"Footprints" - a review of Marvel's Moon Knight #13

Since today is Wednesday, it is also new comic book day.

Introduction

I'm reading only a few series at the moment, but one of those is the newest run of Moon Knight, which was initially released in March 2014. The original team featured Warren Ellis penning the story with Declan Shalvey as artist and Jordie Bellaire as colorist.

Well, fast forward to six-issue story arcs later, and the team is brand-new. It was obvious from the start that Ellis wouldn't be on the book for an extended period, though I still confess it was disappointing to see him go after six issues. Shalvey penned the cover for issue #7, but didn't continue on with the series. Brian Wood and Greg Smallwood took over during this period, and Bellaire remained on the team until #12, but that was it for her.

So where does this leave the book?

New moon

The newest arc is purportedly a five-issue arc that will focus on "five different 'street-level supernatural' style adventures," according to Dave Richards at Comic Book Resources.

Cullen Bunn is now writing the series for this arc, and his well-known horror credentials will undoubtedly flavour the volatile Moon Knight cocktail.

In "Footprints," we get exactly what Bunn promised CBR in the above quote. Spector is forced into a confrontation with opponents who are definitely not robbing a bank. I enjoyed the story and, yes, it is a done-in-one, fully-contained plotline. The writing was excellent, and it's made me the most excited I've been for this series since Moon Knight #4. 

If Bunn can keep up the supernatural tension and general "weird factor" for the rest of this arc, it will be a blessing for the series.

Ron Ackins takes over as penciller, and his style is a noticeable departure from the earlier Shalvey and Smallwood incarnations of this book.

Spector seems larger and more imposing in this book than the previous issues. The general atmospheric style has also moved away from simpler shapes and heavy use of shadow to a grittier, splintered-and-splattered style, although there are definitely still nods to the Shalvey aesthetic.

His illustrations, especially the larger panels, make good use of natural human tendencies to draw your attention gradually to aspects of a panel. The action scenes are kinetic and brutal - Ackins seems to understand Moon Knight well.

Dan Brown does the colorist work here, and uses gratuitous (but not overbearing) splattering throughout the art. It fits and feels distinctly like it belongs in Moon Knight, but if every issue had the same amount of spattering in it, it would get excessive. For story reasons, it fits here. There's also a lot of background abstraction, with solid shade backgrounds in some panels.

There are three inkers on this book but it seems that Tom Palmer is the one credited on the cover. He does well with Ackins's stuff, and his lines help to reinforce the nods to Shalvey.

Overall, "Footprints" is an exciting new beginning for Moon Knight, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the Cullen Bunn arc. If you enjoyed the early Ellis/Shalvey stuff, I'm confident you'll enjoy this.