Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5 Review: Absolute Power Still Isn’t Enough
Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5 closes the villain’s journey toward ultimate power with something far more interesting than another cosmic battle: Mumm-Ra returns to First Earth, discovers a world that has moved on without him, and realizes that immortality means very little when there is no one left to fear you.
What does a villain do after he finally gets everything he wanted?
For four issues, Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living has explored suffering, exile, corruption, revenge, and the terrible choices that transformed Mumm-Ra into one of the most enduring monsters in ThunderCats mythology.
Now comes the uncomfortable question.
What happens after the transformation is complete?
Writer Declan Shalvey, artist Rapha Lobosco, colorist Roshan Kurichiyanil, letterer Jeff Eckleberry, and editor/packager Nate Cosby answer that question in Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5, the latest chapter of Dynamite Entertainment’s ambitious ThunderCats x SilverHawks crossover.
The answer is surprisingly simple.
Mumm-Ra tries peace.
He hates it.
That choice makes issue #5 one of the most psychologically interesting chapters of the series.
Rather than immediately throwing the Ever-Living into another enormous battle, Shalvey takes him somewhere much more dangerous:
ordinary life.
And Mumm-Ra discovers that there may be nothing more unbearable for an immortal tyrant than becoming irrelevant.
The Legend of Mumm-Ra Refuses to Die
The issue opens with death.
Or at least what should have been death.
Ancient remains lie buried beneath the Earth as the narration reminds us that Mumm-Ra’s influence did not disappear merely because he left the planet.
His sins remained.
They seeped into the world.
They became history.
They became mythology.
They became legend.
Until eventually, Mumm-Ra returned.
It is an excellent opening because it immediately frames the villain as something larger than a single lifetime.
Mumm-Ra is not merely an individual anymore.
He is an idea that civilizations remember even after forgetting the truth behind it.
That becomes important once he begins walking through modern First Earth.
The world knows Mumm-Ra.
It just does not know him.
And his reaction to that distinction drives much of the issue.
Mumm-Ra Goes to New York
One of the strangest—and best—creative choices in Mumm-Ra The Ever Living #5 is watching Mumm-Ra simply experience civilization.
He returns to a world transformed by time.
Cities have risen.
Humanity has survived.
Culture has expanded.
Technology has progressed.
And instead of immediately trying to conquer it, Mumm-Ra initially seems almost impressed.
He disguises himself as a sharply dressed man in a white suit, fedora, tie, and sunglasses.
Then he walks.
He visits bookstores.
He sits in the park.
He feeds birds.
He eats ice cream.
He goes to the movies.
Yes.
Mumm-Ra goes to the movies.
The image of one of animation’s most recognizable embodiments of ancient evil sitting inside a theater with popcorn is inherently funny, but Shalvey never lets the sequence turn into parody.
Mumm-Ra is studying humanity.
And perhaps, for the first time in a very long existence, he is trying to understand what living without constant conflict might actually feel like.
For One Moment, Mumm-Ra Thinks He Has Won
This version of Mumm-Ra has enormous power.
He believes the source of the Ever-Living resides within him.
He has absorbed temporal power.
His old enemies appear distant.
His previous struggles seem finished.
There is seemingly nobody powerful enough to threaten him.
And so Mumm-Ra reaches an extraordinary conclusion:
Maybe he can simply live.
There is something almost unsettling about watching him contemplate that possibility.
He observes ordinary people going about their lives and realizes that nobody is hunting him.
Nobody is persecuting him.
Nobody is challenging him.
Nobody even recognizes him.
For a moment, he mistakes the absence of opposition for freedom.
The world becomes a playground rather than a battlefield.
He has power.
He has immortality.
He has time.
What more could Mumm-Ra possibly need?
That question becomes the entire issue.
The Museum Sequence Is the Heart of the Book
Eventually Mumm-Ra arrives at an exhibition devoted to Ancient Egypt.
And suddenly everything changes.
The modern world has preserved fragments of the civilization he once knew.
Artifacts.
Statues.
Symbols.
Dusty remnants displayed safely behind glass.
Then Mumm-Ra sees something that is not merely historical.
He sees the Serpent Jewel.
The recognition hits immediately.
This is not simply another museum artifact.
This object is connected directly to who he became.
Mumm-Ra realizes that the jewel helped sustain him across the centuries.
The world has placed a piece of his own mythology inside a display case.
The sequence is powerful because Shalvey could easily have turned it into a standard “villain retrieves his artifact” scene.
He doesn’t.
Mumm-Ra considers taking it.
He recognizes its importance.
He imagines what their combined power could accomplish.
And then he stops.
He decides he does not need it.
He already has everything.
At least that is what he tells himself.
The Serpent Jewel Shows How Much Mumm-Ra Has Changed
This moment is important because earlier versions of Mumm-Ra’s journey were defined by acquisition.
More power.
More knowledge.
More revenge.
More control.
Every injury required compensation.
Every humiliation required domination.
Every loss demanded something greater.
But in issue #5, Mumm-Ra briefly walks away from additional power.
That should represent growth.
Instead, it reveals another problem.
He is not satisfied.
He is simply bored.
The difference is enormous.
Mumm-Ra no longer needs power to survive.
He wants power because possessing it confirms that he matters.
Without enemies, conquest, resistance, or fear, his existence begins to feel strangely empty.
That is considerably more compelling than another magical upgrade.
A Scholar Accidentally Understands Mumm-Ra
Inside the museum, Mumm-Ra encounters a human scholar discussing ancient symbols, immortality, and transformation.
The man does not recognize who is standing beside him.
Why would he?
To the scholar, Mumm-Ra is mythology.
Something belonging to an archaeological conversation.
An academic curiosity.
A symbol.
Not a living being standing only feet away.
That creates one of the issue’s cleverest ironies.
Mumm-Ra has spent centuries trying to become eternal.
And he succeeded.
But humanity has transformed him into something else entirely:
history.
He is immortal, yet people have moved on.
His legend survived.
His importance did not.
For someone with Mumm-Ra’s ego, that is arguably worse than death.
Declan Shalvey Turns Power Into a Character Problem
Shalvey has been very smart throughout this series about refusing to treat Mumm-Ra’s origin as a checklist.
It would have been easy to structure these five issues around simple milestones:
Here is where he gained this power.
Here is where he met this enemy.
Here is where he learned this spell.
Here is where he became Ever-Living.
Instead, the series has increasingly been about why Mumm-Ra keeps choosing evil even when other choices exist.
That distinction becomes crucial in issue #5.
If Mumm-Ra were simply corrupted beyond control, he would be less interesting.
But Shalvey gives him opportunities to choose differently.
Peace is available.
Anonymity is available.
A new life is available.
The human world does not know enough about him to hate him.
For perhaps the first time in centuries, nobody is demanding anything from him.
Mumm-Ra could disappear.
Instead, he slowly begins looking for reasons not to.
The Previous Chapter Makes This Choice Hit Harder
Readers who followed our Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #4 review will remember that the previous chapter examined Mumm-Ra at one of the darkest points in his transformation.
Issue #4 showed how abandonment, anger, humiliation, and revenge hardened into corruption. It made the road toward becoming Ever-Living feel tragic without ever pretending Mumm-Ra was innocent.
Issue #5 completes that idea from the opposite direction.
Previously, Mumm-Ra could blame his environment.
His enemies.
His suffering.
His exile.
His circumstances.
Now those excuses are gone.
Nobody is attacking him.
Nobody is forcing him to transform.
Nobody is making him seek revenge.
And that means his next choice belongs entirely to him.
That makes this chapter arguably even darker than the previous one.
An Ordinary Mugging Becomes an Existential Crisis
Then Mumm-Ra meets something ancient cosmic beings apparently cannot escape.
A street criminal.
It is almost absurd.
After everything Mumm-Ra has survived, after all the supernatural forces he has faced, after everything required to become Ever-Living, an ordinary human tries to rob him.
Naturally, Mumm-Ra is offended.
He expects obedience.
He expects fear.
He expects his declaration of identity to mean something.
It does not.
The robber does not know who Mumm-Ra is.
And more importantly, he does not care.
That is the wound that matters.
The encounter becomes violent, and for a moment Mumm-Ra is physically knocked around by someone who has absolutely no understanding of the being he has challenged.
Mumm-Ra’s reaction is not merely anger.
It is humiliation.
Again.
And humiliation has always been extremely dangerous around Mumm-Ra.
“Who Am I If I Am No Longer Feared?”
That is the real question of Mumm-Ra The Ever Living #5.
Not whether Mumm-Ra can defeat ordinary humans.
Of course he can.
The question is whether Mumm-Ra can exist without being feared.
The answer appears to be no.
This is where Shalvey’s character study pays off beautifully.
Fear is not merely something Mumm-Ra uses tactically.
It has become part of his identity.
People fearing him proves his importance.
Enemies opposing him prove his power matters.
Civilizations remembering him prove his immortality accomplished something.
Take those things away and what remains?
A man in an expensive white suit walking through a city that does not need him.
That possibility terrifies Mumm-Ra more than any ThunderCat ever could.
The Ever-Living Comes Back Out
Once police arrive, the mask begins to fall away.
The human disguise cannot contain the anger anymore.
Mumm-Ra’s supernatural identity explodes back into the story.
And Rapha Lobosco makes the transformation feel vicious.
This is not a heroic power-up.
It is appetite returning.
The Mumm-Ra who emerges is green-skinned, sharp-toothed, red-eyed, and delighted by the fear suddenly surrounding him.
That fear changes everything.
He can sense it.
Smell it.
Almost taste it.
And he loves it.
The sequence confirms that Mumm-Ra was never actually searching for peace.
He was searching for something capable of replacing domination.
Nothing could.
Fear Is Mumm-Ra’s Real Addiction
This may be the issue’s strongest thematic idea.
Mumm-Ra has spent so long chasing magical power that readers could reasonably assume magic itself is his addiction.
Issue #5 suggests otherwise.
His true addiction is significance.
Power is useful because power makes him significant.
Fear is intoxicating because fear confirms his significance.
Enemies matter because defeating enemies proves his superiority.
Once the police fear him and ordinary people flee, the old feeling comes rushing back.
Mumm-Ra calls it thrilling.
And that single emotional reaction tells us everything we need to know.
He has rediscovered himself.
Not because another ancient spirit corrupted him.
Not because somebody betrayed him.
Not because survival required it.
Because he enjoyed it.
That is the point where any lingering sympathy should become extremely uncomfortable.
Rapha Lobosco’s Mumm-Ra Is at His Best in the Shadows
Rapha Lobosco has done excellent work throughout this series, and issue #5 gives him an unusual visual challenge.
For much of the story, Mumm-Ra is not presented in his iconic monstrous form.
He is a man.
A very strange man, admittedly.
But still a man walking through bookstores, parks, cinemas, museums, sidewalks, and city streets.
Lobosco makes that material compelling by treating Mumm-Ra’s disguise as another costume.
The white suit is crisp.
The fedora throws shadows across his face.
The sunglasses separate him from everyone around him.
He looks stylish but never completely comfortable.
There is always something slightly wrong.
When Mumm-Ra’s true face eventually returns, Lobosco dramatically changes the visual temperature.
The teeth sharpen.
The eyes burn.
The body becomes monstrous.
The shadows deepen.
The villain who spent much of the issue trying to live as a man suddenly looks delighted to stop pretending.
The Visual Storytelling Makes First Earth Feel Alien
One of the cleverest artistic choices is that Earth becomes the alien world.
Normally, ThunderCats stories make Third Earth the exotic location.
Here, Mumm-Ra sees human civilization almost like a tourist.
Cars.
Movies.
Museums.
Books.
Ice cream shops.
Tall buildings.
Crowds.
Parks.
Everything is familiar to the reader but strange to him.
That inversion gives the issue a surprisingly fresh atmosphere.
Mumm-Ra is the alien walking through our world.
And because the story is largely filtered through his perspective, normal human behavior starts looking a little strange too.
He sees contradiction everywhere.
Humanity creates beautiful things.
Then destroys them.
Builds civilizations.
Raises them again.
Studies ancient monsters.
Then commits new acts of cruelty in the street.
Mumm-Ra eventually concludes that humanity may be far more ruthless than he initially gave it credit for.
Naturally, this makes him feel more at home.
Roshan Kurichiyanil Gives the Issue Two Different Lives
Roshan Kurichiyanil’s colors are especially effective because issue #5 needs two visual personalities.
Daytime Earth feels bright.
Warm.
Almost pleasant.
The city has sunlight.
The park has greenery.
The museum has clean gallery lighting.
There is an unexpected normality to Mumm-Ra’s temporary life.
Then the book shifts.
Night arrives.
The blues become colder.
Shadows deepen.
Reds become more aggressive.
Mumm-Ra’s transformation feels like contamination entering the palette.
That change supports the story’s thematic movement.
For a short period, Mumm-Ra tries existing in the light.
Eventually he chooses darkness again.
Jeff Eckleberry Lets Mumm-Ra Narrate His Own Downfall
Jeff Eckleberry’s lettering plays an important role because so much of the issue happens inside Mumm-Ra’s head.
The narration is constant but rarely overwhelming.
Mumm-Ra is observing.
Judging.
Remembering.
Rationalizing.
And gradually talking himself back toward the villain he has always been.
That internal voice is necessary because the physical plot is deliberately simple.
Mumm-Ra walks through a city.
He encounters artifacts from his past.
He experiences human cruelty.
He makes a choice.
But psychologically, much more is happening.
The lettering keeps that internal progression readable while allowing Lobosco’s quiet visual storytelling to breathe.
This Isn’t Redemption—and That’s Why It Works
There is a dangerous temptation when expanding a famous villain’s history.
Explain too much, and evil starts becoming excusable.
Give the villain too much suffering, and audiences can begin confusing understanding with justification.
Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living avoids that trap.
This issue gives Mumm-Ra perhaps his clearest opportunity yet to walk away.
He has the chance to become something else.
Nobody stops him.
Nobody rejects him.
Nobody tells him he cannot change.
The decision to return to darkness is his.
That matters.
Understanding Mumm-Ra does not make him less evil.
If anything, it makes him more frightening.
We now understand that even when presented with alternatives, he gravitates back toward domination because he cannot tolerate a universe in which he is not important.
That is villainy rooted in character rather than circumstance.
The Final Cat Changes Everything
Eventually Mumm-Ra returns to the park.
The birds are still there.
Humanity is still moving around him.
The world continues.
For a moment, he almost looks like the strange traveler we saw earlier.
Then something catches his attention.
A cat.
Just an ordinary cat hiding among the leaves.
It should be meaningless.
It isn’t.
The association hits Mumm-Ra instantly.
Cats.
ThunderCats.
Hatred.
Purpose.
And suddenly the thing he has been missing becomes obvious.
An enemy.
The final realization is devastatingly simple:
Mumm-Ra must destroy the ThunderCats.
Not because they are currently attacking him.
Not because they threaten his immediate survival.
Because hating them gives him direction.
The ThunderCats restore meaning to his immortality.
He finally remembers who he wants to be.
From First Earth Back Toward Third Earth
The closing pages broaden that revelation across time.
Mumm-Ra reflects on once standing within the center of human civilization and doing so again thousands of years later.
Humanity persists.
Life continues.
History moves forward.
And Mumm-Ra remains.
That is the blessing and curse of the Ever-Living.
Everyone else changes.
He does not.
His immortality therefore becomes less impressive the longer the issue continues.
What initially sounds like ultimate power increasingly resembles imprisonment.
Mumm-Ra has eternity.
But he carries the same hatred through all of it.
The official Dynamite Entertainment listing for Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5 describes this issue as the close of Mumm-Ra’s path toward complete power and says the path he chooses next will determine the fate of everyone on Third Earth.
After reading the issue, that description feels remarkably precise.
The important word is not power.
It is choice.
A Strong Bridge Into ThunderCats x SilverHawks
Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5 also succeeds as part of Dynamite’s larger ThunderCats x SilverHawks storyline.
The review copy’s own publishing checklist positions the fifth issues of ThunderCats x SilverHawks, Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living, and ThunderCats x SilverHawks: ThunderHawks together in August, reinforcing how closely these books are designed to interlock.
But this series has never felt like disposable crossover homework.
It has been doing something very specific.
The main crossover can show readers what Mumm-Ra does.
The Ever-Living shows us why.
That makes the series valuable rather than redundant.
Readers following every corner of the event can also use the ThunderCats fan reference page for Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5 as another resource while tracking the expanding storyline.
A Finale About Character Instead of Spectacle
Dynamite could have ended this chapter of Mumm-Ra’s history with something enormous.
A giant battle.
An apocalyptic magical ritual.
A cosmic explosion.
Instead, Shalvey ends it with self-recognition.
That is the better choice.
Mumm-Ra has already obtained enormous power.
There is very little dramatic value in simply watching him gain another percentage point.
What matters is what he intends to do with immortality.
Issue #5 answers that by returning him to the core obsession that has defined him for generations.
The ThunderCats.
That makes the entire miniseries feel less like an origin story and more like a psychological loop.
Mumm-Ra travels across civilizations, worlds, suffering, magic, and centuries only to discover that he cannot escape himself.
That is almost tragic.
Almost.
Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5 Review Verdict
Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5 is a clever, atmospheric, and psychologically satisfying conclusion to Mumm-Ra’s journey toward complete power.
Declan Shalvey avoids the obvious temptation to make the issue bigger simply because it comes at the end of the arc.
Instead, he makes it quieter.
Mumm-Ra walks among ordinary humans.
He experiences culture.
He contemplates peace.
He reconnects with his ancient history.
He encounters cruelty.
And ultimately, he rediscovers how much he enjoys being feared.
That progression gives his return to villainy far more weight than another magical transformation ever could.
Rapha Lobosco delivers one of the series’ most visually distinctive chapters by placing Mumm-Ra’s ancient evil against ordinary urban life.
Roshan Kurichiyanil’s colors smoothly move the story from warm daytime exploration into cold nocturnal horror.
Jeff Eckleberry gives Mumm-Ra’s internal monologue enough space to transform the issue into a genuine character study.
And the final connection back to the ThunderCats lands because it is not simply continuity setup.
It is character revelation.
Mumm-Ra does not merely remember his enemies.
He remembers that he needs them.
Final Score
9/10
Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5 turns the villain’s ultimate triumph into an existential crisis, then delivers the darkest possible answer: Mumm-Ra could choose peace, but being feared simply feels better.
Why You Should Read It
Pick up Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5 if you want:
- A genuine character study of one of ThunderCats’ greatest villains
- The conclusion of Mumm-Ra’s journey toward complete power
- Mumm-Ra exploring modern First Earth
- A surprisingly thoughtful look at immortality
- More history surrounding the Serpent Jewel
- Strong connections to the larger ThunderCats x SilverHawks crossover
- Rapha Lobosco’s atmospheric artwork
- A villain story that explains Mumm-Ra without excusing him
- A memorable transition from human disguise back to Ever-Living terror
- An ending that reconnects Mumm-Ra directly to his obsession with the ThunderCats
Final Thoughts
Mumm-Ra finally gets something most villains claim they want.
Freedom.
He has power.
He has immortality.
He has escaped old enemies.
Civilization no longer persecutes him.
Nobody is forcing him into battle.
He can walk through the park.
Read a book.
Watch a movie.
Eat ice cream.
Disappear into eternity.
And he cannot stand it.
That may be the most revealing thing Declan Shalvey has shown us during this entire series.
Mumm-Ra is not evil merely because terrible things happened to him.
He is not evil merely because ancient forces corrupted him.
He is not evil because survival demanded cruelty.
Those things helped create him.
But eventually, Mumm-Ra chooses Mumm-Ra.
He wants the fear.
He wants the power.
He wants the enemies.
He wants the ThunderCats.
And when one ordinary cat reminds him of that old hatred, the entire purpose of his endless existence snaps back into focus.
The Ever-Living’s journey may never end.
Unfortunately for everyone on Third Earth, neither does his hatred.
Join the Discussion
Did Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living #5 deliver a satisfying conclusion to Mumm-Ra’s journey toward complete power? And what did you think of the idea that Mumm-Ra could have chosen peace—but ultimately needed fear and the ThunderCats to give his immortality meaning?
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