In this review of The Moon Is Following Us #8, Penny’s location has been pinpointed! But will her parents be able to retrieve her?
The Moon Is Following Us #8
Writer: Daniel Warren Johnson
Artists: Daniel Warren Johnson, Riley Rossmo
Colors: Mike Spicer
Main Cover: Riley Rossmo
Variant Cover: Daniel Warren Johnson
Page Count: 28 pages
Release Date: April 10, 2025
The Moon Is Following Us #8 kicks off with Lucythree being sent on a mission to find Penny and set up a beacon, before the Cascade can fully build up their defenses. She tracks her down, where Tash is giving the unconscious girl a monologue about why he has to put her and her parents through this whole ordeal (though he’s pretty sure that she’ll be the last one before his own daughter is revived). He used to be a scientist before his own kid fell asleep, tried everything to revive her, then made the deal with Pigface.
Tash realizes that he’s being watched, quickly dealing with Lucythree (but not before she’s activated the beacon). He’s worried about Sam and Duncan being a united front, and the Nightmares’ involvement. But Pigface has no such concerns. He knows that Duncan’s not doing that great at the moment…
When questioned about what he saw when the enemy showed his face, Duncan dodges and deflects. He’s evasive with both his wife and Swano when they try to find out what’s wrong. And that’s when the signal comes in. Good news: they have Penny’s location! However, they need to find some means of transportation. The idea of the Crabtank is floated, but it’s decided that something a bit more personal is in order. There’s a flashback to Penny drawing a “Pennycorn”, a variety of unicorn specifically for her.
They find the Pennycorn, and after some aggression on its part, apprehension on Duncan’s part, and negotiation from Sam, both parents fly off to get their kid. It’s also quite clear that Duncan is still haunted by what happened with his uncle, and he’s never really addressed it with his wife.
They reach the fortress, where their enemies are waiting for them. There’s a brief battle, until the charges Pigface and Tash had set up are set off. The Pennycorn is sent crashing from the sky, the Crabtank sent reeling…but luckily for Sam and Duncan, they crash land in the same room as their daughter. As Duncan stands up, he’s impaled by that same Cascade entity that brought back his trauma. The issue ends with Sam cradling Duncan’s body, with Tash, Pigface, and the Cascade soldier looming over her…
The artwork in The Moon Is Following Us #8 is excellent as usual. In some spots, the differences between the real-world flashbacks and the present-day scenes in the dream world are side by subtle, yet noticeable. There’s a panel of each one side by side. I’ve definitely pointed out the fact that the art style changes somewhat between the two worlds, but it jumps at me most in this case. Even the posing between these two panels is very much the same, Sam behind Duncan as he stares blankly ahead, hugging him, begging him to tell her what’s wrong. It’s just used to really great effect, there.
Also on the artwork front: the design of the Pennycorn itself. My immediate thought there was how some might compare a rhino to a real-world version of a unicorn, and this is a perfect representation of that idea: pink rhino with a unicorn horn, the kind of wings you’d see on a pegasus, and the rainbow mane and tail. It feels very on-brand for “product of a child’s imagination” (not to mention being the sort of transportation method nobody in their right mind would mess with).
Then, of course, there’s the 2-page spread of Duncan getting impaled. The expressions of pain and horror on his and Sam’s faces definitely nail the intensity of the moment in The Moon Is Following Us #8.
Story-wise, it was good to get a little more info on Tash’s history and his Deal With The Devil (well, Pigface, but same difference). With two issues left, it’s not too late for him to decide that maybe—just maybe—he actually can just let his daughter go. It’s established that he won’t get to see her grow up. He’s shown as being a bit younger when he was initially a scientist, so he’s clearly been at this for a good long while. If he is convinced to turn on Pigface and the Cascade in general, it’d likely be a result of seeing Sam fighting like hell to get her daughter back.
Duncan’s constant deflection of what had happened to him, the effects it’s having on him…that makes entirely too much sense. He feels that need to put up a strong front, deny that his uncle preyed on him as a kid. It even comes up in writing at one point: “If I admit it happened to me…then it could happen to her too.”. That’s a thought that no parent ever wants to think about, and the fact that after the run-in in the previous issue, it’s pretty much all he can think about now…that may be one of the most devastating attacks the Cascade could have brought against him.
The way things look at the end of this issue, we may end up seeing a heroic last stand from Sam. It’s her against the architects of this whole ordeal. Is Duncan actually dead? That blade was rather ginormous, and had been run right through his torso, so those are definitely a couple points against him waking up again in the real world. But there are two issues left, with the final battle just about here.
So, withholding any grieving until we know for sure (but the shock factor is DEFINITELY there). Either way, the enemy is most likely banking on this to utterly break Sam’s will to fight. But when we factor in just how far the two of them got in order to save their girl, this might serve to motivate her beyond anything they’d have imagined. Looking forward to seeing how the penultimate issue plays this.
Final Thoughts
With Penny found and an absolute shocker of an ending, the stage is set for an intense final battle.
