This weekend we travel back into the far past, into ancient Egypt. Now for all of those who have studied Egyptology to a degree like I did, Egypt is indeed a fascinating ancient civilization that still holds many undecipherable mysteries forever entomed in the sands of North Africa. Now, I didn't study Egyptology out of an initial fascination, but because I'm majoring in Anthropology hoping to do a PhD in Archaeology in the future, and Egyptology was a good filler class. I also have many Egyptologist friends, one who specializes in Pharaohs and gods. Let's pretend this is unrecorded history.
I also wanna mention Batman: Book of the Dead. This was probably my favorite Elseworlds story of all time, despite the not so good writing. The art was fantastic, and it gave new rise to Batman's origin story. It came two books which tell the story of how Bruce's parents were Egyptologists who stumbled upon a mystery and were murdered by it. Young Bruce, mourning, stumbled upon one of the treasures they had brought back: the classic round yellow and black Bat symbol, as well as that one bat in the Grandfather clock inspiring him to become Batman. Flashback to the past...: The ancient Egyptian gods were actually Aliens who helped build their civilization, 'till Seth killed Ra. The Waynes were onto Nekrunh, a god whose represented animal was a Bat, and he witnessed it all, but most gods were on Set's favor, and therefore Nekrunh took the truth to his tomb after being chased and murdered by his fellow gods. Turns out the Waynes had a lead into this tomb, which upon revealing it to the world, it would mean having a real Egyptian god in their hands, but Joe Chill, a rival Egyptologist (or maybe he was working for some disgruntled Egyptologist competitor) killed the Waynes. Fast forward to the future. Batman further researches this stuff with his enormous wealth and resources, and finds Nekrunh's tomb, but messes it up and the Nile River's water comes flushing in the chambers in a typical Indiana Jones sequence. Upon his exit he encounters Chill, and watches him drown after a battle, fulfilling his revenge. Turns out that Nekrunh stood for justice and truth, and Batman is the embodiment of what this ancient alien god stood for. Coincidence? Mystery? Whatever. I remember upon finishing book two I yelled "I NEED THIS TO BE TURNED INTO AN ACTION FIGURE ASAP"... Maybe someday.
The Batman is as good as we'll get with Nekrunh. The cards say that Catwoman is a pharaoh who is evil, and Batman a son of one of her consorts, so after viewing all sorts of injustices done against his fellow countrymen, he steps up and beats them up. These two are really nice sculpts. Catwoman comes with clawed glove knuckles, a ornamental helmet and a staff cat's paw weapon which ends in a small tail. OH and she has a tail coming out of her sculptural butt. Batman is more or less the same, but blue instead of purple, comes with a staff weapon, cape and helmet. I think the colors on these two work absolutely great, and even the poses are great, BUT they can't stand up easily. You have to prop them against something. THAT is why posed figures suck.
Also, those costumes look pretty dang warm. Egyptians used sandals and wore light clothing most of the times. This must be one of the later dynasties. I wanted to say that this Batman was friends with Moses, but naah. Still very nice figures with nice cards and nice backstories to both. Now, my favorite Egyptian love tale is the one between Cleopatra and Mark Antony... This is what really happened!
Cat-Patra: "Oh Bat-Antony, I love you"... Bat-Antony: "Turns out that Bat-man was a rogue member of the ancient Bats... Augustus Strangeous corrupteth him by telling him lies!" Cat-Patra: "Then we must fight Augustus Strangeous!" Next up: Gladiator Batman!
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