Knuckle Bones

Moon Knight #3

Moon Knight encounters a criminal menace he can’t beat down — a gang of ghosts running around New York beating people up. Marc can’t manage to lay a glove on them, but they have no difficulty kicking his ass all over the street. But the Khonshu side of him reveals that he does have a way he can strike back at the ghosts — entirely without his own knowledge, Moon Knight had been collecting magical armor designed to let him touch the spectral world. The rematch goes much differently.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Outstanding art and storytelling. I absolutely love the design of the skeletal Khonshu and the similar design of Marc’s ghost armor. The action is, of course, grand, but the resolution of the whole thing is even better. Come on, folks, it’s early in this one’s run — better jump on the bandwagon now.

Loki: Agent of Asgard #4

After a thrilling (and snarky) duel of trickery (and swords), the great Asgardian hero Sigurd has managed to steal his ancient sword Gram away from Loki. He takes it to Kaluu, a meditating magician in Tibet, so he can exchange it for the opportunity to escape from the Valkyries, who intend to torture him all through the afterlife because he’s slighted them somehow. Unfortunately, it turns out that Kaluu isn’t really Kaluu — and he intends to torment Sigurd even more terribly. Can Sigurd get out of this? Or will the seemingly dead Loki have to save his bacon?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Nicely done action and (naturally) trickery — and not just on Loki’s part. Sigurd spends most of his time lying, and Kaluu is all about the untruths. And I must say I’m also enjoying Sigurd a lot — I wouldn’t mind seeing him with his own series — he’s a wonderfully devious character, especially for someone who’s supposed to be a great hero.

The Returning #2

I missed this one for a while, but finally managed to pick it up last week. Beth Turner is on the run — her family has been murdered and everyone in town thinks she’s a changer — someone who died briefly and then becomes a homicidal maniac later. She turns to her sole remaining friend for help — but then gets attacked by the gas station attendant she’d thought had been killed. And after that, she’s rescued by the man who she thought was a changer out to kill her. But is he really on her side? Should she believe him, or is the convenient FBI agent she meets going to help her escape to a place of safety?

Verdict: Ehh, dunno. It’s kinda all over the place — and the paranoia is high enough at this point that I don’t know who we should be trusting — or if we should be trusting anyone at all. That may be by design, but for now, it feels a bit directionless.