This review of Universal Monsters: The Mummy #4 brings the story to its conclusion, as Ankh-Es-En-Amun finds herself wondering if being back with Imhotep is truly worth it.
Universal Monsters: The Mummy #4
Written by Faith Erin Hicks
Art and Main Cover: Faith Erin Hicks
Colors: Lee Loughridge
Variant Covers: Jae Lee, Guillem March, Anwita Citriya, Maria Wolf
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: June 25, 2025
As the issue opens, Helen is reflecting on Ankh-Es-En-Amun and her history (as well as their now-fractured friendship) as her soul is being locked away. Ankh-Es-En-Amun now has full control of Helen’s body, and she’s overjoyed to be back with her Imhotep.
But Imhotep says that they can’t be together quite yet. For that to happen, they need to be fully rid of Helen’s soul. And that can only be accomplished by killing the physical body. There are two huge issues with this: first off, that body’s currently in use. Secondly, Ankh-Es-En-Amun begins to have second thoughts about the whole thing, feeling that it’s unfair for Helen to be deprived of a chance to have a long, full life.
Imhotep, however, insists upon the murder plan, demanding that she be grateful to him for pulling her from the grave, acting like she owes him for that. As he drags her to the slab to carry this out, Ankh-Es-En-Amun apologizes to Helen. Helen manages to resurface.
Frank and Dr. Muller show up, ready to save Helen from Imhotep (or as they know him, Ardeth Bey). Imhotep has his own backup. As his mummies fight the men, Helen’s soul and Ankh-Es-En-Amun make a run for it. But Imhotep is in hot pursuit.
Cornered and feeling unable to run anymore, Ankh-Es-En-Amun calls upon her goddess Isis for help. The goddess hears her plea, and channels some of her power through both Ankh-Es-En-Amun and Helen as they use it against Imhotep. Imhotep is taken out, the mummies return to being just plain dead over undead, and Ankh-Es-En-Amun gets to return to her eternal rest. Helen has her own body back, and is left to grieve the loss of her ancient companion.
And thus ends this take on the story of The Mummy. The first three issues crept toward this one, giving us plenty of time to get to know the characters. So, when this fourth issue rolls around, the drama is heightened a bit. It’s one thing to see someone you don’t know being threatened with murder by a member of the undead, but when it’s Ankh-Es-En-Amun/Helen being threatened by the former’s ex, it raises the stakes considerably.
Imhotep turning out to be rather controlling and entitled makes sense for the story. When a guy goes against all that’s good and holy in his culture to drag his dead lover back to the world of the living because he can’t live without her, it can be taken one of two ways: romantic (but immensely selfish) or entitled. Insisting upon stabbing her as opposed to asking what Ankh-Es-En-Amun would want? Entitled, controlling, and selfish all rolled into one. Even if him bringing her back in the first place can be seen as sympathetic, his actions give off a fair number of red flags.
Frank showing up alive and well, combined with the power of Isis coming in at the climax, indicates that there really is something to the token Frank was given in the prior issue. He may have been attacked in a similar method to his father, but he didn’t meet the same fate.
And even with him and Dr. Muller rushing onto the scene, the fact that they weren’t the ones that ultimately stopped Imhotep was a good call. With this being a female-focused version of The Mummy, it needed to be Helen, Ankh-Es-En-Amun, and Isis’s powers that brought Imhotep to his end. If that had been left for the men to do, it would have dealt a disservice to the story and its characters.
Final Thoughts
The creative team brings Universal Monsters: The Mummy #4 to an epic (and tragic) conclusion. It’s a well-rendered, beautifully-paced conclusion to this take on a classic tale. And it might be even better after a binge of the first three issues.
