Moon knight vol 2 by brian wood

Moon Knight (2014) Vol 2: Dead Will Rise, illustrated by Greg Smallwood

Wood takes over the series from Ellis, and it starts off similarly to Ellis’ volume 1 short story-type narrative. However, Wood weaves threads throughout each chapters that have payoff in the end. Moon Knight stops a well-armed sniper from killing a foreign dignitary, but it’s clear the man is a mercenary paid by someone very powerful. He then foils a terrorist plot at One World Trade Center, but the whole encounter is recorded on a cell phone camera and released to the world. The doctor from volume 1 is back - she tries to convince Marc to help her take down the foreign dignitary, and she gets Khonshu for her efforts. She infiltrates a security detail that is supposed to be protecting him, and without Khonshu, Marc finds himself detained yet again in something like a mental facility. Now, he’ll have to make it out without the powers of his god behind him, and stop the doctor before she ignites a civil war in an African country.

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The pacing for most of this volume is a little slower and methodical while Wood weaves his stories together, but the ending is rushed and a little unsatisfying. Marc gets in touch with Joy Mercado, a reporter for the Daily Bugle in order to get help at the end, but we haven’t seen her since the beginning of volume one, and only as exposition to set the starting point of the series. It’s a little strange to have her be the one that Marc turns to for help. Once he does get in touch with her, he’s back and getting into the thick of it within a matter of panels. Khonshu being wishy-washy is also pretty quick, but the uncertainty of the god’s remaining favor definitely gives reason to Marc’s paranoia and is a thread present in the Marvel TV show.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1

Publisher: Marvel
Publication Date: April 28, 2015​
ISBN: 9780785154099 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Comicbooks, Superheroes, Action Adventure, ​Marvel