Review: The Tomb by Defilippis, Mitten & Weir

by Chriss Cornish published: March 22, 2010 No Comments

This Book Is About

In 1922, Lord Earl Carnarvon financed the Egyptian expedition that unearthed King Tut’s tomb. While the fact that the dig gained a reputation for being “cursed” is well known, Mathias Fowler slipped away into anonymity. Fowler, an American on the team, had grown obsessed with the Ancient Egyptians and when he returned to the States it was with several stolen artifacts in tow. Fowler had become so obsessed that when he died, he killed all of his household staff and had them buried in his mansion with him – a modern day Pharaoh’s Tomb.

Almost 60 years after Fowler’s death, Jessica Parrish, archeologist and would-be-Indiana Jones, has been hired to assemble and lead a team into the house to take back the missing pieces and disable the booby traps that have already cost one unfortunate group their lives. Can Parrish and her comrades navigate the elaborate deathtraps with their persons intact or will the curse of Tut’s tomb just add to its mounting body count?

My Thoughts On This Book

A locked house adventure horror with an archeological twist.

I’m not usually a fan of the separate-everyone-so-the-plot-can-pick-them-off storyline but I enjoyed The Tomb. It was clever, the characters interesting and realistic, and the premise different enough. I also liked the ‘camera’ angles that the artist used; makes the graphic novel more cinematic and less here’s-a-bunch-of-frames-of-stuff-happening.

I also like that the story is told in the third-person past-tense by a secondary character. The ending has a nice twist, as well, which I didn’t entirely see coming.

The main character, Jessica Parrish, is likable and a strong, intelligent, and realistic woman. Parrish is an Indiana Jones type archeologist who’s lost her Harvard teaching job after being falsely accused of stealing artifacts from the Iraqi war zone. While she’s dealing with/wallowing in her fall from grace she’s approached by the senator who purchased Mathias Fowler’s house; he’s seeking her trap expertise to find out what happened to some contractors he hired and the artifacts Fowler was said to have stolen.

There’s plenty of emotion, action, betrayal, and mystery to keep the reader interested. I enjoyed The Tomb and would read any future Jessica Parrish adventures.

Shadetastic or Blank-city: How Well Was This Black&White Comic Shaded

There’s not a lot of shading, but the inking is nice and the backgrounds never interfere with the figures. The reader and quickly and easily distinguish objects and follow the action. Though, there are a few panels that are too ‘messy’ for my taste.