Hammer Comics/Titan Comics 2016
Written by Peter Milligan
Illustrated by Ronilson Freire
Coloured by Ming Sen & Dijjo Lima
Lettered by Simon Bowland
Realizing that she could not survive on her own, Angel followed the card given to her by Duncan and arrived at the British Museum, the secret location of the Pyramid Club, where she started to hallucinate and collapsed into Duncan’s arms.Meanwhile, Mather and Clarence, leaders of the Sect of Anubis performed The Prayer of Returning rite that compelled Nebatah, in the body of Angel, to return to them. Duncan returned to Angel’s room to find her missing…
With every issue of this that comes out I feel like a kid again watching one of those old movies on PBS. The good ones which were British and told the story of the Mummy’s Curse or of some similar variety. All the awe, wonder and thrills that I experienced then I feel now reading this series. The way Peter has crafted this is sublime in that it details everything we want to see and holds nothing back. Also that this issue finally reveals the Mummy in it’s full glory well that’s just icing on the cake.
We open this issue in the past, 1880 Luxor to be exact, where Lord Mather and his friends come across the rite known as Palimpsest for the first time. This is the moment that the whole secretive scheme of immortality was borne. We see how this whole thing began and it’s so wonderfully told. Also that we meet Kharis High Priest of Amun Servant of my Pharaoh Seti II. It’s an important meeting and sets the stage beautifully for what we see happening now.
Ronilson and the colourists, Ming & Dijjo, do some amazing work here. Aside from the incredible tone, feel and look of the characters the attention to detail that they put into their work here is stunning. The faces with their expressions are a great addition to the characterisation. The page layouts through angles, perspective and the use of all these backgrounds really flesh out the story more fully. Plus just the way we see the Egyptian hieroglyphs and accoutrements really take the breath away.
What Peter does with the story here is so much fun to witness. With their work falling apart around them the three friends who have lived much too long each have plans of their own in place. It’s a wonderful example of how immortality can take it’s toll on one’s mind and warp it and turn them into something else entirely. Plus let us not forget the greed and desire that set all this in motion as well. There’s one line in this issue that really sums things up so nicely, “It appears that the longer we cheat death...the more we fear the damned thing.” That alone was so telling.
With a race against time, threats everywhere, warring factions and a budding romance swirling through it’s pages this really does read like an old classic movie. Action, adventure, romance and horror all blended together to create the ultimate reading experience.