

There isn’t much more I can say about Greg Smallwood’s art that I haven’t said in previous reviews. This guy just gets it. His use of negative space as a part of the art is something you don’t see all that often, and it works. As much as I would love to see what Smallwood could do with a bigger book, I don’t want him off of this one.

I know that a lot of times great comics stories don’t translate well to the big or the small screen, but there have been some sequences throughout this series that could be taken panel-for-panel and made into a TV show, including most of this issue. I hope Jeff Loeb is reading this book, because this needs to be a Netflix series.

Bits and Pieces:

This book may not be for everyone. Some people might not like the fact that the story isn’t getting any clearer and more questions keep getting raised. Some people might not like the art style. Some might hate the long-form story that doesn’t have natural arcs. I am definitely not one of those people. I love everything that I just mentioned. My only complaint is that one issue a month isn’t enough for me. I want more.

10/10