Dark Horse Comics
Now Available
Panya: The Mummy’s Curse is a wonderful story that brings more of Ancient Egypt to the Mignolaverse. Not even the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra has formed. This first issue of the four-volume series has a lot of nuances nestled in every page, and for a budding Egyptologist like me, it offers everything I love about this ancient world!
While long time readers of Hellboy know of the mummified version of this character, this story is about her growth from child to sorceress. Here, the title character is thrilled to learn about the old ways, and the true gods. She loves hearing about the eternal war between Ra and Apophis. But when Akhenaten changed the rules in who to worship, anyone who speaks of them better say it in hushed tones, otherwise they’ll be recognised as heretics.
Without spoiling too much, the tale offers everything I’d want to see about this world realised in a fictional form. Between that and showing Tutankhamen got me hooked. Whether this prince has a greater role to play, I’m not sure. I’ll be picking up the next issues rather than waiting months down the road to grab the trade paperback to find out!
Continue reading “Digging for the Truth in Panya: The Mummy’s Curse”