More specifically, I call shenanigans on the Eerie Publications (not to be confused with Warren Publications’ Eerie magazine) comic, “The Slimy Mummy.” Although it’s a delightfully deranged tale with beautiful artwork, the giant mummy in the story is only slimy in the comic’s title panel. On top of that, it’s an uncredited remake of a story called “The Giant from the Tomb.” Said story originally appeared in an issue of a comic book called The Purple Claw.
The Purple Claw is an odd character, a superhero who dresses like the protagonist of a “True Crime” comic and tends to get involved in stories better suited for horror comics. Presumably someone at Eerie made a similar observation and decided to filter out all of the non-horror elements from the original. Due to the lack of credits, it’s hard to tell if this is just an unauthorized rip-off or just another example of a comic book writer reusing one of his older stories. Oh yes, that sort of thing does happen.
Getting back on topic, I remember feeling incredibly cheated when I discovered the truth about “The Slimy Mummy.” One of my favorite parts of the story was the completely random act of divine intervention. I had always assumed it was dreamed up by a bored writer in order to both amuse himself and meet a fast-approaching deadline. Turns out it was just a way to reuse the climax of the original story without resorting to the silliness of having a superhero exist in a part of “Western Asia” which somehow looks like medieval Europe. Such a pity.
