Universal Monsters: The Mummy

Helen Grovsenor may be the only daughter of a wealthy archaeologist, but she has her own struggles all the same.  As a mixed-race daughter of an Egyptian woman and an English man she’s always struggled to fit in, with those around her appreciating her connections more than anything else.  That all changes one day in Thebes, circa 1921, when a researcher speaks forbidden words on a scroll and the other soul that lives inside of Helen comes alive.  She has no memory of who she was, but she wasn’t the only one who was brought back by those words.  Someone has waited a very long time to be reunited with the woman he loved millenia ago and he will not be denied again.

This is the fourth “Universal Monsters” miniseries published by Skybound and while “Dracula,” “The Creature From the Black Lagoon,” and “Frankenstein” all have their appeal, none of them were done by creative teams who I thought would be worth shelling out $25 for an oversized collection of a four-issue miniseries.  Faith Erin Hicks, on the other hand, is someone I’ve been a fan for a while, and the only reason you haven’t read about her here recently is because she’s been away from mainstream comics (or at least what I consider “mainstream”).  Her take on “The Mummy” is to emphasize its romantic roots, that it’s the story of lovers who couldn’t be together in life and now have a chance to be reunited after death.

Does it work?  Well, this isn’t a story you’re going to want to read in order to be surprised.  Or even scared by – though Hicks does manage some gnarly visions of the titular monster towards the end.  The storytelling is solid with the art delivering the creator’s trademark cartoonish yet detailed style quite well and the relationship between Helen and the other spirit in her body coming off quite well.  To the point where what seem like arbitrary drama-spiking decisions in the story’s back half actually make sense as they’re being made by someone who wants to believe in her love.  I enjoyed this well enough, but maybe not so much that I’d say people who aren’t already fans of Hicks should go check this out too.