Someone you trust betraying you isn't exactly breaking new ground, but Moon Knight finds some new life in a familiar setup. Read Full Review

Overall Moon Knight #194 was a pretty solid issue. There are things I liked and disliked about it. I am not crazyabout having to continually deal with Marc's mental illness with every issue, but it is also nice to know what it stems from. I really enjoyed the moments of Marc being a father. It's an interesting direction to take for the character. The art is solid. Templeton has some good layouts and Smith does good work on colors. The art is good but it also does not stand out in this issue either. All in all a good issue. Nothing great but it does reveal some interesting points for the character of Moon Knight. Read Full Review

On the surface, 'Origins' is pretty effective storytelling. Underneath, it feels like a bit of balderdash"earnest balderdash, but still balderdash. Read Full Review

Woah! That was pretty gnarly. I like Moon Knight when things get uncomfortable, and they sure do here.

Marc tells a ripping scary story about running into a crypto-Nazi villain as a young boy. It's a gripping tale, but I don't think it makes quite as much of an impact as the creators would like. It gives Marc's Jewish heritage some appreciable attention. The villain raises a ton of questions, though - how/why would an ardent Nazi impersonate a rabbi and keep it up for SIXTY YEARS? - and the story chooses to answer only the dullest one - how is he still alive? - in the dullest way possible - generic comicbook super-science. It does leave a nice door open for a sequel in another flashback, or even a contemporary tale.

*spoilers alert*

Bemis' new account of Moon Knight's origin is a brilliant concept that -- for me -- ultimately fails. because I was unable to mobilize sufficient suspension of disbelief.

So much of the backstory was unlikely. Perhaps a Nazi could escape by posing as a Jew. But could he actually have sustained a role as a Rabbi? If he were able to sustain the role until reaching the U.S., why would he continuing playing the role, when he could just blend into mainstream America? And certainly it's unlikely that he had the knowledge base to sustain the role for any length of time. There has been no indication that Jewish boys are going missing, although he's apparently been doing this for a while, and is it likely that no one would have noticed a large number of unfamiliar boys accompanying the Rabbi into the synagogue but never coming out? The weight of unlikeliness is massive, too heavy a lift for an average suspender of disbelief.

That said, the concept, as I mentioned, is brilliant. I was disconcerted by the discovery that the individual who inspires Marc with good-natured humor as well as piety, an individual who went through hell but survived without giving in to despair, was in actuality a demon of that hell, a demon who's true pleasure came not from good jokes and religious observance, but from torture, hatred, embodying evil. Yet, as uncomfortable as I felt about it, as repulsed as I was, I could see that this was indeed an experience that could trigger Marc's multiple personality disorder. It makes perfect sense. Was it possible that the Rabbi/Demon Ernst/Yitz was also a split personality? Might it be that Ernst/Yitz was not a Nazi playing a role but rather a composite of one personality that reached the ultimate evil nature of which Nazism is capable and another personality that leapt to the opposite extreme of nurturing a Jewish flock. That premise could mitigate some of the unlikeliness of the plot. Did the author intend it?

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Was not really feeling this issue. Bemis has been good since taking over and this is just a hiccup in the road. I do notice that Bemis uses a lot of intricate language when it's not necessarily needed and also this whole origin could have been more tightly written. It was very drawn out and didn't really strike me as a must read.