Written by: Jed MacKay
Art by: Devmalya Pramanik
Colors by: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Davide Paratore (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: August 14, 2024
Vengeance Of The Moon Knight #8, by Marvel Comics on 8/14/24, marks the return of Marc Spector to the role of Moon Knight and the Midnight Mission, but what price will he pay for his resurrection?
Is Vengeance Of The Moon Knight #8 Good?
Although there’s no label on the cover, Vengeance of the Moon Knight #8 feels a lot like a Blood Hunt tie-in issue because it acts as a pseudo-epilogue to the events in Blood Hunt #5. Jed MacKay isn’t wrong for making this issue a spiritual tie-in, but it helps to know what you’re in for because the bits of the story that are NOT related to Blood Hunt are pretty thin.
When last we left the members of the Midnight Mission in Blood Hunt #5, Hunter’s Moon and Tigra snuck into Asgard and freed Khonshu from his imprisonment with the help of Wrecker’s Asgardian crowbar. Khonshu restored the moon and unleashed an army of past Moon Knights to confront the vampire apocalypse. To thank Hunter’s Moon and Tigra for their help, Khonshu resurrected Marc Spector.
In Vengeance Of The Moon Knight #8, Reese, Soldier, and Dr. Sterman find themselves cornered inside the Midnight Mission while 8-Ball scavenges for supplies elsewhere. Blade/Varnae’s vampires intend to infiltrate the Midnight Mission by ramming it with a gasoline tanker truck. If our “good guy” vampires don’t stop the truck, Marc Spector’s legacy will go up in flames.
When I say, “This issue feels like a Blood Hunt tie-in,” that much is obvious from page one. That said, if you haven’t been paying attention to Blood Hunt, only sticking to the Moon Knight series, you’ll likely be a bit lost in the setup.
With a brief power-up, courtesy of blood donated by Dr. Strerman, Reese and Soldier launch into the street to clear the charging vampire and commandeer the gas tanker. The melee begins in earnest when the entire crowd is stunned by a surprising sight – the reappearance of the Sun. Stranger still, the vampires quickly realize they no longer burn from the rays of the Sun (see that odd development in Blood Hunt #5).
To Jed MacKay’s credit, he handles the actions and reactions of all vampires present well. That said, the development that sunlight no longer affects Earth’s vampires is a strange one that has yet to receive a clear explanation, so readers will just have to go with it for now.
The “bad” vampires are anxious to blow the tanker, whether they’re close enough to the Midnight Mission or not. Suddenly, the random vampire holding the grenade is struck down by the arrival of Tigra, Hunter’s Moon, and… Moon Knight. After the vampires are cleared from Midnight Mission and the surrounding territory, all characters share tearful hugs.
The issue concludes with Marc Spector asking to continue his therapy, a reminder to repay Wrecker what he’s owed, and Khnoshu’s terms of payment.
Overall, Vengeance of the Moon Knight #8 serves as a decent epilogue to Moon Knight’s portion of the Blood Hunt event, but the plot is paper thin, so this issue does little more than set up what comes next.
How’s the Art? Devmalya Pramanik steps in as guest artist for Alessandro Cappuccio, and thankfully, the quality doesn’t drop one bit. If anything, Pramanik delivers a fairly close approximation of Cappuccio’s style, so readers who’ve enjoyed the regular artistic team throughout the majority of Jed MacKay’s run will feel right at home.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Vengeance Of The Moon Knight #8 doesn’t have “Blood Hunt” on the cover, but this issue mostly serves as a Blood Hunt epilogue to show readers what happens to the Midnight Mission during the climax of the Blood Hunt conflict. MacKay’s script packs in all the emotion of a tearful reunion, and Devmalya Pramanik’s guest art keeps the quality and visual consistency high. That said, there’s not much meat to this issue beyond the Blood Hunt antics, so continuing readers get little more than a tease of what’s to come.
7/10
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