About your Thundercats artistic comments i need only mention two basic names who were involved in the art development process:
art director Katsuhito Akiyama from the Pacific Animation Corporation,a company that would later go on to form studio Ghibli which is responsible for masterpieces like Princess Mononoke,Spirited away of Hayao Miyazaki and Grave of fireflies of Isao Takahata considered as one of the best anti-war and graphically emotional depictions of the consequences of War on society and individuals. Katsuhito has directed a few anime like the two volume OVA Sol Bianca notable for the fluid animation and detailed spacecraft designs also the novel adaptation of the yaoi anime Ai no Kusabi in 1992.
The second name goes by Masayuki who directed 2 episodes of Hideaki Anno’s worldwide acclaimed Neon Genesis Evangelion,he also directed the 2 recent Evangelion movies receiving raving reviews.
Thundercats artwork in my opinion should be and it is an anime work as far as the design and visual style is concerned, it has all the elements relating to this genre without sharing one strict,common art style as it is evident on some almost identical anime series which follow the same exact artistic pattern. Check out for instance the exaggerated physical features like the big hair,linear evenly muscular body or the eye style draw technique that allows to show emotions distinctly.The large eyes detailed in color variation,mixture of dark-light shade and tone color emphasis give a certain depth on the character. The face expressions denoting moods,thoughts and the internal world, were one of thundercats big stylistic achievement without distorting
the countenance when exhibiting a particular feeling like fear, anger,laughter,determination. With this technique the face image retained its original vivid icon but on the same time emitted an optical diversity necessary in order to captivate further the viewer.Anime scenes place particular emphasis on three-dimensional views,background depiction of the surroundings and environment,Camera angles and movements on locations, lighting play on the protagonist as well as camera effects such as panning,zooming,panoramic moving back and forth on the image creating exact,convincing action sequences.Off the top of my hat i remember at the anointment trials Second day episode when Lion-o talks with Jaga prior to racing Cheetara, a face-up, close caption of Lion-o with perfect detail and drawn “pose to pose” with very precise details and intense colour or in William Overguard’s Fireballs of Plun-dar moment when Tygra tied on the 4-winds machine and the sun is reaching the solar mirror but Lion-o at the nick of time breaks it apart,really perfect lightening effect and computer animation. Additionally, techniques rendering unmistakable representations of what is about to happen in the following scene and dynamic illusions of movements of inanimate,still objects as clothes,weapons,cars, body-parts,for example the Thundertank’s wheels circular mechanical turn, convey even more realistic impressions. I believe this animated cartoon was created with a blend of two different “worlds”,each one contributing at what it had best to offer,The Japanese animation artwork and the American science fiction-adventure storyboard crossover bore in fruition the Thundercats concept.
The recent Wildstorm comics were good because even though they were loosely connected to the series they presented new storylines with innovative ideas going beyond the 130 episodes and bridging the gap of what could have happened in the future if Lion-o had aged and Mumm-ra had taken full control of Thundera, i liked the distinctly mature approach of “the Return” and Wilycat’s corruption process in “Reclaiming Thundera”. I am a big comic fan and i would love to see a canon material directly referenced to the Destruction of Thundera by the Mutants a little bit more explored than the 5-page Ford Lytle Gilmore’s story on Villains and Heroes. Mcguiness pencils,were closer to the original cartoon whereas Bene’s draws reminded me more like classic action comic artwork of superheroes. My personal favorite which comprised all of the Thundercats prime elements without deviating was HammerHand’s Revenge, I enjoyed much Fiona Avery’s script as i did in her work at JMS Rising Stars Bright but especially in Voices of the dead.
My friend,over the new Statue issue which has raised a huge concern about how accurate it is, i have already written down some thoughts but i can’t understand why so many people dislike it?..i disagree with you on that, i am very fond of it!!:liono
