Nerds That Geek Comic Book Review: ‘Moon Knight’ (2006) No. 13 – ‘The Uses of Restraint’

Written by Joel T. Lewis

In celebration of the impending release of the Moon Knight series premiering March 30th on Disney Plus I’m doing a deep dive on some of the lesser explored corners of the Moonie Mythos. This time we’re taking a look at Moon Knight’s admission as a card-carrying member of the Avengers and this time, it’s not on the West Coast, and it’s no Secret, “The Uses of Restraint” written by Charlie Huston and illustrated by Tomm Coker. 

Moon Knight’s neutrality in the Civil War is a problem for everyone. Occupying no man’s land while flooding Detective Flint’s office with crippled cons with crescent moons carved into their foreheads, neither side wants the jet and silver wraith. Worn down by Khonshu’s unslakable bloodlust, Spector decides to try to secure a place as a member of the Avengers, the main obstacle? He has no hope of passing the psych eval. 
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Moon Knight recruits the bottom feeding manipulator The Profile to assist him in terrifying his evaluator into rubber-stamping his application. I love the interplay between Marc and Dr. Depford, from the doctor’s initial condescending dismissal, to the moment you think Khonshu is possessing Marc and interrogating the interrogator, to the revelation that even though it’s the Profile instead, it’s no less cool because Marc knew he could do that. 

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This issue is dark, gruesome, twisted, and no good place to start reading about the Civil War Event, however it shines light on Moon Knight’s ingenuity and cleverness in manipulating people’s perceptions of his madness. Though his Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is not very thoroughly explored in this particular run, Marc’s mental illness and hallucinatory projections of Khonshu inform the visual style and perspective of the reader in this issue beautifully; twisting and distorting our expectations as Marc completes his mission. 
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This issue traces the dark tendrils of Marc’s social circle quite atmospherically. Isolated and alone once again though he is, the darkness of his mission, and the violence it demands continues to echo in his loved ones attempts to move on as Marlene is bored by her new fling, and shocked at how easily violence (and vengeful violence at that) comes to her when they are attacked on the street. Frenchie longs to be by his friend’s side, trying to balance his unrequited love, his disgust and trauma. Marc’s duty as the Fist of Khonshu can have no competition, and anything that tries to temper that mission of vengeance, ends up crushed inside that fist. 

My favorite issues of Moon Knight are always those that explore the complexity of the character, and I love the way this one characterizes the extent of trauma that Moon Knight causes and his self-awareness and tenacity in the face of his earned isolation. Marc is ever-broken, and Huston’s view of the shattered pieces of his psyche is fascinating. 

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I also love that in this issue Marc says definitely, “I don’t have powers.” As much as I love the early origins of Mark being bit by a werewolf and having strength that’s amplified based on the phase of the moon, it’s so much more interesting when Marc doesn’t have powers. As psychedelic and alien as Marc can seem in these comics, I’ve always thought having no powers made the extraordinary things he could do that much more remarkable. More noteworthy still, Huston’s characterization acknowledges that Marc used to have powers, used to slip into his alter-egos, and is now coping with repressing them, and losing those powers. Huston’s Moon Knight bears the scars of all his incarnations, and it’s such a brilliant extension of the character’s depth, and the depth of the damage to his psyche. 
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Tomm Coker’s newspaper pulp style art is one of a kind in the pantheon of Moon Knight artists, especially his flashback panels which evoke the work of Chris Warner and E.R. Cruz and Bill Sienkiewicz while also maintaining a style all their own. The implied and applied grime in these panels, and the lithe, almost ghostly depiction of Moon Knight matches Huston’s tone perfectly. 

Moon Knight’s story set against the Civil War backdrop is such a great setting to explore his place in the superpowered community, and how he must carve out a space for himself because as a hero, he’s never fit the mold. This issue is a great snapshot of the character’s history, his impact, and his potential for interesting storytelling and I hope you all get a chance to read it!
 

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