Skybound’s Universal Monsters line will grow next March as they dust off The Mummy for a four-issue miniseries, written and drawn by Faith Erin Hicks.
Skybound has done a great job of matching creators to the Universal Monsters, from James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds’ Dracula to Michael Walsh’s creative approach to Frankenstein. Hicks, who has worked on everything from Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series to her own The Nameless City Trilogy, has an eye for character-driven stories about ancient civilizations.
“What I enjoy the most about The Mummy is the romance underlying all the horror,” Hicks said. “A mortal man defies ancient gods to bring his dead lover back to life and pays the ultimate price, transformed thousands of years later into a walking specter of death. The Mummy is intrinsically a tragic figure driven by his own pain and loss, his understandable human emotions twisted into acts.”
Here’s how Skybound describes the series:
Helen Grosvenor is a woman born to two worlds and belonging in neither, forever haunted by a cursed encounter as a child. When unknown voices bring her back to an Egyptian dig site from her past, Helen will unknowingly play an unexpected role in the rise of a monster known only as…THE MUMMY!
“It’s been a thrill to tell this story from the point of view of Helen, the modern incarnation of The Mummy’s long dead love, and illustrate her growing awareness of the heartbroken horror that is lurking in the shadows of early 20th century Egypt,” Hicks said. “I hope fans of all versions of The Mummy enjoy my take on this romantically horrifying (or horrifyingly romantic) story.”
And here’s a look at some of Hicks’ interior pages:
The first issue will feature variant covers by Joshua Middleton, Guillem March, Martin Simmonds and Gabriel Rodriguez:
The first issue of four will arrive March 26.