Moon Knight, Vol. 4: Road to Ruin

Moon Knight (2021)

by Jed MacKay (Writer), Danny Lore (Writer), Federico Sabbatini (Illustrator)

Moon Knight's adventures on the dark side of the Marvel Universe continue in thrilling fashion!

Moon Knight delves into the depths of the Earth to bring vengeance and justice to the subterranean seas of New York City — all while wrestling with new revelations brought to light by a savage murder! Meanwhile, what exactly has Zodiac been up to all this time? There’s blood on the streets as assassins work their way through a list of names containing those who once formed Moon Knight’s Shadow Cabinet. But with a number of potential targets and no idea who’s next, how can Moon Knight save his former associates? And, when a sinister pied piper plays a deadly tune — one that spells death and chaos to all who hear it — Moon Knight and his companions are put in an impossible How do you fight someone whose will is not their own?

 Moon Knight (2021) 19-24

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

Published September 12, 2023

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

A weird mix of almost standalone stories for a single volume with the targeting of the Shadow Cabinet being the primary and most interesting. This run has been ruled by the art and the great concepts around Moon Knight living and breathing in the dark side of the Marvel urban universe, and it is these themes that kept this weakest volume of the series so far, but overall I still recommend this standout series overall. A Three Star, 6 out of 12.

2025 read

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess Moon Knight and Tigra have a history together. News to me, but it's making for a fun arc!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone is going around killing all of Moon Knight’s old crew. MK is desperately trying to get ahead of them and stop them. The killers were brain washed and MK is trying to figure out how and who did it. There are some cool character moments with Tigra, a cameo that makes for a dope team up and some characters from Moon Knight’s comics history that show up here. This series continues to be a fun ride and I’m looking forward to see how this shakes out in the next volume.

[Mattthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good, but felt a bit all over the place to me. This is the first time in this run I'm giving 4 stars. Hope the 5th volume finishes strong. Still a very good read.
Recommend.

[Khurram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moon Knight is becoming my favourite Marvel comic/character. Usually, I don't like filler type books, but after the madness of the last volume, it was great to take stock and set up the next adventure. The reason I gave this book 5 stars is that the more I think about it, the more I like it.

Someone is targeting the people who have worked with Moon Knight in the past. With three personalities, that is quite a few people he would care about. Messing with Moon Knight is a bad idea. How far will Moon Knight go to ptotect/avenge people he cares about? He might even call in a favour here and there.

The second story is arc.The Midnight Mansion does not turn anyone away who needs help. No matter who or what it is.

I also like the interaction not just between Moon Knights personalities but the actual people in his life.

I compare Moon Knight to Batman. However with Batman he playa on criminals superstitious fear, but recently mose criminals in Gotham know Batman has likes he will not cross, but Moon Knight is too crazy and mean he does not know what the lines are. The book is a great setup for things to come. The artwork throughout the book is great, but it finishes with a varient cover gallery.

[Alex Sarll]

At this point MacKay is digging deep, bringing in elements from Moon Knight runs even I have never read, like Commodore Donny Planet. Was he always resident in an underground world? I know I could look it up, but it's more fun just going along for the ride. Also, an assortment of helpers Moon Knight apparently employed for a time, each with their own specialty, which as refracted here feels very pulp, more something I expect from the Shadow or Doc Savage - though I suppose Moon Knight is sometimes closer to those characters than the modern superhero, not least in his refusal to be bound by any asinine and self-defeating code against killing. Still, it does amuse me that both Marvel and DC's superhero comics have organisations called the Shadow Cabinet, which admittedly sounds like a cool and spooky name in and of itself, but if you're British mainly suggests Rachel Reeves. Anyway, as is so often the way with surplus sidekicks from back in the day, they mainly get brought back to be bumped off, because we need a new way to threaten our hero/es in light of recent resurrection revelations - though there are also gestures here towards placing some kind of limit on that, a bit like when Superman came back, except more feral and psychotic because this is Moon Knight, dammit.

Really, my only problem is the brief return of Zodiac, a character with whom I remain far less enthralled than seems to be the case for MK fandom as a whole, and that's even before his big problematic geek boy monologue where he says that he'd take Carnage – fucking Carnage! – over Doctor Doom as a great villain. Still, for the most part he's mercifully unseen, a series of more immediate antagonists including the likes of a supervillain sound engineer, and after some of the gigs I've been to, I'm left wondering why nobody has done more with this concept sooner. Along the way there's a surprisingly affecting Tigra-centric issue about feelings, and even the guest spot by Kid Venom (as we're apparently not supposed to call him) is better than the current surfeit of symbiote slop normally allows.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one felt like a team-up book featuring a lot of different Marvel characters. Seeing Tigra, Blade, Morpheus, and Dylan Brock as Venom were all good issues with entertaining interactions. I enjoyed all of these stories that featured Moon Knight as the main character, but I’m also looking forward to seeing the main story within this Moon Knighht title to continue.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lull before the final arc. A bit disjointed at the seams and not as interesting as the other volumes but not a total snorefest. Many hints as to what’s gonna happen next. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

[Papa Jimbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a relatively recent (in comic book terms) Moon Knight fan, who is yet to read a lot of the older runs - Lemire was my first run. Despite this, I was all in for this tempestuous reckoning. MacKay draws elements from Marc's past in a way that gives the story gravitas, but doesn't dwell so much on old stories that newer readers like myself are lost.

[nati · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

[micerco_tralepagine_diunlibro · Rating 5 out of 5]

❝Pensate di potervi nascondere dallo sguardo della luna, sotto tonnellate di terra e pietre. Ma io porto la violenza della luna ovunque serva.❞

𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒂: Mark Spector, Steven Grant e Jake Lockley sono le tre personalità di Moon Knight, senza contare Mr. Knight. Mark è la personalità principale ed è affetto dal disturbo dissociativo dell'identità.
I suoi vecchi alleati stanno cadendo come mosche. Qualcuno li sta facendo fuori e in una corsa contro il tempo Mark, Steven e Jake tentano di scoprire chi c'è dietro questo massacro attuato solo per arrivare a lui.

𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊: un'altra intensa avventura di Moon Knight creata da Jed MacKay, Alessandro Cappuccio e Federico Sabbatini. I disegni e i colori, come sempre, mi catturano tanto quanto la trama. I personaggi ospiti poi mi hanno deliziato, volete dei nomi? Venom e Blade e sul simbionte ci sono delle sorprese che non mi aspettavo.
Belle le interazioni con Blade, per non parlare del rapporto che Mark ha con ognuno dei suoi amici, in particolar modo Tigra e Rees che adoro!
Questo è il volume quattro e già non vedo l'ora di leggere il quinto

[Jaye Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

PUT HIS WHOLE MOONUSSY INTO IT. This is the best Moon Knight run I have read and I have nothing but praise for it.

The writer be going deep into that mk lore, bringing people back just to kill them off and i'm like?? sorry to this man but I've never seen him before in my entire life and I thought I had read all of mk's runs.

I gotta say I absolutely love Tigra so much?? She got a solo issue just to tear Marc a new asshole for how much of a shitty friend he was. I don't know how I feel about them maybe being in a relationship though?? I was already in my feels about how much I loved that they were best friends who would do anything for each other and it was so cute when he showed up to apologize with a vhs tape. 😭 But does it have to be a THING?

That last issue was actually the coolest trippy shit and always my favorite when that sort of thing happens. It felt like such a throwback to other mk runs too like go off.

The art is gorgeous as always and I love that for once Marc actually took the mask off like okay brown eyes. 🥺

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is obviously a lot of setup for what's coming next, but it's good setup. The individual issues are absorbing reads, and the tension that's being built is really good. There's also some great character moments, particularly with the relationship between Marc and Tigra. And in Tigra as her own person. I think this is the most interested I've ever been in this character. I'm so enjoying this run, and I can't wait for more.

[Sarah Laudenbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When I'm talking about super villains, I'm talking about real freak-steak, thrill-kill mavericks, boys and girls and gender nonconforming with blood on their hands and stars and stripes in their eyes."

This was a really refreshing volume in the Jed MacKay Moon Knight run! Road to Ruin blends some of the most obscure Marvel characters with some of the best-known, and it felt very balanced. The overarching storyline was really interesting, and I thought it was a smart move to bring a character like Venom in on a villain arc where sound is key. I love the idea of acoustic anarchy, and having Moon Knight team up with Venom for it was such a fun read.

Even though it only appeared in issue #24, I feel like Road to Ruin is the first volume in the Jed MacKay Moon Knight run since The Midnight Mission to start delving into Marc's psyche a bit more. The idea that Steven's dream is one without Marc or Jake comes as a bit of a blow after Marc has spent so much time trying to make peace and find balance with his alters, and that was a really interesting dig into the character.

My only gripe about Road to Ruin is that it's starting to do the thing I hate in comics, which is referring back to other runs and volumes and collections. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I know it's exceptionally common in comic books, but I like having contained stories within a universe. Referring back to other Jed MacKay Moon Knight issues? Totally fine. Starting to require readers to have read an old Hawkeye run to fully grasp the plot of an issue? Didn't love that.

All in all, another banger from Jed MacKay!

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume is a lot more varied and shows off some killer range!

Personal favorite is the team up with my favorite Marvel character, but the stories that focus on each of Moon Knight's personalities and giving lots of attention to his supporting cast here are really the things not to miss!

Cool explorations and touching connections abound!

[Becky Loader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm. I have to read the next one to see what happens!

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the ensemble cast in this series, especially Tigra and Hunter's Moon. The concept of the Midnight Mission continues to be great in this one. Especially loved the Tigra centric issue in this volume.

[Beatriz Robalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3

[Andres Pasten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigue siendo un comic muy entretenido de leer, utilizando bien el formato de historias unitarias

[Rebecca Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it so much i couldn’t stop reading it so I read it in one day so the train scene was fun and that massive fight everyone teamed up against the villains . And I also like how they can’t respawn back now if they die they are gone forever. I like how zodiac was still in it I thought he was going to break out of prison but no . I also thought how the villan was killing old associate of moon-knight was words . And I did not know jake‘s mustache wasn’t real I thought it was really this entire time but no . I also liked the story of one of the khonsu and I liked how they drew the art of the year 1977 it felt like you gone back in time even know you hadn’t but it was nice. Also I loved how happy they were to be at the disco I loved how jake was driving chaytoic and they were fine. Also loved how happy solider was to dance before it got ruined. Also tigra son is so cute And when Marc was trying to get money I was not expecting that . I also loved how Hawkeye was in it . It put a smile on my face . And I loved how Marc relized he fucked up and apologized and I was not expecting them to be a thing i thought reese was going to date moonknight because they kept on hinting it. And I love Williams reaction gross!. Also I loved how venom was in this when he transformed I got excited because I never thought he would be in this . I loved how they teamed up it was so cool I loved the art . The ending was cool left me wondering what will happen next because I didn’t know if was a dream or reality. Also loved how blade was in it too.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another perfectly adequate Moon Knight volume right in Jed MacKay's wheelhouse. This is the most average Marvel series going and I am here for it. The relentless effort given to reminding us of Z-list heroes and villains is impressive on its own!

Anyway, in Road to Ruin, we find Moon Knight tackling a mystery villain, who may or may not be the-currently-imprisoned Zodiac. Whoever it is, this ghost in the telephone, they keep throwing Z-list villains at Moon Knight - and hitting home! There are a lot of deaths in this volume. Fortunately, they're mostly nobodies, but they bite at Moon Knight and company.

I guess there's a twist reveal at the end, but honestly, as I write this three days later, it completely escapes me. Whoops. Classic Jed MacKay Moon Knight! Fun while you read it, and then it just wafts away.

[JCRD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prácticamente toda la etapa de MacKay está funcionando un poco 50/50 entre historias independientes y una trama mayor de fondo, y aquí deja un poco de lado a Zodiac para centrarse en un villano extraño por número. No me quejo porque es un buen cambio de marchas para no quemar a Zodiac, pero sí diría que creo que es el arco más flojito hasta ahora (dentro de que esta serie es la hostia).

Y si MacKay está (muy) bien, Cappuccio y Sabbatini no se quedan para nada atrás, especialmente el primero, que ya es mi dibujante favorito del Caballero Luna. Habrá que ver cuánto le queda en el chiringuito a MacKay entre estar ahora con el Doctor Extraño y los Vengadores, pero cada número de esta serie lo recibo como agua de mayo y ojalá tarde en irse.

[Lenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

McKay and Cappuccio continue to deliver a strong narrative and build on their secondary cast for Moon Knight, with some (Hunter's Moon) getting more treatment than others (everyone else). Cappuccio's visuals are phenomenal but unfortunately that means any guest artist just isn't quite up to par. The last couple issues were confusing with a Marc + Tigra storyline that seems to come out of nowhere, then disappears with the next issue's Marc + Venom teamup that also dives into Marc's psyche. The book doesn't feel unified which keeps this from a full five stars, but I still enjoyed it.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm happy this run has remained so strong the whole run, even if this section of the run isn't as on fire as everything before. A fun team up with Venom, outsmarting his foes, and the appearance of old forgotten foes. I like the growing thread of auditory threats, as well as the for shadowing about the death and rebirth of konshu's fists. Also the Tigra Marc issue is a important lesson in owning up to your mistakes.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what long form storytelling looks like...

Jed MacKay digs deep into MK's history yet again. Zodiac has been locked up, yet someone is going after Moon Knight's old associates. His 'Shadow Cabinet' of informants and knowledge brokers is being hunted down and eliminated by a pair of villains even MORE obscure (Speedball's old foes, The Harlequin Hitmen). We've also got Reese and Soldier getting used to vampire life...and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They also give us more Tigra/Mark time, which is good. Their relationship has been slowly building for awhile now and it's nice to see it organically grow over time.

There's weird things on the horizon (and a 25th issue BIG issue to start the next volume). We'll see where this goes. It's been nothing but phenomenal lately.

I'm going to take a guess on who's behind this:
I think it's Mark's brother, Randall. He was last seen over in the Clea miniseries.

Bonus: Cameos galore in this collection. Blade, New Enforcers, Dylan Brock (NuVenom?) and others brought back from classic MK stories. So many deep cuts.

Bonus Bonus: There's another Midnight Man? Doomed to die orwill Mark have ANOTHER alt take over the role?

[Ángel Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clara mejora respecto al anterior volumen, MacKay logra implicarnos lo bastante en la historia como para que nos importe un bledo el destino de personajes que ni conocemos. Además, la da cierto protagonismo a Tigra, una de las cosas de las que me quejaba en mi crítica del tomo anterior. Asimismo, Capuccio mejora, trazando figuras estilizadas y dinámicas.

Aunque no todo es bueno: las supuestas sorpresas de MacKay siguen siendo previsibles no, lo siguiente. ¿Quién dudaba desde el principio de que el "nuevo" Medianoche iba a ser Mar Spector (bueno, Steven Grant, lo mismo da que da lo mismo)? ¿Que Veneno iba a ayudar al Caballero Luna a resolver problemas sónicos? Y es que MacKay no es mal guionista, pero elige siempre lo facilón, lo seguro. Abusa de los poderes de la mansión, se saca de la manga limitaciones para el poder de resurrección que hace que Spector sea absolutamente invencible en lugar de buscar soluciones creativas para el callejón sin salida en el que se ha metido él mismo... pero bueno, esto ya son quejas de señor mayor, porque, para ser un cómic de súpers con un prota que no pasa de ser una copia de Batman, pues difícilmente se puede hacer mejor, a no ser que te apellides Moench y trabajes con un tal Sienkiewicz. Nada mal, la verdad.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first glance, this arc of Moon Knight looks like a lot of one-and-done stories. They're high quality of course, like the rest of the run, with some clever little twists and reveals as well as deep cuts into Moon Knight's history that even I didn't catch all of.

But there's an undercurrent that there's something else going on in each issue, which builds and builds until the ultimate reveal at the end of the book sets Moon Knight on a path of destruction that will bring the series to a close. I love shit like this, it's such clever storytelling, and to pull it off two years into the book's run and not starting with something like it shows some miraculous restraint from MacKay.

The art continues to be superb as well, with series artists Alessandro Cappuccio and Federico Sabbatini tag-teaming their way through the volume as they have previously.

Another excellent entry in a superb series, a dark horse of a volume.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently I am both not familiar enough with Moon Knight nor have enough of a connection to the character to remember much about this title or figure out what is going on with it. I finished this book two days ago and barely remember anything about it, yet there are some stories I can remember in vivid detail that I read over 10 years ago. UGH
A team up with Blade that seems like maybe a comic reprint, given both the artstyle and costume of Blade, a very good issue team up with Venom (who is apparently now permanently Dylan Brock? Guess I need to catch up on Venom...), and a cool look into the dying dreams of Morpheus (who should not be confused with the infinitely superior DC Morpheus) stick with me, but everything else has already faded.
I know that many like this run of the book... but I'm not sure I'm going to continue. Just not as invested in the character.
Please make your own decision on this one.

[KFUPM2CSULB · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a review per se, but my general thoughts on the series so far. I have heard nothing but good things about this series to the extent that I thought it might be the next best thing since sliced bread...

Well it is not! it's an adequate book with fun writing. nothing special about it.

Basically moon knight continues his midnight mission of fighting villains and vampires in the city. It starts off with The Harlequin Hitmen, who go on a killing spree before being stopped by our protagonist, followed by a "feel good" Tigra story and a Venom team-up, and finally, a disjointed story consisting of mostly flashbacks about an old friend, Morpheus, that I didn't care for.

Although it is the weakest volume yet, if you liked the what came before, you will like this also.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moon Knight Vol. 4 Road to Ruin collects issues 19-24 of the Marvel Comics series written by Jed McKay, art by Federico Sabbatini and Alessandro Cappuccio, and colors by Rachelle Rosenberg.

A series of single issue stories including a team-up with Venom and a tale from Tigra’s point of view of her relationship with Marc Spector.

The Tigra issue was by far the best in the collection. I don’t know much about Tigra but it did such a great job of investing me into the story that it makes we want to seek out other comics involving her. That is the sign of great writing for these lesser known characters. The rest of the collection feels rather middle of the road. Nothing else was standing out to me as particularly fresh or exciting. Nothing bad either.