![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/944fa3a7e9767167b4ed35d8954ba7b3/8fe8338ad78c120e-ce/s1280x1920/4f6e3a25cb7c65796bc3642ca2d53e1bc30cbc7e.jpg)
This was the first “direct market” issue, which means it was sold only at specialty comic book stores. It signaled a new era for comic books: Gone would be the drug store spinning rack, and the future would be in higher prices, better quality paper and, for the most part, better quality comic books.
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/4fa4ad7d7c79b7f39bac67b809d3a55a/46cd64f79cb1e34e-94/s1280x1920/435d4951cef5875d474e3cbddaa335c6f18d6fc9.jpg)
However, it also put stress on the industry. For one thing, it heralded the beginning of speculators: People who would buy comics for investments rather than pleasure. Eventually, this would lead to variant covers; dealers overbuying #1 issues and keeping a hidden stock in the back, which they’d pull out a few weeks later and sell at inflated prices; and Todd MacFarlane basically being a dick and saying “people will buy anything I draw so give me my own Spider-Man title and let me cram tons of shit into it and prove what idiots my fans are.”
But I get ahead of myself.
Moon Knight was good to the direct market, and the direct market was good to Moon Knight: Without this niche market, the book would have been cancelled.
As for the story: This issue starts out strong: There is an assassination of a crime boss, and we as readers only see a silhouette of the killer—and he looks a lot like Moon Knight, in that his head is oddly shaped (like a hood) and he’s got a big cape.
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e97f87b531810d17e8bbb41c64c11dcf/4aa84cf951757e89-5b/s1280x1920/c01f628e38d8e69afb0c6e9b06b5ff1dfb6158a4.jpg)
It continues strong, too, as Moon Knight is set up for the killing and the cops corroborate with information from the character’s earliest appearances in Werewolf by Night.
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/798488c3c66dcfee274efa2d4b725e09/4aa84cf951757e89-8d/s1280x1920/10162697b19a495eb7f24eccc9032cea3b7db82d.jpg)
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/6aeeee55069a88832aba6de346dceb54/4aa84cf951757e89-03/s1280x1920/55576bfada6d8211a405f129e5e0cf0b624596ef.jpg)
Eventually, we are gradually introduced to who the real killer is (we all know it’s not really Moon Knight).
![IMG_6957](https://berkeleyplaceblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_6957.jpg)
He calls himself Xenos, and he has a horrifying rat-like head.
![](https://earthsmightiestblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_2235-988x1024.jpeg)
Xenos is just a guy in a mask–not a rat god–but he uses real, live rats to try to kill Moon Knight, who simply rolls his body on the ground to crush them.
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/d53f0e975389175449ed86037613472b/93b033174338f63a-2e/s1280x1920/c5e53e9b65fd2660bdcfd839cbe864516a75a15b.jpg)
He dresses them in army uniforms.
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/99c43c37f6161699c774396fe5e951da/9369b494ee51f220-93/s1280x1920/5e4ab56edd071d5e795a4ccb899e7b2378ddb138.jpg)
It’s some creepy Willard-type stuff, coupled with white supremacy.
![](https://berkeleyplaceblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/IMG_E5417.jpg)
And then, in the end, Xenos gets his toe stuck in a rat trap, which enable Moon Knight to find him in the dark and defeat him.
Why would a guy who loves rats have a rat trap in his own hideout? That’s a flaw. But overall, this issue works.
There is a text-heavy back up feature:
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/eae13873f92df161daf03227dbe3a2d5/90187e97d5d8b7e2-12/s1280x1920/f75c5d2cf1b64cf5c0d6af543add7b1369c9dc2a.jpg)
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/059e2a435d2c8fa945e0c7afec0977ce/90187e97d5d8b7e2-b0/s1280x1920/ef09fe84ab00195468c6f4f1caf1ebe7f541b639.jpg)
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/6ee9a1ca680899abdd2babd64b85d43d/4e92e77fd9ff26d2-fa/s1280x1920/af3650f9ead9d62750bbb704d89f17b8b5ff8eaa.jpg)