While Tom Cruise is leading a new
Universal screen version of The Mummy for 2017, Hammer have dusted off
their version of the tale and brought it to comic books, partnering with Titan
Comics.  The first issue introduced us to
Angelina, a Ukrainian woman abandoned by her boyfriend to people
smugglers. 

After escaping from them,
Angelina found herself singled out by the sinister Sect of Anubis, who needed
her to host the resurrection of the imprisoned spirit of the priestess
Nebetah.  If they are not successful, the
blood drinking ritual needed to prolong their unnaturally long lives will not
happen and death awaits them all.  The
first issue ended with Angelina succumbing to possession by Nebetah and on the
run from the Sect as well as their enemies, the Pyramid Club.

If that’s not enough, Ammit, the
great demon dog of the Land of the Dead, has travelled to Earth to find a soul
to replace the departed Nebetah.  As the
confused but growing powerful Angelina roams the streets of London, she is
hunted by them all.  In desperation she
turns to Duncan in the Pyramid Club, who believes there’s still time to stop
the process and save Angelina. 

Building on the set-up from last
issue, writer Peter Milligan makes it more explicit this time around that
Angelina is the pawn of old men. 
Literally in the case of the Sect, whose members have lived for over a
hundred years by drinking the blood of an unfortunate young woman every 30 or
so years.  Even in the case of the
potential heroes the Pyramid Club, that organisation is made up of crusty old
men who would just as soon kill Angelina themselves to do ‘good’.

Flashback memories Angelina
suffers show her that Nebetah herself had been brutally betrayed by her
one-time lover Kharis.  Thousands of
years apart, these two women have both found themselves abused and used by powerful,
amoral men.  It gives the story a
pleasingly updated perspective and cleverly helps to invest the reader in
Angelina’s story, even though we know little about her. 

Milligan pays tribute to the
history of Hammer (from names to the male characters practically stepping out
of one of their 1960s films) and folds in references to smart phones and other
things that modernise the story.  The art
and colour (from Ronilson Friere, Ming Sen and Dijjo Lima) might not be
spectacular but it does the job more than satisfactorily.  Overall, it’s shaping up nicely and comes
recommended.

As with last issue, there’s a
nice article on Hammer mummy film series by esteemed studio historian Marcus
Hearn, this time the second film The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb.

THE MUMMY: PALIMPSEST / AUTHOR:
PETER MILLIGAN / ARTIST: RONILSON FREIRE / PUBLISHER: TITAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT
NOW