Hot Brass, Pharaoh's Gold #1 - Unlikely Heroes Studios

HOT BRASS, PHARAOH'S GOLD No. 1, January 2021

Initially conceived as a story “written for kids”, John Pence’s script for “Hot Brass, Pharaoh’s Gold” arguably contains plenty of action-packed adventure with which to capture both an adolescent’s imagination and adult’s mind. For whilst the concept of American ranchers fighting Ancient Egyptian mummies might sound like some ill-conceived sequel to Jon Favreau’s financially disappointing 2011 American science fiction film “Cowboys & Aliens”, the thirty-two page periodical’s plot consistently conjures up all manner of disconcertingly diabolical situations and exciting threats to the wellbeing of all Mankind; “His final curses, written as he realised he had been poisoned by his priests, were that when men had the foolhardy courage to say out loud that they no longer feared him, he would return and enslave all humanity!”

In addition, the actual rationale behind just how such an intriguing war in the Wild West occurs is genuinely well-thought out, courtesy of a pair of greedy entrepreneurs turned grave robbers bringing the “evil Pharaoh and his army” over to the United States so as make a mint “auctioning off the lot to private collectors.” Such a mammoth amount of glittering treasure on public display was bound to attract the attention of the San Francisco criminal fraternity, and unsurprisingly results in Mekhenaten’s mummified remains being subsequently waylaid en route to Albuquerque by a band of bona fide “train-robbin' scallywags” lead by the bandit Blaze Dell.

Similarly as convincing is the resultant explanation as to just why the Dell Boys Gang would inadvertently trigger the long dead corpse’s curse, without the need for Pence to resort to penning the usual trope of the Stetson-wearing thieves either sacrilegiously stealing from the undead Sovereign’s tomb or supposedly reminding the ruler of a long-deceased sweetheart. Mekhenaten’s awakening by Jolly’s arrogant boast that “King Dusty-Britches” doesn’t scare him seems like the kind of thing a foolishly egotistical raider would say to a coffin-bound cadaver, and exactly the sort of cowardly irreverence to rile the former leader of a mighty empire into attempting a nation-wide coup.

Also helping this comic’s storytelling bound along with plenty of ‘tongue-in-cheek’ gusto is Joe Koziarski’s artwork, which does a proficient job of depicting both life in the Wild West and the machinations of the mad Egyptian king. The former illustrator for “Speed Racer” appears particularly good at pencilling the gun-fights between the panicky cowboys and their bandage-encased opponents, as well as adding some nice extra details to some of his panels, such as the Pharaoh’s pet cat leaping around its master when the Sheriff’s posse desperately tries to rid the megalomaniac of his magical power gems.

Writer: John Pence, and Artist: Joe Koziarski