Issue(s): Supernatural Thrillers #10
Cover Date: Dec 74
Title: "A choice of lions!"
Credits:
Len Wein - Script
Tony Isabella & Val Mayerick - Plot
Val Mayerick - Penciler
Dan Adkins - Inker

Review/plot:
Val Mayerick begins co-plotting with this issue, something that will continue until almost the end of the series (Mayerick is not on the final issue at all). Len Wein is "pinch-scripting" for this issue.

The issue feels a little bit like a fill-in, but i guess it's really not. The main plot is mostly put on hold thanks to flashbacks paralleled with a scene in the present unrelated to the current story, but it still introduces two new characters that will remain through the end of the series and begins an important development with the Elementals.

The Living Mummy is on the trail of the thief that lifted the Ruby Scarab while the Mummy was fighting the Living Pharoah. While he's walking, he has a memory of his days some 3,000 years ago as the son of the chieftan of the Swarili tribe, soon before they were enslaved by the Egyptians. As a ritual of adulthood, he had to go and kill a lion with his knife.

While he's thinking about this, he comes across an Israeli soldier being chased by an Egyptian tank.

He sees in her a parallel with his own rite of adulthood, so he allows her to shield herself with his body....

...and watches as she destroys the tank.

She thanks him and they go their separate ways.

As for the thief, his nickname is the Asp, and he's got a partner named Olddan. They've got plans to sell the ruby gem to Dr. Skarab, and then steal it back and sell it to someone else.

As for the development with the Elementals, Zephyr leaves for Earth to attempt to regain control of the Mummy.

But as the caption says, there's no room to cover her journey in this issue.

The main story in this issue is what i'll call a "Man-Thing" story in the sense that the main character is little more than an observer, but that makes it a nice breather with a little humanity, especially before we get to the pure supernatural story coming up as the Elementals plot reaches full steam.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This issue begins with the Living Mummy staggering through the desert on the trail of Richard 'Asp' Harper. There's no saying how long he was tracking him, so i've placed it in a separate entry.

References:

• This issue expands on the background of the Swarilis and the Egyptians that we first saw in Supernatural Thrillers #5.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Essential Marvel Horror vol. 2