Moon Knight, a Marvel Comics vigilante and recent MCU inductee, is one of the most effective and ruthless heroes this side of the Punisher, but in a new fan art from DC Comics artist Dustin Nguyen, Moon Knight gets a chibi makeover that highlights his softer, more childish side – and it looks great!
Recently posted on Instagram by award-winning artist Dustin Nguyen (@duss005), this particular piece of “Moon Knight” is the only one in a long line of fan art that Nguyen constantly shares with his followers. Having worked on several highly respected Batman projects over the past couple of decades (including the very chibi-looking Lil’Gotham series), Nguyen has also had success working on creator-owned content at Image Comics, such as Descender, Ascender and the recent book Little Monsters. Suffice it to say that his fight with the Chibi version of the Moon Knight is a long-awaited event.
Funny fact: chibi is a Japanese slang word for something “cute”, especially when it comes to a popular art style derived from this word. A style that depicts characters who look more childish in nature, chibi characters are often drawn with tinier-than-usual bodies, short limbs, and huge heads that are slightly exaggerated, giving these drawings an overly charming look. And now, after Dustin has already uploaded several cool versions of Moon Knight in the past, he decided to make everything short and cute with Moon Knight — this is a solution that works much better than it should!
Drawing in smooth watercolors with muted shades of gray and purple to break up the white background, Dustin depicts a Moon Knight plopping down on a crescent moon as if he doesn’t care. Dangling his legs over the edge in a very relaxed pose, fans can easily imagine Moon Knight absentmindedly kicking his legs back and forth, dreaming of the next bad guy he wants to hit on the head. Dustin looks more like Marvel’s version of the DreamWorks Animation logo than anything else. Dustin draws a mini Moon Knight with perfect surprise as he looks up at the stars, clutching his moon staff tightly; an impressive feat considering the character’s dark and moody characterization in the comics. But that’s not all, at the top of the crescent moon on which Mooney sits is the physical embodiment of his god, Honshu, a skull with a beak and all that, giving fans a fun little creative addition that Dustin does well.
So while it would be great to see Dustin take on a few more Marvel characters on the panel, not just in his Instagram posts, fans can always see Dustin’s views on iconic comic book heroes and villains by clicking the Subscribe button. The Moon Knight is an unexpected delight to see in the form of a chibi, so let’s hope that Dustin has plans to create more works in this fun artistic style!
