Isis' Pyramid - Page 2 
Burn, Baby, Burn!










     That's one handy bird.  Anyway Isis stuck Scarab back in the pyramid and
returned it to Egypt.  So much for him.  The next revived ancient Egyptian
sorcerer was a much tougher character but we'll get to him.
     Over the next few issues Andrea had a growing identity crisis.  If she
was a reincarnated goddess then didn't that mean that Andrea was just a shell
and Isis was who she really was?  So in her fifth issue she stopped changing
back and forth, vowed to stay as Isis permenantly and started addressing
regular folks as 'mortal'.  Rick, Andrea's boyfriend, was rather upset when
she disappeared without a trace and thanks to a few cryptic remarks by Isis
decided she was involved somehow.  Which brings us to issue 7 (Oct-Nov 1977),
the cover of which was reproduced on the previous page.
     Rick decided the first thing to do was find out more about Isis so finding
an ancient manuscript (and presumably an Ancient Egyptian Hieroglypics to
English dictionary) in the university's museum he learned the real origin of
Isis according to writer Jack C, Harris & artists Mike Vosburg & Frank
Chiarmonte.
     It turned out Isis never was a goddess.  Way, way back Egypt had been
conquered by a socereror named Serpenotep (who liked snakes and whose belt
sported a somewhat phallic brass cobra).  He had imprisoned the good wizard
(unnamed but pretty obviously Shazam) and begun a reign of terror.  Isis, a
courageous but perfectly ordinary young woman, had snuck into Serpenotep's
citadel to try and free Shazam.  He told her she couldn't undo the magic bonds
but he could channel power into her (much the same way he would empower Billy
Batson as Captain Marvel a few millennia later) and she could confront
Serpenotep.
     Using her new powers Isis took on Serpenotep who, finding himself in an
unexpectedly strong fight, used all his power against her.  This meant Shazam
broke free and together with Isis imprisoned Serpenotep inside a paperweight
sized pyramid.  Isis protected Egypt the rest of her life and eventually died
of old age promising to return someday.
     At this point Rick made a major mistake and read the imprisoning spell
out loud.  As the miniature pyramid was in a display case behind him his soul
swapped places with Serpenotep and the sorceror changed Rick's body to look
like his original form.  Being smarter than Scarab and having gained a
host-body full of useful twentieth century trivia Serpenotep began planning
revenge.
     Luring Isis to the museum Serpenotep confronted her which restored her
memory of her first life.  As Sepenotep had foreseen she tried to reimprison
him allowing Serpenotep to spring his trap.  I guess the plastic sarcophagus
was hidden in the ceiling and open on the bottom.  Pretty good fit for a
tapering shape.










     Unfortunately for Isis her enemy had one more trick to play.  When she
threw a lightning bolt he used the dazzle to return Rick's body to its old
appearance and pretended that he was Rick and Serpenotep had grabbed him as
bait for Isis.  Unaware she was walking off with her greatest enemy Isis
helped Rick out of the museum, leaving the real Rick stuck in the pyramid.
Having regained her memories Isis was planning on becoming Andrea again and
resuming her relationship with Rick while Serpenotep planned his next scheme.
If this was ever resolved before the comic was cancelled with the next issue,
number 8, (which I missed) becoming the final one I have no idea.  If anyone
does know please drop me a line.












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