I got most of the books that came out this week I wanted. The remainder, plus the ones I was still looking for from earlier this month, ought to be here by early next week. So I should be good for comics reviews into the second week of November. Huzzah!
MacKay brings Marlene back, as their daughter's been kidnapped by Jack Russell, the old Werewolf by Night. Jack's got his eyes on a prophecy that will enable Khonshu to be killed, since he blames Khonshu for there being werewolves, what with the whole moon connection. Seems to me there's probably more than one god of the Moon - hasn't Artemis got that title in one of the mythologies? - but maybe one's as good as another.
Hunter's Moon clues Marc in to the prophecy, and even agrees to help, although he insists Khonshu's fists are not supposed to have children. Like, what, Khonshu creates a mystical condom any time they get freaky? Don't let Fox News hear about this pagan birth control. Either way, Marc (or was it Jake?) slipped one past the goalie, so the prophecy is in play. While Marc keeps Russell occupied, Hunter's Moon is supposed to be rescuing Diatrice. Or he's supposed to be obeying Khonshu and killing the potential threat.
Sabbatini draws Khonshu in a variety of ways. A reflection in a mirror Badr walks past. A shadow on the wall. An actual physical form leaning over Badr's shoulder. There's probably something that represents each of Khonshu's styles or phases. Otherwise, Rosenberg maintains a fairly consistent look for the book compared to when Cappuccio is drawing it. Sharp divides between dark and light, especially on Moon Knight's costume. Sabbatini's character's are more rounded, almost gentler looking than Cappuccio's. Cappuccio's Marc looks like a wreck under the mask; Sabbatini's looks like Paul Rudd: a kind of scruffy goofball.
I thought this was a solid-enough done-in-one. Presents a problem, a couple of them actually. Provides resolutions, at least temporarily since I figure the alignment can't be a one-off, so Russell could always try again. MacKay has mostly dealt with how Moon Knight sees himself, and to a lesser extent, how people that have only recently come to know him - Reese, Soldier, Hunter's Moon, Zodiac - see him. Marlene is someone who's known him longer than all those people put together, and known him in better times and worse. I know some fans who will definitely disagree with some of her statements - especially the one about loving each of Marc, Jake, and Steven - but it's still an interesting alternative perspective.
Felicia and Tony's plan appears to have crapped out, since it relied on Tamara and she got killed. Yep totally dead. No doubts. Not a fakeout.
Oh, wait, it was definitely a fakeout, and Tamara pops up with her plan. The Sunset Bain causing problems is a copy of the real deal. A copy that was supposed to free the real deal, but surprise! did not. The real deal is rather irate and Stark sets her loose in the system against the copy, then purges the system while they're occupied. Kind of hilarious that works, but smart people can be dumb as hell. Just look at Tony Stark.
The two cats fight Sunset in the Hulkbuster armor until Stark can upload the original, and I feel like MacKay overplays Tamara's competence versus Felicia's a bit. I know they say she's supposed to be better at everything, but Felicia should definitely have more experience with this sort of insane superhero stuff than Tamara, which oughta count for something. Also, I liked how Villa drew the energy claws on the armor as very long, but Perez draws them as short little things, closer to the talons Spider-Man 2099 has.
Sunset's beat. Tamara accepts Felicia's explanation for why she sent the Fox to the Gilded Saint. The fact Felicia presents it as the Fox asking her because Tamara would have been too smart to be fooled probably helped. Tamara escapes with the black-and-white armor, plus the diamond Felicia was trying to steal when this all started. Stark makes an extremely funny pouty face when Felicia tells him he'll never catch Tamara.
If the Annual felt like a solid one-off story, this mini-series felt thin. I think it could have been fine in four issues. If Mackay was trying to draw parallels between Tamara/Felicia and Bain/Stark, I'm not sure it works. The former pair's history kind of gets shoved aside for all the flying around in armors blasting stuff. It feels like an Iron Man story, but one not focused on Iron Man. Like neither story really coexists easily with one another, because Tamara just wants to strike at Felicia, but Bain is willing and eager to harm the entire world. It helps present Tamara as not irredeemable, but the scale of things gets skewed.
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