The Zodiac gang returns! Oh wait. Is that really the Zodiacs?
No!
A bunch of Zodiac Life Model Decoys kill all the human Zodiac gang members and take over. Sadly, this does not make the Zodiacs any more interesting.
Taurus escapes and asks The West Coast Avengers to protect him. He says he’ll go straight if they help him, and Moon Knight believes him because the moon is in Taurus.
Why, Steve? Why do you insist on making Moon Knight a complete idiot? Even Tigra is smarter than him.
Zodiac infiltrates the team with more LMDs, but sadly that doesn’t explain why Moon Knight is dumb. Because instead…
…Hawkeye gets LMD-ed.
When the Zodiac Key is presented, Hawkeye uses his own brilliant logic…
“Don’t wield it.”
I remember really liking this comic when it came out but on the re-read it’s just really, really bad. The WCA take three issues to blow up all the LMD Zodiacs.
They really aren’t very good at their jobs.
See what I mean? I mean, yeah, that’s funny but it doesn’t make Hawkeye appear competent.
Because the team are a bunch of bozos, Mockingbird calls Nick Fury for help and we learn that he smokes cigars in the shower.
And hates computers. That’s dumb. He’s the top spy in the world—he has to like computers. But I do believe that he would use SHIELD’s high-grade tech and research to create water-proof cigars. That makes sense.
In issue #29, we get more on the role of Moon Knight. After stopping the LMD Zodiac Gang, Taurus is the only gang member still alive. He believes the West Coasters are dead, and he’s looking to form a new gang. He tries to recruit Shroud, who is not interested (he’s actually already a part of Night Shift).
Moon Knight shows up, Taurus bolts, and we get an action sequence of Moon Knight chasing him down.
Moon Knight has a fanny pack now.
In the big final showdown, Moon Knight does his best Batman imitation.
Taurus (accidentally) dies in a plane crash.
Hawkeye scolds Moon Knight for allowing Taurus to die.
Hawkeye might not like Moon Knight’s methods, but Tigra’s impressed…
Moon Knight hasn’t even been working with the team for a full adventure and Tigra’s already hooked up with him. It’s pretty uncharacteristic of MK, who has in the history of his appearances only been with one woman. And all the mystery and interesting aspects of Moon Knight are completely ignored—he’s just some dude saying, “It’s not you, it’s me.” Ugh.
This will definitely not be the last time I complain about Moon Knight in this book.
I also hate how Tigra is portrayed as a desperate team slut.
A the very end, we see that Phantom Rider (who tried to rape Mockingbird, who killed him in self defense) is still alive, and observing the team. Or is it his descendent, Night Rider?
More on that next issue.