My Rating
“The Living Mummy!”
One thousand B.C., in the long-forgotten Egyptian kingdom of Pharaoh Aram-Set, a massive slave revolt has shaken the foundations of the empire. The gods Ra and Osiris have grown angry with the kingdom’s rulers and plant a dangerous thought in the mind of Nephrus, the court magician. To replace a leader, one must first kill the man sitting upon the throne. For the slave uprising to succeed, their hero N’Kantu must strike the final blow against Pharaoh Aram-Set.
So it is said, so shall it be.
N’Kantu fulfills his destiny and fells the Pharaoh with the thrust of his spear. The slaves have won their freedom!
Then comes the betrayal.
Nephrus turns against the leader of the Swarili tribe and condemns him to a fate far worse than death. Through dark magic, the court magician places a curse of immortality upon N’Kantu. The victorious warrior is paralyzed, mummified alive, and sealed inside an unmarked tomb. His body cannot die. His mind cannot escape. N’Kantu can do nothing but wait in darkness as the centuries slowly pass around him.
An eternity comes and goes. Empires rise and fall. The world changes.
N’Kantu does not.
Then one misplaced bomb explodes near the forgotten tomb, blasting open the prison that has held the ancient warrior for thousands of years.
Welcome to the Gaza Strip.
Welcome to 1973.
The Living Mummy walks again!
Can the soldiers Ron and Janice uncover the truth behind the strange attacks occurring throughout Cairo? Will Doctor Skarab reveal the complete history of the Living Mummy? Have the bloodlines of Aram-Set and N’Kantu survived across the generations? After thousands of years trapped inside his own body, what remains of the man once known as N’Kantu?
Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
Supernatural Thrillers #5 marks Marvel’s reimagining of one of horror’s oldest icons. By the early 1970s, the mummy had already been wrapped, unwrapped, resurrected, cursed, and shuffled across movie screens more times than I can count. So how do you breathe new life into a monster that has been dead for several thousand years? Hand the bandages over to Steve Gerber.
Yes, that Steve Gerber, the future mastermind behind Howard the Duck.
Gerber and artist Rich Buckler breathe new life into the stale mummy mythos by making N’Kantu more than another bandaged corpse chasing people through darkened tombs. He begins as a warrior and slave who fights for the freedom of his people, only to have his victory stolen from him through betrayal. His immortality isn’t a gift—it is his prison. Imagine remaining conscious while trapped inside a mummified body for thousands of years. Suddenly waking up cranky seems perfectly reasonable.
I also like the decision to drag the mummy out of the traditional gothic-horror setting and drop him directly into the contemporary Middle East. N’Kantu awakens not in some quiet museum after an archaeologist reads the wrong inscription, but amid the military and political turmoil of 1973. Ancient Egyptian curses collide with soldiers, bombs, and a modern world the Living Mummy could never possibly understand.
Ah, the ’70s!
Rich Buckler’s artwork also helps sell the character. N’Kantu looks massive and intimidating, but there is still enough humanity in his expressions and body language to remind us that a man remains trapped beneath those bandages. That distinction is important because N’Kantu works better as a tragic protagonist than as a traditional horror villain.
The issue does throw a lot at the reader. We get ancient Egypt, gods, rebellion, betrayal, immortality, modern warfare, mysterious bloodlines, and Doctor Skarab all packed into one comic. Some elements work better than others, and the story occasionally feels like it is racing to establish the pieces needed for the continuing series. Still, Gerber gives N’Kantu enough personality and tragedy to make me interested in seeing where Marvel takes him next.
If you can find a copy of Supernatural Thrillers #5, I definitely recommend giving it a read. It is an interesting piece of Marvel’s 1970s horror explosion and a clever attempt to transform the classic mummy into something uniquely Marvel.
Maybe ask your Mummy for an early Christmas present.
I’m giving Supernatural Thrillers #5 three Doctor Skarabs out of five.