• Moon Knight Black, White & Blood #3 cover
    Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #3
    Writer:
    Erica Shultz, Ann Nocenti, Jim Zub
    Artist:
    David Lopez, Djibril Morissette-Phan, Stefano Raffaele
    Letterer:
    VC's Cory Petit
    Cover Artist:
    Frank Cho
    Publisher:
    Marvel
    Price:
    $4.99
    Release Date:
    2022-07-20
    Colorist:
    Chris Sotomayor

Many years ago, troubled ex-mercenary Marc Spector was given a second chance at life when the Egyptian god of the moon, Khonshu, resurrected him inside his shadow, making him his formidable fist and vessel, the hero Moon Knight. Gifted with godlike powers, Moon Knight prowls the streets of the Marvel Universe, ready to enact divine justice.

Featuring three short stories–"Wrong Turn" by Erica Schultz and David Lopez, "No Empty Sky" by Jim Zub and Djibril Morisette-Phan, and "Astronuts" by Ann Nocenti, Stefano Raffaele and Chris Sotomayor -- Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #3 collects tales of mayhem, madness, and morality under the light of the moon. Continuing the anthology series, these stories demonstrate the terror and vulnerability of the Fist of Khonshu as he faces a variety of felons. Whether it's evil cults, amoral millionaires, or robbers with the worst luck, nobody is exempt from Moon Knight's keen eye.

Related: Moon Knight's Ethan Hawke Confirms He's Not Interested in Future MCU Projects

Moon Knight runs at the reader and takes down two Hand Ninjas

While all three stories in Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #3 share a similar theme and aesthetic, they vary in tone, style, and quality. Each one also explores some facet of Moon Knight's character -- his background as a civilian mercenary, his struggles with Dissociative Identity Disorder, his reluctant reverence of Khonshu, and his own conflicting feelings towards his violent past and present.

The first story, "Wrong Turn," focuses on one of Marc Spector's alter-egos, Jake Lockley, the taxi driver whom three robbers have the misfortune of hijacking. The artist for this segment, David Lopez, cleverly incorporates Moon Knight's presence here as a reflection in the mirror, visible only to Lockley as he communicates with himself. It's equal parts creepy, humorous, and badass to see Moon Knight chilling in the backseat between two of the hapless robbers, confused and bewildered as Lockely seemingly chats to nobody. "Wrong Turn" has clean visuals to compliment the clean story, with tight and sharp line art.

"Astronuts" boasts more lurid, grandiose visuals courtesy of artist Raffaele and colorist Sotomayor. The line art is soft and almost painterly. Each panel is crammed with lines and textures, looking more like paintings than panels. This style is complemented by Sotomayor's use of color, combining solids with dappled watercolor washes. However, the visuals can be cluttered and haphazardly composed. While "Astronuts" does have some humor -- putting Moon Knight on the literal Moon is enough to warrant a chuckle -- its storyline, a very obvious dig at the current billionaire space race, is a bit on the nose and falls flat.

Related: An Unexpected Marvel Villain Shows Moon Knight Just How Far He's Fallen

Of the three short stories, the strongest in Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #3 is "No Empty Sky," written by Jim Zub, who singlehandedly captures Moon Knight's feelings of reverence, reluctance, humanity, and duty. Moon Knight is pitted against a fundamentalist religious cult hellbent on sacrificing an innocent girl who harbors a power that their god covets. The hero dispatches the cult with the power of Khonshu, who immediately commands him to mark the girl with his symbol, claiming her as a potential vessel and successor to Moon Knight. Spector protests that he was given the choice to accept Khonshu's power and faith. It's a stunning and powerful moment that captures Spector's internal conflict. "No Empty Sky" also has the strongest visuals thanks to Morissette-Phan's art, a beautifully rendered style reminiscent of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, with vivid solid reds, halftones, elegant fight choreography, and gorgeous environments.

Moon Knight has many faces and phases -- too many to cover in just one storyline. With so much potential for his character in terms of development and genre, Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #3 exemplifies Moon Knight's depth and versatility.