CBI Archive
Into the back issue box #7
Saturday, October 28th, 2006 at 5:25 PM EST
Updated: Saturday, October 28th, 2006 at 5:25 PM EST
This week - make the weirdness stop!!!!
(As usual, read this if you want to know what’s going on.)
Egypt #6 (of 7) (”The Book of the Power”) by Peter Milligan, Roberto Corona, and Phil Gascoine. Published by DC/Vertigo, January 1996.
There are some things I know about this comic book. First, Peter Milligan is a weird dude. Second, it’s the sixth book in a seven-issue mini-series, so the obvious assumption is that you will buy every issue and judge the book based on the entire series. Third, Peter Milligan is a really weird dude.
But, as a first-time comic book reader, Egypt #6 presents some problems. If I was picking this up on a lark and hoping to get something that would make me pick up the rest of the series, I might have to pass. It’s not that it’s bad, and it’s not even that it’s incoherent (as it might be, as the sixth issue in a seven-issue mini-series). It’s that, even within the context of a mini-series, the issue itself doesn’t do a very good job of making you want to get the rest of the series.
We are thrown into the action with no attempt at a recap, which is fine to a certain degree, as we’re smart people and should be able to follow along (the operative word being “should”). Vincent Me is being attacked by mummies in the first panel. Somehow he drives them off with his mind, and his friend, an old man named Hempa, wonders how he did it. From the title of the book and the clothes the two are wearing and the presence of, you know, mummies, we can ascertain that we are in Egypt, presumably way back when. Vincent seems to be someone from another time, and we can guess, through clues in the book, that it’s the present (late 1995, that is). But that’s just speculation. We find out that Hempa’s job for the government is hunting mummies, and then Vincent tells him he needs to get to “the land of the dead” to figure out what the mummies are. Hempa takes him to a vast city and the exit from which the mummies come, and he tells him no one ever tries to get in. Hempa makes an interesting statement to one of the workmen: “Don’t bother lying. He can get inside your head.” As with the mummies, we see that Vincent has some kind of power. We just don’t know what it is.
A worker tells the men that some “beetles” are out, which freaks out the natives. Hempa tells him that beetles are creatures who work for the temple and are only called out when something bad happens. Just then a bunch of mummies try to break out, but the beetles aren’t after them - they’re after Vincent. The beetles show up, and they’re downright creepy. They have legs like a man, but their upper bodies are beetle-like. Needless to say, they’re as big as men, too. They ensnare Vincent, but then the mummies attack them, allowing him and Hempa to escape into the city. This is the first of two times in this issue that Vincent mentions a background noise, a distant hum, that he can’t recognize. It is not explained in this issue. Vincent finds a join in the rock surface, and then he and Hempa fall through the floor. This is where the issue gets weird. Or, you know, weirder.
Vincent is unconscious for a while, and when he wakes up, he sees the god Seth playing a hand-held video game. He sees someone called Soter, who mutters to him until some strange portal opens and he and Hempa go through. He ends up in a bedroom with the naked goddess Isis on top of him, but she disappears and Orisis shows up. He and Vincent wander through a garden, where Vincent stumbles onto the rotting corpse of Hempa, who managed to die and start to decompose in two pages. Then Osiris and Vincent zip around and check out some of the common people, who are doing horrible things to each other (killing, raping, molesting nieces), and Osiris talks to him about how they are similar, even though Vincent doesn’t want to hear it. Then they’re back in Osiris’ house, and Vincent confronts their sister, Nephthys, with the questions we all want to know:
We get no answers, however, because it’s off to the next page, and Vincent wakes up on another morning in a violent storm. He goes out into the garden and finds a girl called Peshy, who has had her abdomen ripped open. The wind seems to be concentrated on Peshy. He then finds Kandi, a handmaiden, who is weeping over the torn-apart corpse of Nephthys. Kandi says she can open a gateway for them to escape, but only if he gets aroused, because she needs his sweat. Unfortunately, Vincent has been having sex with Isis all the time, and he can’t get aroused. He even tries to fantasize about his sister. He even tries to fantasize about his sister! It’s not actually as creepy as it sounds, but it’s still pretty creepy. But even that doesn’t work. Finally, he gets aroused (more scared than anything, as Kandi threatens him, but I guess it works) and he and Kandi escape - and switch clothing. Vincent mentions the background noise he hears again, and then he pulls open a large stone door to reveal … a giant statue of a pharoah, a cigarette clutched in its lips, with Vincent’s face. Exeunt!
Hmmm. On the one hand, I understand this is like a chapter in a book, but Milligan still does very little to draw us into the story and give us any clue what the hell is going on. Obviously, there is supposed to be some mystery about the proceedings, but there’s a difference between being mysterious and being completely opaque. We have no idea what Vincent is doing in “Egypt,” who Soter is (he has tortured Vincent at some point), who Hempa is, what’s going on, why Seth is playing a video game … in fact, we get almost no sense of what has come before this issue. We can guess some things - Vincent has spent some time in New York City, but we don’t know if he’s a native - but we get no answers. That’s fine in a way, but it is so scattershot that it doesn’t really make us want to pick up any other issue in the series. The statue of Vincent-as-pharoah is supposed to be some kind of shocking revelation, but we have no context for it, so we’re unimpressed with it. Milligan’s writing is a bit jarring, as well. When he’s at his, well, not worst, because that would be when he wrote Elektra, but when he’s not at his best, he seems to want to write like his contemporary, the God of All Comics, but that’s not really his strength. Vincent’s loopy narration sounds more clever than it actually is. Check it out: “To help prevent detection from the Division of the Jackal-Headed Ones, our costumes were made from, among other things, boiled mummy fat and grave mud … Our helmets were dead dog skin, our breast-armor roasted insect … Old papyrus inscribed with the opening hieroglyphs of The Book of the Dead was stuck to our genitals with the saliva of an abused cat.” It’s quite a mouthful, and it drags us down. Milligan is best when his characters are speaking, because they say surreal things that somehow make sense. His narration, bizarre as it is, doesn’t work as well. Someone encountering comics (and Milligan) for the first time would be put off by the archness of the narration. Milligan is a tough nut to crack the first time you read him, and this issue does nothing to draw people in.
This is not an awful comic book by any means. It has some weirdly neat moments, and the overall story could be something that is intriguing, despite the lack of any kind of entry point where we can figure out what’s going on. I can’t really recommend buying the other issues of the mini-series based on this individual comic, because there’s nothing that really grabs you and doesn’t let you go. It has some interesting parts to it, but as a whole, it makes little sense and doesn’t really demand attention.
Has anyone read the whole thing? Is it any good?
24 Comments
yo go re
October 28, 2006 at 5:45 pm
I actually HAVE read the whole thing, and I really liked it. I even re-read it every so often. I think what happens in this issue is fairly indicative of how the rest of the series plays out - a pervasive weirdness that mixes the real historical Egypt with some strange mythological version. Everything does come together logically in the end, even if that logic is strained almost to the breaking point.
And yes, there’s more fantasizing about his sister…
chdb
October 28, 2006 at 8:01 pm
It’s good. Unfortunately it doesn’t actually all start to make sense before the final issue, but other than that, it’s good.
Zack
October 28, 2006 at 8:56 pm
Peter Milligan has a habit of that — really weird minis that make absolutely no sense until the very end.
I kind of prefer it when he does one-offs, such as THE FACE and THE EATERS at Vertigo — that’s good stuff!
gus
October 28, 2006 at 10:03 pm
You should really read Milligan’s other early-Vertigo mini called ‘Enigma’ - it is soooo good.
FunkyGreenJerusalem
October 29, 2006 at 12:23 am
Eygpt was a critical hit when it was released.
I’ve never read it, but it was a regular ‘Book you should be reading’ and on several pro’s fave book lists at the time.
I think this column is a bit flawed Greg, as I can’t imagine anyone buying #6 of 7, even someone new to comics, and then complaining about it not making sense.
It’s a mini, so it can’t be judged by the same criteria as an ongoing.
Lynxara
October 29, 2006 at 2:43 am
Frankly, a lot of books that are critical hits at the time end up as laughingstocks in five or ten years, because the material of the book has aged poorly or because of a shift in critical tastes. A lot of the 90’s material that people like to rag on now was critically acclaimed when it was new, too. This sort of thing is why I don’t take critical reading lists too seriously; often only about a third or a fourth of what a lot of reviewers like strikes me as actually any good at all. This may sound weird, given how so many comics fans complain about the rampant negativity among comics fans, but I really think over-praising material for being merely competent or different is a more severe problem with comics criticism than it is even with other niche mediums.
Mathew
October 29, 2006 at 2:55 am
I was puzzled throughout my reading experience with Egypt as well, but there’s a moment near the end that pulled it all together for me. It’s quite a redemptive story that I return to every once in a while. It’s the kind of story that rewards rereading.
I love this series alongside his earlier Enigma. At the time, Milligan wasn’t as splashy as his Vertigo peers, but he seemed sincere, and that comes through in his writing at the time.
Brian Cronin
October 29, 2006 at 3:34 am
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
Heck, that is practically the founding principle of this blog. Only praise the comics that are GOOD.
FunkyGreenJerusalem
October 29, 2006 at 5:54 am
“Frankly, a lot of books that are critical hits at the time end up as laughingstocks in five or ten years, because the material of the book has aged poorly or because of a shift in critical tastes. A lot of the 90’s material that people like to rag on now was critically acclaimed when it was new, too. This sort of thing is why I don’t take critical reading lists too seriously; often only about a third or a fourth of what a lot of reviewers like strikes me as actually any good at all. This may sound weird, given how so many comics fans complain about the rampant negativity among comics fans, but I really think over-praising material for being merely competent or different is a more severe problem with comics criticism than it is even with other niche mediums.”
In the case of Egypt though, for a bout 3-4 months, when it was coming out, every respectable pro interviewd in Wizard mentioned it when asked what their favourite current books were - and for about a year it was held up as an example of books that fall through the cracks.
Now I know Wizard ain’t a good measure, but there was no CBR back then!
FunkyGreenJerusalem
October 29, 2006 at 5:55 am
How does one do the quote thing Brian?
Brian Cronin
October 29, 2006 at 9:11 am
Surround the words you want to quote with and , just without the x’s.
Greg Burgas
October 29, 2006 at 9:20 am
Gus - I’ve read Enigma, and liked it a lot. I should go back and select a random issue of that (not the first or last) and see how much sense it makes. It seems like each issue, although weird, made a bit more sense than this.
FGJ - I tried to keep that in mind when I read it. I didn’t really want a two-page recap, which would drag down the story, just a bit more. I didn’t hate the book at all. It didn’t grab me, but I was intrigued by it. The reaction from the comments makes me think I SHOULD go get the rest of it. It’s always going to be flawed, to a certain degree, because, for instance, I LOVE Peter Milligan and know that if I buy one of his books I’ll probably enjoy it. A new comic reader, however, might not notice that it’s a sixth out of seven in a series. They might get drawn in by the cover (that’s what covers are for, after all) and there’s no indication that this is a mini-series beside the small numbers tucked away in the upper left corner of the cover and in the preview section in the back. It’s just tough to get into this if you buy it with no foreknowledge. It’s a fantasy, of course, because Vertigo is sold to a very specialized audience and the casual reader probably won’t pick this up, so you’re right about that. It’s still fun to read this as if you’ve never read a comic before.
Matt Brady
October 29, 2006 at 11:10 am
Damn, I’ve never even heard of this, and this recap sold me on it! I’m going to have to look for it now! Thanks, Greg!
moose n squirrel
October 29, 2006 at 11:41 am
I dimly remember reading this series. I think I thought it was a little weak but still pretty interesting, but that was ages ago, and I’ve no idea how much I’d like it if I picked it up today; my tastes have changed a bit.
That said, issue 6 of a 7 issue miniseries probably isn’t the greatest candidate for a “how would it read to a first-time reader?” column.
Greg Burgas
October 29, 2006 at 12:40 pm
No problem, Matt. And remember, moose - it’s totally random!
FunkyGreenJerusalem
October 30, 2006 at 2:35 am
“They might get drawn in by the cover (that’s what covers are for, after all) and there’s no indication that this is a mini-series beside the small numbers tucked away in the upper left corner of the cover and in the preview section in the back.”
Well, those numbers are above the price tag, so I assume the person would have to be pretty absent minded not to notice.
(then again, I brought two copies of American Century #2 once, because #3 had just came out, and I paid no attention at all to what I had in my hand.)
“Surround the words you want to quote with and , just without the x’s. ”
Is that explanation missing somthing?
Ken Raining
October 30, 2006 at 12:27 pm
I bought the first couple issues of this when it came out, then somehow lost track of it and, years later, picked up the remaining issues from, yes, the quarter bin. I read the new ones without going back to read the ones I already have (a bad habit of mine– I don’t like to read comics I’ve already read when I have something new to read, even if that means the comic I read makes no sense), so I can kind of relate to you, Greg. The issue does not make a lot of sense individually.Vertigo has always “written for the trade”, even before they were at the point of collecting everything in a trade. I’ve bought a lot of pieces to mini- series, not just vertigo, that don’t make a lot of sense on their own. Still, each issue should do enough to make you want to see how the characters ended up in the situration that they did, which it sounds like “Egypt” did for you.
I’m going to go to the CBR forum and suggest a new top five topic– mini series most deserving of a collection!
Greg Burgas
October 30, 2006 at 2:02 pm
That’s a good idea, Ken. I will bet the hands-down winner will be Flex Mentallo.
Brad Curran
October 30, 2006 at 7:34 pm
I read this series not too long ago and dug it, although I am a Milligan fan and have no problem with weird shit that don’t seem to make sense. Those two things kind of go hand in hand. One of us really ought to review Skreemer one of these days; it’s my favorite Milligan work.
Ken Raining
October 31, 2006 at 8:16 am
Well Greg, Flex Mentallo certainly will be the winner, since you write the lists!
I thought that was collected, though… perhaps it’s out of print? Shocking, considering the people involved. I’m sure I have a few nominations, but one that pops immediately to mind is Scene of the Crime, a Vertigo detective story that Ed Brubabker and Michael Lark did a few years ago. Well worth picking up, even for a dollar (rather than a quarter)!
Greg Burgas
October 31, 2006 at 8:51 am
Scene of the Crime is out in trade. I know, because I own the trade!!! It’s quite good, you’re right.
Flex Mentallo has always been caught in the Charles Atlas mess that DC got into with the character. Now that they’ve published his origin in trade, I’m hoping they manage to get the mini-series out.
yo go re
October 31, 2006 at 9:32 am
If I recall correctly, Egypt was originally a 6-issue mini - and then “#3 of 6″ changed to “#4 of 7.” I’m not sure on the actual issues, but I’m fairly certain there was a change at some point…
JustReadIt
November 4, 2006 at 3:10 pm
“There are some things I know about this comic book. First, Peter Milligan is a weird dude. Second, it’s the sixth book in a seven-issue mini-series, so the obvious assumption is that you will buy every issue and judge the book based on the entire series. Third, Peter Milligan is a really weird dude.
But, as a first-time comic book reader, Egypt #6 presents some problems.”
This alone makes the review much flawed, like Funkygreenjerusalem said.
It’s like reading one late chapter in a complex book, and not appreciating the characters, the plot elements, or any nuances or build-ups, or even getting lost about the whole thing.
The reviewer would have done a much better, more objective review if the only issue he read was at the first issue instead of the 6th in a 7-issue mini.
I read this miniseries lately, and found it to be pretty good. Fortunately for me, I didn’t hear all the hype beforehand.
John Seavey
November 25, 2006 at 11:42 pm
I’d just have to point out to all the people complaining that the review is flawed because it reviews the sixth issue of a seven-issue mini-series…
That’s the point of the entire exercise.
If this is something that you have to read the whole thing for it to be comprehensible, then why is it published as a seven-issue mini-series? Why not publish it as a book? If it’s not divisible into seven readable portions, aren’t you cheating your readers by selling it to them in seven installments? If you’re not intended to start at part six, why make the reader work to find parts one through five if six was the first issue they found?