Episode 31: Mummy Sightings at Los Angeles Comic Con

Il-wey! In its seventh year, the Los Angeles Comic Con was held this weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  With the con so near Halloween, I wondered how many mummy and associated items I might encounter looking through the vendor booths and artist/small press alley. I was pleasantly surprised by my finds: 

At the Edgar Rice Burroughs table, I picked up The Collected John Carter of Mars Volume Three because it includes Llana of Gathol, a collection of four fantasy stories originally published in 1941 (see banner photo). This volume includes a story I am most interested in reading: “The Ancient Dead” (originally titled “The City of Mummies”). I haven’t read any John Carter stories nor any Burroughs, so I am looking forward to diving into this book soon. The second book, which was on sale at the same table, is a first edition of Llana of Gathol – such a fascinating cover! 

More reading material, this time from the Creeps booth. The proprietor had several issues on display as well as posters of the various covers. I was drawn to issue #13 because of the guitar playing mummy on the cover! The cover references the comic story “Graveyard Dance!” written by Nicola Cuti and art by Nik Poliwko. The mummy is very much a tertiary character; he is a member of the monster band that appears twice. Actually, the more interesting story is Guy de Maupassant’s “The Grave” adapted by Artie Godwin and illustrated by Mansyur Daman, in which a corpse is glimpsed in a couple of panels. Creeps #10 includes “The Mummy’s Curs” that is a legitimate mummy story, or so the narrator promises the reader. This story was written by Don Glut with accompanying art by Reno Maniquis. Looking forward to reading this one. 

Met Full Moon Cartoons’ artists Christi Haydon and Rick Farmiloe while walking through artist alley. Their mid-century art meets classic monster caught my eye when I spied their “Oil Painting for Mummies” and then their “Mummy at the Dry Cleaners” when looking through their extensive portfolio. The couple team were charming and passionate about their craft, balanced with a healthy dose of humor. I cannot wait to frame and hang these.  

Probably the most often portrayed mummy in popular culture is Boris Karloff’s high priest Imhotep from 1932. It was no surprise that he was well represented throughout the day. However, it was nice to see Lon Chaney Jr. get some attention for his mummy role (Kharis) inThe Mummy’s Ghost (1944). Here are 2.5” diameter pins from both films. 

I came across a new artist whom I had not seen before. Doug Horne’s booth was outfitted in Tiki décor and featured Tiki art as well as some pop culture/Tiki mash-ups. Horne blended Tiki and Karloff’s mummy for two creative images filled with mummy iconography, such as the fez (a staple from the mummy films), the winged scarab, the Tiki-fied canopic jar, and a living scarab. The linen wrappings with Tiki designs are reminiscent of ancient Egyptian mummy wrappings that were inscribed.

Keeping with the Tiki theme, Think Geek has a series of Tiki mugs with monster designs. I have yet to buy one, but here is the mummy version, with an antique tan color to represent antiquity. 

I haven’t played League of Legends, but this sad teary-eyed mummy, Amumu, is based on The Mummy. I kind of wished I had picked him since he is likely a rarer Funko. 

Over at the Nuclear Blast booth, I spied this Iron Maiden display for “Blast of the Beast” that was pretty cool. I’m a sucker for Egyptian motifs and the statues were pretty cool. On a lower shelf at the same booth, there was a bloody mummy, but I don’t know what he is from.

Honorable Mentions

In addition to mummy memorabilia, I also look for ancient Egyptian items. I found a few items in that category too: a limited edition set of Anubis and Bastet, Egyptian stickers from Star Salts, and a Ramses the Great plush. I would also like to give Fractured Scary Tales a big shout-out for their comic book series Lady Frankenstein and the Mummy’s Brain as well as Fractured Scary Tales magazines they put out. The former is delicious mash-up of two classic monsters in this period story and the latter series are collections of comics that focus on scary stories. The third issue of Lady Frankenstein and the Mummy’s Brain should drop in the next few weeks so do look them up. 

Senebti! 

All photos taken by the author.