Panya: The Mummy's Curse

[thwhtGuardian]

This is a book that I desperately wanted to enjoy because Panya the Mummy was one of my favorite supporting characters that Mignola came up with during his run on B.P.R.D. so a solo story for her is right up my ally...but this book just suffers from a serious case of prequel-itis. Rather than giving us a moody, ambiguous monster story we are instead "treated" to a very perfunctory feeling origin story taking us step by step how Panya went from an ordinary girl to a living mummy. And while a by the numbers "secret" origin story can sometimes be enjoyable if you can get past the reliance of the usual tropes and just take it for what it is, but for Panya you can't even really do that because so much of what makes Panya work as a character is her mystery and the tension of how who she was and how she came to be was so artfully doled out in dribs and drabs. Sadly, this kind of development is something of a pattern for Roberson's work with the Hellboy Universe; he has a habit of telling rather than showing with everything just spelled out too cleanly instead of being open to the reader's interpretation. It's safe...and frankly a little boring. There's nothing offensively bad here, it's all well written but it's just not very exciting which is a death note for me.

[Kirby101]

I liked it a little more than you, but I don't disagree with your assessment.

[thwhtGuardian]

I liked it a little more than you, but I don't disagree with your assessment.

I will say that the art was fantastic, so I'll likely stick around but storywise it just came across as flat.

[thwhtGuardian]

I'm still sticking with this, but the pacing better pick up as it was beyond plodding here and at the same time it felt really disjointed from the first issue. On top of all that there is so much telling rather than showing.

[Kirby101]

What did I read? When is this compared to last ish? Didn't the Temple get destroyed last issue? Panya is still a servant to the same woman? I have no idea what anyone is talking about.

[thwhtGuardian]

What did I read? When is this compared to last ish? Didn't the Temple get destroyed last issue? Panya is still a servant to the same woman? I have no idea what anyone is talking about.

Yeah, it felt like we skipped an issue. It was just so lacking in context and ultimately it didn't move the plot forward or tell us anything new about Panya.

[Kirby101]

#3, this was the first issue I liked. It felt more cohesive. I still think this could have been a 2 issue series to get to the point. Or for 4 issues, they could have don her origin in one and then shown her through different eras.

I can't remember, when she first appeared in BPRD, was she an entombed mummy? Or was she just an ancient person?

[thwhtGuardian]

#3, this was the first issue I liked. It felt more cohesive. I still think this could have been a 2 issue series to get to the point. Or for 4 issues, they could have don her origin in one and then shown her through different eras.

I can't remember, when she first appeared in BPRD, was she an entombed mummy? Or was she just an ancient person?

In the initial flash backs we saw the Brotherhood of Ra hosting an unwrapping party(which was an actual thing in the late 1800's) and when they unwrapped her face her eyes sprung open to their surprise.

[Kirby101]

In the initial flash backs we saw the Brotherhood of Ra hosting an unwrapping party(which was an actual thing in the late 1800's) and when they unwrapped her face her eyes sprung open to their surprise.

So I guess this ends with her becoming a Living Mummy? Or they will have another mini for that.

[thwhtGuardian]

So I guess this ends with her becoming a Living Mummy? Or they will have another mini for that.

yeah, I imagine it will end with why she was mummified

[thwhtGuardian]

#3, this was the first issue I liked. It felt more cohesive. I still think this could have been a 2 issue series to get to the point. Or for 4 issues, they could have don her origin in one and then shown her through different eras.

I can't remember, when she first appeared in BPRD, was she an entombed mummy? Or was she just an ancient person?

It was slightly better as something actually happened...but it still felt pretty disjointed and disconnected from the previous issue. There's just no connective tissue to tie the events together into a proper narrative.

[thwhtGuardian]

Wow...this was an utterly terrible and ultimately pointless story. Once again there's some weird time jump between issues with a major plot point apparently happening between issues where Panya saved a village... she weirdly meets a mummy guy out of the blue, learns about hyperboria...and then ages weirdly and gets mumified for some reason and then wakes up at her unwrapping before making a weird statement about knowing the future.

This whole thing told us nothing of interest about Panya and did nothing to enrich the Hellboy universe. What editor read this book and said, "yeah this is good, readers will like this" it's just a mess from start to finish.

[Kirby101]

I might have liked it even less than you TWG. It was worth a One Shot at most, and maybe not even that. What was the point, she was anointed and given powers by some god or something. The ending where she sees the future was pointless, we all saw it too.

Either give me more Hellboy stories, or continue the Frankenstein book. Nothing else they are doing is worth the paper it is printed on.

[thwhtGuardian]

I might have liked it even less than you TWG. It was worth a One Shot at most, and maybe not even that. What was the point, she was anointed and given powers by some god or something. The ending where she sees the future was pointless, we all saw it too.

Either give me more Hellboy stories, or continue the Frankenstein book. Nothing else they are doing is worth the paper it is printed on.

Yeah, there just wasn't enough plot here to justify a miniseries...and they skipped over what little interesting developments there were. Like she apparently saved a village from monsters between the last issue and this one, that would have been something worth seeing...but no it gets a weird flash back and a tiny mention and that was it.

I just don't get what this story was supposed to do.