After being possessed by the spirit of Nebetah, trafficked and abused young woman Angel escaped onto the streets of London. The Sect of Anubis are desperate to get her back because if they don’t, Ammit, the demon dog devourer of souls, will kill them all. When we last left her, Angel had briefly found her way to the Sect’s rivals the Pyramid Club, where youngest member Duncan had promised he could help her, before the Sect performed a prayer to compel Nebetah to return to them.

This issue kicks off with a flashback to 1880 that shows how the wealthy white men of the Sect came to learn about the blood-drinking ritual that has granted them immortality. In Luxor, they discover a still-youthful Kharis (who last issue had been shown betraying his former lover Nebetah so that he could gain immortality) and steal his secret.

Writer Peter Milligan continues to develop themes that ran through the previous two issues. The Sect might not have aged, but they are still a group of old, bigoted men who believe other cultures only exist to provide them with what they need. Their racism is nicely marked out in the opening scenes and their use of slavery, prostitution and other sinister schemes to fund the Sect is appropriate. That said, the Pyramid Club (who split from the Sect decades ago in order to stop them) are no better. To them Angel is a means to an end, and they care little for what will remain of her if they are successful. For both, women and the ceremonies and rituals of ‘ghastly’ other cultures are simply tools to be used.

As circumstances grow ever more desperate for all involved, dangerous choices are made that unleash even greater evils into the world. Milligan’s storytelling advances all of these themes further here. As much as this is Angel’s story, which provides the emotional core, it’s also arguably as much about men who perceive their place in the world as disappearing doing whatever they can to hold onto their positions and power, and the political slant gives the story some wider depth and relevance. The art and colour continue to tell the story well and brings the myth of Egypt alive in modern London.

At the end of this issue, Hammer historian Marcus Hearn also continues his welcome look back over the studio’s related movies, this time focusing on The Mummy’s Shroud.

THE MUMMY #3 / WRITER: PETER MILLIGAN / ARTIST: RONILSON FREIRE / PUBLISHER: TITAN / RELEASE DATE: 25TH JANUARY