Moon Knight villain Zodiac thinks Americans make the best supervillains

Moon Knight #19 art (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Moon Knight isn't battling the supervillain Zodiac right now. The character, who was introduced in the 2008-2009 Dark Reign storyline, is locked up in a prison and receiving counseling while Moon Knight and his fellow Fist of Khonshu, the recently resurrected Hunter's Moon, ride the NYC subway system (without paying the fare) and debate whether they're really immortal or not.

But the still-mysterious (and masked) Zodiac gets the bulk of the attention of this preview of January 11's Moon Knight #19 by writer Jed Mackay, artist Federico Sabbatini, colorist Rachelle Rosenberg, and letterer Cory Petit.

Zodiac is from the nihilistic wing of the supervillain party, as opposed to the twisted nobility brand led by characters like Doctor Doom, Magneto, and Thanos. And he has particularly harsh words for Doom, who he calls "so Euro ... so practiced ... so passe."

Lamenting being "beaten" by the Japanese in two original American art forms, jazz and comics books (the latter being an interesting opinion expressed in an American comic book), Zodiac argues there is a "broad stream of psychopathy in the American character" that lends itself to super-villainy.

If that sort of twist comics shop talk is your cup of tea, Zodiac might be your kind of supervillain, and Moon Knight #19 your kind of (American!) comic book.

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Moon Knight #19 goes on sale January 11.

Moon Knight is one of the best supernatural superheroes of all time.

I'm not just the Newsarama founder and editor-in-chief, I'm also a reader. And that reference is just a little bit older than the beginning of my Newsarama journey. I founded what would become the comic book news site in 1996, and except for a brief sojourn at Marvel Comics as its marketing and communications manager in 2003, I've been writing about new comic book titles, creative changes, and occasionally offering my perspective on important industry events and developments for the 25 years since. Despite many changes to Newsarama, my passion for the medium of comic books and the characters makes the last quarter-century (it's crazy to see that in writing) time spent doing what I love most.