ThunderCats #1: New Thundera

The story of issue #1 is a relatively basic introduction that establishes an uneasy status quo and sets up a couple of simple plot hooks for subsequent issues. It’s a lot of the usual ThunderCats elements: Lion-o facing the challenges of leadership, Tygra and other senior cats trying to guide him, tension between animal races, and a dark looming force that threatens to undo all of their hard work.

Depending on the page or panel, most of the dialogue is either just generically bland or very bad. In some of the latter cases, it can feel unnatural. “You know, don’t you? You know what you could become.” While this is more of a statement than a question, it has a “yes, and” improv quality, almost like it’s fishing for a way for one character to move the story forward without actually making a decision about anything.

Greg Pak also has the characters point out extremely obvious observations like a pair of Silverhawks being able to fly, even as they are… actively flying in that same panel. That said, a bit of leeway should be given here as the ThunderCats series is primarily made for younger audiences and has a long history of being rather cheesy (on purpose).

David Cousens’s artwork has a “spiky” feeling texture to it. The lines are sharp and thin, but their composition feels jagged to read, almost like this series needed a different inker. On the other hand, the panel layout is quite good. Scenes of action and motion use slanted box panels to break up action and give that action a sense of movement on the page. As those scenes settle and the characters stop dashing around, the panels straighten into the usual boxes and strips, which is good for the pacing.

The issue’s colors are mostly flat. There is plenty of contrast making it easy on the eyes, and the individual shades don’t bleed, but there is an aggressive amount of visual repetition leading to a feeling of “sameness” throughout the issue. None of the environmental textures feel particularly unique, and nothing pops out color-wise.