I never watched the Thundercats cartoon... couldn't get past the name "Lion-O" for the main protagonist. I remember the Marvel/Star Comics title from the 1980s, and I've seen the resurgence of interest in the 21st Century. But this comic book was really my first exposure to the property, so I expecting to be good and lost right off the bat. To my surprise, I was presented with a thoroughly accessible read with some exciting, dynamic artwork. Ultimately, though, the development of heroes and scenarios from the realm of children's entertaining for a darker, more mature story is awkward.
Lion-O has been gone for five years, honing his skills and powers in the magical Book of Omens. But the time has come for him to come home. An old friend seeks him out, but he warns that his return to home to the planet Thundera will not be a happy one. Change and crisis have characterized his time away, and the planet is now ruled over by the Thundercats' deadliest enemy, an enemy with more power than ever before.
Ed Benes is clearly right at home when it comes to rendering these exotic paragons of humanoid physique. He captures the 'Cats dynamic, angular designs quite well, and injects a lot of energy and motion into the action sequences. Lion-O looks like a powerful leader. Snarf looks like a wretched soul on the brink of madness. The backgrounds are rich in detail as well, and the colors reinforce the mood of despair that looms over this tale.
As I made my way through the first three pages, I feared that Gilmore had crafted a script that was for the Thundercats faithful alone, but soon, I was immersed in a decent plot that offered plenty of accessible dialogue. The premise and characters are clearly laid out, and the exposition makes sense in this context. Unfortunately, though paced nicely, the plot is a rather familiar one. The hero's mysterious absence paves the way for the villain's triumph, only to see the hero return years later to set things right in a climactic showdown. The archetypal storyline offers no suspense.
Ultimately, what got in my way of the story was the conflict between the darker elements of the story -- the notion of Snarf going crazy while guarding over a magical book was intriguing, for example -- and the inherent goofiness in the Thundercats property. Lion-O has to be the lamest name for a hero in all of genre fiction, and other aspects -- frog mutants from the planet Plun-Darr? -- would have been tough to swallow in 1950s pop fiction, let alone a creature of the 1980s. It's a shame that the more innocent, simple tone of Thundercats hasn't been maintained. It would still likely appeal to the die-hard fanatics while offering something new and appropriate to younger readers.
