CREDITS: Written by Hilary J. Bader; art by Joe Staton and Terry Beatty.
REVIEW: Right up front, I'm immensely bothered by the Egyptian prince having an Aztec-sounding name - Tetlecteloti - and that never goes away as I made my way through this story of star-crossed lovers reunited after millennia apart. It is of course filtered through Terry's high school setting, with the mummy taking on the part of a teenager, sucking the life out of other kids until he can make Dana remember she's his princess. But though dead ringer she may be, it's all a big mistake. In the end, Terry will get the two mummies into the same room and all will be well. Dana gets to be heroic too and the last page is sweet in a morbid kind of way.
The issue addresses Terry and Dana's ailing relationship and takes place during a period when, given the choice between spending more time together or less, Terry has opted for less. Not like he doesn't have a choice, but she doesn't know that. So the undead prince becomes a mirror for Terry, wanting to spend eternity with his loved one though they've mostly been apart. The take-away is that quantity doesn't matter so much as quality, and not for the first or last time, Dana uses this as justification to get back with Terry. Bruce Wayne correctly identified teenage love as flighty, but at least writers are going out of their way to explain their ups and downs.
Plus, y'know, Batman fighting a mummy. Bader really needs to tap into more SF, I think, which is Batman Beyond's particular setting.
REREADABILITY: Medium - I respond to the lovers' story (or stories), but this is another odd fit, and the mummy fights aren't nearly as interesting as they could be.
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