Every Monday in March is Mummy Madness Day here at THOIA --and this week it's also happenin' at AEET too! Annnnd okay now, a few of you might be familiar with this grisly golden age gem from the February - March 1954 issue of Strange Fantasy #10, --I mean, it was reprinted nearly a half dozen times in the Eerie Pubs, but it also found a new, return-to-color home in Haunted Horror #17 back in 2015! And that's why it was a such a surprise to Mr. Karswell recently when he discovered that it had somehow never been featured here at THOIA-- until NOW, that is!
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Okay, this one is really funny even if it probably wasn't intended to be. First off, Akbar just wants his eyes back (no explanation on why they were taken from him in the first place. I'm gonna guess some sort of eye gauging punishment) He's not even interested by the secretary. Also, he likes to speak in 3rd person a lot. Secondly, just the way Bob causually asks Tom if he hears a woman screaming and then both immediately realize that it has to be Sandra because she's the only woman there! 🤣🤣I do love that Bob immediately believes Sandra and backs her up. That's a GOOD boyfriend! No insisting that it's her imagination or nerves. Even the security guard gets wrapped up (pun intended) in this adventure. Yet, poor Akbar simply gets done in by modern transportation. Everyone else in this story are simply onlookers of this mummy coming back to life to get his eyes back. I'm also amused by that panel where Akbar gets run over by the train, announcing his pain and death (still in 3rd person). I'm also highly amused by Bob remarking that "The professor isn't going to be happy about this!" I think that's the least of their problems. I mean, a mummy was just trying to get his eyes back and got run over by a train. They also lost an entire mummy!
ReplyDeleteOh, that last page. That's not the Fantomah I know. That's Temu Fantomah. Where are the parachuting lions?
ReplyDeleteI know you’re just trying to be funny but I also strongly disagree, there’s always room here at THOIA for all versions of Fantomah —and there is absolutely nothing “Temu” about George Appel art...
ReplyDeleteAkbar certainly is a "svelte" mummy - think Christopher Lee vs. the Universal ones and also the other Hammer ones.
ReplyDelete(I'm not very up on the later movie mummies, or that many other comic ones.)
It's very original that he goes out of his way to threaten instead of harming anyone. Not just Sandra - you don't expect the heroine to get killed - but everyone else. I really like the line "Guard your tomb entrance, but do not try to stop me!"
And then there's the line "Is there no one to help Akbar, who has helped so many others in his time!"
It would be nice to know the back-story of that.
Anyway, he's one of the most sympathetic "rampaging" mummies that I've seen.
He even kind of tops the ones with the "reincarnated princess" motives.
Man do I feel for Akbar. He -- rightly so -- just wants his eyes and while he does make a couple empty threats he just doesn't seem that evil. And the poor guy just falls down, loses the eyes, and gets run over by a train -- having to narrate it all! This story is a real horror story, because I feel horrible after reading it with what happens to poor Akbar!
ReplyDeleteI love the art. It's all sorts of fun, Akbar is great with his vampire / skull / green goblin face and wild black hair. I love the multi-panel escape from the coffin and the train death is pretty gruesome.
Man, I'm telling you I really feel for Akbar. You have to consider his eyes were removed from some cursed reason so his run of bad luck is lasting thousands of years!
The idea behind this story is a really compelling one. Like if the Frankenstein monster had to create itself. I'd like to see it developed into a whole series, in which the largest chunk of the mummy shuffles from museum to museum, cobbling himself together. Does he have to stick with his own original parts, or will any monkey's paw do? The mind reels with the storytelling possibilities. Think of the meal Dick Briefer could have made out of this setup.
ReplyDeleteI love the way the mummy looks on page three, before he gets the eyes. That fourth panel his shadow lurching along the wall is great. Later on, the panel where he loses the eyes again is also a fave. In the splash, those magically shining peepers is a wild and cosmic effect, but the mummy is so distant in all the story panels after he regains his sight that the same effect makes him look a little bit like Betty Boop.
Like Glowworm, I was delighted that, when given the opportunity to naysay a Golden Age damsel, the man in this story didn't. I'm sorry that felt like such a standout moment, but I'll take it.