For years, Marc Spector has defended New York City as the masked vigilante Moon Knight. Calling upon the powers of the ancient Egyptian God Khonshu, he has kept the city safe from street gangs and supernatural forces alike. Or has he? Waking up in an insane asylum will shake anyone’s confidence. But it can’t be true, can it? His mind is full of identities and he no longer knows which is real. His thoughts are clouded and he has no idea what to believe. If he calls to Khonshu, he believes he will receive an answer. But is this a sign he still clings to his sanity, or has it slipped from him completely?

Something is wrong with Marc Spector. Will Moon Knight be his salvation? Or will it ultimately be his undoing?

Writer Jeff Lemire takes the helm and puts his touch on Moon Knight in this debut Moon Knight #1, along with artist Greg Smallwood. Lemire is beyond a talented writer, but with this debut issue it feels like the comic takes a lot from shows and movies we’ve previously seen, playing with stereotypes when it comes to mental illness.

The hospital? Straight out of 12 Monkeys? The mean staff? Every psych ward you’ve seen on television and movies.

While Lemire gives us a slightly different take on Marc Spector and a twist on Moon Knight, what we get instead is a bit messy relying too much on stereotypes. But, still, it’s Lemire, and I’m intrigued to see where he’s going to take the series.

Greg Smallwood’s art is intriguing as well. His use of space on the pages is different from a lot of the other comics out there. There’s a dirtiness to it that reminds me a bit of Hawkeye, but primarily Smallwood’s work on Dream Thief. Cross the two and you get this series.

I had hoped for a bit more from this comic, but I did have high expectations considering the creative team. It’s a decent start and different direction, but the first issue relies WAY too much on settings and characters we’ve seen before.

Story: Jeff Lemire Art: Greg Smallwood
Story: 7 Art: 7.8 Overall: 7 Recommendation: Read

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review