Mummies!: Classic Monsters of Pre-Code Horror Comics

Biblioteca de cómics de terror de los años 50 #4

by Steve Banes (Editor), Steven Thompson (Introduction)

Mummies have terrifyingly appeared in movies, pulp ficition, and in banned pre-Code comic books! This tome unleashes the best of those mind-melting comics from their musty sarcophagi. You'll be screaming for your mommy as MUMMIES shambles into your trembling hands! 

SEE! The brutal attack of "The Living Mummies!" SENSE! The strangest "Case of the Beckoning Mummy!" FEEL! As "The Unburied Mummy" intensifies its powerful grip upon your puny throat! And there's a tomb-full more! PLUS! A crumbling gallery of classic mummy comic book covers, and spine-tinglIng guest appearances by Frankenstein’s Monster and Charlie Chan!

Genres: Horror, Comics, Graphic Novels

128 pages, Paperback

Published December 26, 2017

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories in this collection are quite repetitive and on the whole are poorly written. Perhaps mummy stories have limited scope for storytelling. Also, for pre-code horror comics, they are fairly tame, so don't expect anything shocking in this collection.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mummies! collects a sarcophagus full of mummy themed pre-code horror tales. Once you forgive them for not being EC comics, they're a lot of fun, even if most of them fall into the "men defile tomb, end up dead at the mummy's hand" pattern. The art is top notch for the time period. My favorite story, The Living Mummies from Chamber of Chills #15 from 1953, has art by Don Perlin, whom I didn't realize had such a long career given that I remember him penciling Bloodshot at Valiant in the 1990s. Fun stuff.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume fit right in with the other volumes of the series, but mummies seem to be a little limited. 90% of the stories involve the dreaded Mummy's Curse where the defiler of the tomb suffers a horrible fate, and the other stories either involve a mummy searching for his lost love or being controlled by some who wants to use it for his own nefarious means. I'm sure there were countless vampire and werewolf stores back in the day, but mummies seemed to be a little rarer.

Still an entertaining volume with some cool stories and artwork. If you like mummies check this one out, and even if you don't maybe give them a chance. They are sorta like the Rodney Dangerfield of the monster world. "No respect, lemme tell ya!"

[Bill Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of stories from comic book publishers like Harvey and ACG around the theme of creepy Egyptian things, including the titular mummies. This reads pretty much like an expanded issue of the Haunted Horror comic book Yoe and his crew assemble every couple of months. I'm assuming it's also the first in a new series of softcover volumes dedicated to specific types of monsters. I found this collection somewhat less amusing than prior Yoe books, probably because the stories are repetitious -- there are only so many stories one can tell about revivified pharaohs, tomb curses, etc., but there are gems among the moldy wrappings and the presentation is first rate.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice addition to any horror library. It includes magazine clips, short stories, extra art, and the titular horror comics. It's a bit more trimmed down than The Horror, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[Rodrigo Tello · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ha sido realmente insatisfactorio. Pobremente ilustradas y coloreadas, estas historias han envejecido muy mal (cual momias) y la mayoría son bastante infantiles, por no decir estúpidas. Hay un par que consiguen buenos momentos de horror y violencia, pero no mucho más que eso. Hasta ahora, el más flojo de la colección

[Fernando · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me encanta la momia, uno de mis monstruos preferidos. Tiene su propia agenda y siempre ha ido a lo suyo. Está cómoda en su no vida letárgica de vendajes. No sufre el ansia del vampiro, ni la lunática maldición frenética del lobo. Salvo que se encuentre bajo las órdenes de un molesto "moderno" que, con un amuleto o aparato científico, domine su voluntad, simplemente aguarda su momento bien para cumplir con una venganza ancestral (de aspiración romántica por lo general) bien porque invaden su pequeño mundo de polvo acomodaticio para el pillaje personal o por el bien de la historia. Es un monstruo tímido y conservador aunque efectivo si se le irrita, quizá por eso se salvó de la mayor parte de la fervorosa censura que se llevó por delante a los otros entes terroríficos en los cómics. Su determinación es innegable y enfocada al contrario que el hambre frenética del zombi. Sobrevivió en las viñetas porque tenía más de reclamo exótico en la vitrina que de sanguinario ente de ultratumba.

En este libro se recuperan muchas de esas fabulosas historias, algunas de apenas una plana, en un recorrido delicioso por todo tipo de pirámides, mauselis abandonados y polvorientos corredores que aún perviven sin explorar como reclamo para el que quiera arriesgarse a sufrir una posible condena.

Un libro delicioso dentro de esta colección de lujo editada por Diábolo.

[Johannes Duckeck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, mummy stories are just not that interesting. What is surprising in this book, however, is how gory comics in the ‘50s were!

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una selección a ratos interesante, entretenida pero no muy destacada en comparación a otros volúmenes de la colección. Quizás sea la premisa reiterativa de las historias o el trasfondo moral que parecen compartir, donde acaban resaltando los méritos artísticos de algunos involucrados (sobre todo en el caso de Bob Powell) y la estupenda galería de portadas. Para estudiosos y completistas.

[Egghead · Rating 5 out of 5]

mummy comics have
two stories: curses, romances
neither ends that well