Issue 1
We open this issue with the Thundercats already involved in a heated battle with the mutants. Not only that, the very first page is a splash page of Slithe clubbing Lion-O with his mace and almost knocking him out. Cheetara saves him from a second blow only for him to get kicked down a well by Vultureman. The other Thundercats quickly finish up the battle and drag Lion-O up from the depths. To everyone's surprise he's fine, but acting oddly. The first thing he does is walk over and stab the Sword of Omens through Slithes ear cartilage. That's a bit Tarantino for what we're used to from Lion-O, but ok. He then lets the mutants go, which doesn't make sense, but Lion-O has always done that and it has never made sense.
We cut back to the Thundercats lair, where much to my delight, Lion-O is berating Snarf, and even throws a boot at his head. Snarf walks out and tells Wilykit and Wilykat about Lion-O's odd behavior. They grow suspicious and listen at his door, hearing what they think is a plot to destroy the Thundercats. Wilykit runs off, but Wilykat doesn't have time to move before Lion-O steps out and spots him. Wilykat lies and says he was just going to check on Lion-O's head. He doesn't believe the Thundercub, but lets him go anyway.
After a moment or two of discussion, the siblings decide there's no better course of action than to run screaming to the other Thundercats. Unfortunately when they get to them, Lion-O is already there, so they don't get a chance to tell anyone what they heard. Lion-O quickly starts a speech about how New Thundera is vulnerable, and they need to protect it. During this speech, Wilykat realizes what he heard was fragments of Lion-O rehearsing this speech.
The king of the Thundercats calls in twelve young Thunderians, all armed and heavily armored. He tells them to attack him, and they hesitate, but eventually he insists. He obviously takes them all on easily, demonstrating how under-prepared most Thunderians are for war. He then proposes that they establish a Thunderguard. A Thunderian army to protect the land. The others seem to agree. He then tells Wilykat that he's going to be the captain of the new Thunderguard. The other Thundercats congratulate him, but maybe I'm missing something. Isn't he like fucking twelve? Either way we end this issue with Wilykit telling Wilykat that Lion-O named him captain so he could get rid of him. This certainly kills Wilykat's buzz.
Issue 2
We start issue two with Wilykat already out in the snowy fields with the Thunderguard. He is sitting by a fire talking to a lone guard, who marks the fuck out when he finds out he's talking to Wilykat. He goes on a rant about all the great things Lion-O's done, and this gets under Wilykat's skin. It looks like Wilykat is about to go on a treasonous rant about their king before a messenger runs into the scene with new orders from Lion-O. They are to move up Mount Thundra. We then get a shot of Lion-O standing over a map with battalion markers on different spots. You would think with the Thundercats' advanced technology, we would have moved past that cliched technology.
Snarf comes in and wants to join in on what he thinks is a game. This causes Lion-O to make me smile by smacking Snarf across the room. Panthro and Begali see this and have a discussion about how odd Lion-O has been acting. They talk about the possibility of needing to force Lion-O to step down, which of course he overhears.
We go to a scene of Tygra and Cheetara unsuccessfully trying to train Thunderguard recruits. Cheetara has to leave, but just outside the training room Wilykit is waiting to tell her about her theory on Lion-O. Cheetara will hear none of it, attributing it to Wilykit being away from her brother. We then cut to an awesome two page splash of Wilykat and the Thunderguard fighting a group of what look to be giant yetis.
Cut to the Thundercats' lair, where the citizens of New Thundera are none too happy about the Thunderguard invading their homes and trampling their land. Lion-O shows up and explains to them that the Thunderguard is there to protect them, not harm them. The conversation is interrupted by a transmission from Wilykat telling everyone about the yeti attack. Lion-O uses this as an example of why they need the Thunderguard, and then suggests that everyone needs to help pay for their armor and weapons. This idea seems to set Panthro off. I guess he's a serious libertarian.
Lion-O suggests changing the Thundercats' code, and that really gets Panthro pissed. Lion-O doesn't have time for his shit though. He uses the Sword of Omens to show everyone a scene of Panthro selling out the Thunderguard to the yeti creatures, and uses that to have him declared a traitor. This leads to an epic fight between the two, in which it looks like Panthro is killed. The last page is of Lion-O standing over his body declaring that anyone who stands against the Thundercats will be sentenced to death.
Issue 3
We open issue three in what I think is a rather clever way. We get an artistic depiction of an exaggerated tale from one of the Thunderguard about how the brave and gallant Lion-O vanquished the traitorous beast Panthro, and then made out with Cheetara like the womanizing badass he is. We cut to real life where Lion-O is instructing the Thundercats to toss Panthro's body out with the trash. Cheetara says Panthro's not dead, and Lion-O turns around planning to change that. This is where Cheetara goes full on kick ass amazon and knocks Lion-O's sword out of his hands. She tells him Panthro is one of their oldest friends, and she's not going to let him be killed. Lion-O relents, allowing for him to be banished. Tygra walks Panthro out, believing him to be a traitor. Panthro understands, but warns Tygra to keep a keen eye out before walking away.
We cut back to the Thunderguard campfire, where the recruit telling the story says that Lion-O gave Panthro a full pardon, but Panthro was so ashamed he exiled himself. The embellished story ends when Wilykat walks into the camp and the recruits snap to attention. He asks what's going on, and one recruit tells him about the story. Wilykat says he would have a hard time believing Panthro would do that, but before the conversation can go much further, he is cut off by a message and a package from Lion-O. Inside is a medal and a promotion to Colonel, which the recruits celebrate by lifitng him in the air and cheering.
We cut to the lair where Cheetara is trying to get past a member of the Thunderguard to talk to Lion-O, but he's been given strict instructions not to let anyone pass. It looks like it might come to blows before Tygra walks in and pulls Cheetara away. They then have a short talk about how Lion-O's been acting, before Tygra decides to use his invisibility power to check out several places, including Mumm-Ra's lair and the armory, but finds nothing. He then spots Wilykit sneaking out of the lair, and watches as Bengali catches her and drags her back inside. The scene with her screaming at Bengali as he takes her in is one of the funnier I can remember from the Thundercats franchise.
Tygra then does the thing he should have done first and sneaks into Lion-O's room. Luckily he does so at the exact moment that Lion-O begins an evil monologue into the mirror. He reveals to no one that he isn't Lion-O before Tygra attacks. Fake Lion-O counters it easily because he knew Tygra was there the entire time. The issue ends with Fake Lion-O holding a blade to Tygra's throat.
Issue 4
We start this issue with Snarf and Wilykit sneaking out of the lair and running back to where they had the battle by the well. We're treated to a flashback of that battle, except this time we go down into the well with Lion-O where he is confronted by a witch named Tashi from and earlier episode of the cartoon series. We then cut to Tygra who is battling her (as Lion-O) unsuccessfully. She explains to him that while her Doom Gaze spell (which causes men to do whatever she wants them to) is powerful, she learned a new spell while she was banished to the inter-dimensional prison, the Doom Grip. This new spell allowed her to become Lion-O and cast him into the shadow dimension.
She then explains that it took a long time to get out of the prison, but when she did she found ready allies in the mutants. She used them to set up her revenge, and it doesn't look like there's anything Tygra can do to stop it. Tashi leaves a broken Tygra laying in the room, and walks out to see that a large group of protestors, to which he replies "Get rid of them". The Thunderguard then descends on the protest, even bringing the Thundertank with them. This leads to a rather tasteless panel almost parodying the Tiananmen Square picture. This is too much for Cheetara, who finally speaks up, telling Lion-O that they plan to stop him. He has them declared traitors too, and sends them out to fight with the protestors for some reason.
We cut back to the well where Wilykit and Snarf have climbed down and found the real Sword of Omens, which means Tashi's is a fake. Snarf then pulls out a book he found in the library, which he belives has a spell that will bring Lion-O back from the shadow dimension. He starts to read it, but gets interrupted midway, which causes a lightning bolt to come out of nowhere and turn him into dust. Normally I would celebrate, but I have doubts they're going to kill off Snarf... no matter how many letters I write.
We cut to Wilykat with the Thunderguard, who is upset that he has to order tha so many of his former allies be detained for their uprising. He doesn't have much time to ponder this before a message comes. It says that Wilykat is to return to the lair immediately. War is on, and he looks none too happy when he finds out that the war is with the Thundercats themselves.
Issue 5
We open issue five with the real Lion-O in the shadow realm, battling what look to be a bunch of demons. He's outnumbered and unarmed, but he refuses to back down. This is the Lion-O I remember. Suddenly a giant lightning bolt appears and delivers Snarf to the shadow realm. He explains about the book, but they have to fight off the shadow demons before they can recite any spells. Snarf throws the Sword of Omens to his leader, and shit is on! Lion-O starts slaying monsters left and right, and it isn't long before they are ready to go home.
We cut to the Thundercats, who are facing down the entire Thunderguard. Fake Lion-O appears with Wilykat beside him, who is having a hard time believing that all of the Thundercats are traitors. Before the fake Lion-O can start hacking away, Panthro comes in to even the odds. He's not alone, no sir, he has the Berbils with him! Fake Lion-O is as confused as I am, but Panthro explains that he is an expert engineer, and turned these Robo-Ewoks into murder machines. Guns suddenly sprout from their faces, and fake Lion-O prepares to fight, but Wilykat still seems unsure.
We cut back to the shadow dimension, where Snarf has failed at bringing them back, but succeeded at giving himself a trunk.
So much for that, back to the battle where it looks like Wilykat is about to order the Thunderguard to attack. He stops them however, and drops his sword at fake Lion-O's feet, proclaiming that he joined the guard to protect his friends, not kill them. Fake Lion-O spazzes out and orders the guard to kill Wilykat, but they refuse. They know Wilykat, and they say there's no way he could be a traitor. Things are falling apart, so fake Lion-O converts back into Tashi. Before she can start casting spells, the real Lion-O shows up.
Lion-O and Tashi have a short battle before she takes control of his mind with her doom gaze. Before she can order him to do anything, she gets cold cocked by a pissed off Cheetara. This knocks her out, saving everyone and apparently ending the giant war. They send Tashi back to the prion and all is well. Well, except for Tashi, who finds upon her return that a new leader has taken control, and SHE isn't a big fan of Tashi's work.
So... how was it? Let's just say I wish it had either been a masterpiece, or terrible. It was neither. Before we dive too deep, let's do like we always do and start with the art.
Art
The art in these issues is much different from the earlier runs. It returns to a less gritty, more colorful, cartoony style. Usually I wouldn't like that, but the change in tone of writing fits it perfectly, so a darker more realistic art style wouldn't have fit quite as well. The whole thing reminds me of an old Thundercats cartoon, or an issue of the 80's comic run, but far more detailed. If you like the cartoony style, I have a feeling you'll find the pages in these books beautiful. The action is done well, the character models are crisp and recognizable, and it has an almost nostalgic feel to it. As far as the cover art, the last three issues are really interesting. However the first two are a more boring comic book cliche style, and just uses the cartoony character models from inside the book. Overall the art is a big plus and I enjoyed looking at this comic almost as much as I enjoyed reading it.
Story
The story in this one is nowhere near as dark or mature as most of the Wildstorm run, but that's not to say it's bad. It's certainly better than Hammerhand's revenge and I even liked it better than reclaiming Thundera as far as the writing goes. We get to see the Thundercats when their leader isn't himself. It's a situation their not used to where the enemy isn't Mumm-Ra or the mutants, but one of their own. Their leader no less. We get to see a wide range of emotions from the different Thundercats that I wish they would have elaborated a little on. We definitely get to see what Wilykit, Wilykat and Cheetara think of the whole thing. Another thing this series does well is make the Thundercats universe seem big. Often we are restricted to the Thundercats and their lair or their quest, and we don't get to see a lot of the other species, planets and dimensions that exist in this universe. This series did a good job of making it all seem much more vast and giving us glimpses into the farther corners that we don't get to see much of.
One complaint I have is the heavy handed message that was prevalent in this series. I won't go into it too far in depth, but I've seen the evil dictator, how much freedom should we give up, oppressive government storyline done in a lot better ways that didn't require the artist to depict a re-enactment of Tiananmen Square with a fictional character and the Thundertank. Other than that, I thought we got a solid story that will appeal to Thundercats fans young and old.
Really guys? I mean seriously. I don't even have a joke for this.
Fun Factor
This is the category that really stands out for this series. The action is good and there's plenty of it with more than just the mutants and Mumm-Ra. We get to see them battle yetis, evil witches, and even each other. It's also well paced across the series so you don't often feel like things are dragging. Along with that, you have the factor of being left in the dark for the first few issues about Lion-O, so trying to figure out what happened to him ends up being some of the fun for me. As far as the final battle goes, I love Cheetara coming in and kicking Tashi's ass, but I feel like a villain built up for this long this well should take longer to defeat. I was mildly disappointed by the climax, but otherwise I liked this series and recommend it to any Thundercats fans, especially those that didn't necessarily appreciate the darker tone other Wildstorm Thundercats series have taken.
Well, that's it for this week ladies and gentlemen. Looks like I've reviewed the entire Thundercats Wildstorm run, and I still don't have a big finale for Thundercats month. Hmmmm... what to do, what to do. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to find out next week. See you then!
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