Hello everyone!! I recently read “Thundercats: The Return” comic book. It was entertaining and the art was very well done. The storyline gave obvious assumption to some dark side stories (a bit perverse LOL). Has anyone read the comic books? What are your opinions? :bengali:
I’ll probably step on a few toes here, but I actually liked The Return. It had it’s moments that I didn’t like (namely the perverseness), and I didn’t like the fact they killed Ben-gali off, but I was into it when I read it. And I really enjoyed the artwork, as well.
Me too. I like the darker storyline, it gives the 'Cats more depth. But I would also like to see the events that led to the return. They killed bengali, :bengali: that sucks , had they elaborated as of how it happened, that would have been awesome. :bengali: Is there a follow up to the return???
Read it, liked it. I think the biggest flaw with the whole WS line of comics was a lack of a continuing arc over the course of more issues. Five issues seemed too short for any of them, so they all felt so rushed plotwise.
The only series in the Wildstorm Collection I absolutely didn’t care for at all was Hammerhand’s Revenge.
Gilmore once told me he had ideas for continuing the Return, but WS ultimately went with the Dogs of War series instead. At this point, I’d say they’re likely never going to publish those ideas either.
Shame really. What ideas?
Chris here…
To be honest, ThunderCats: The Return for me was where DC/Wildstorm’s TCats series started going downhill. Although I don’t think Ford Lytle Gilmore’s writing on the previous ThunderCats mini-series had been perfect, I think that there was a lot for ThunderCats fans to enjoy and feel enriched by in that series - (with apols for the unashamed free plug) if you read my write-ups and reviews of those issues on this site, you’ll see what I mean! 
However, The Return for me…I don’t know, I felt that the series tried to be “adult” not because the mature themes enhanced the story but just for the sake of making them that way. I remember reading issue 1 of The Return and being knocked out by the premise - but, for me seeing Lion-O deliberately snapping a Mutant’s neck was a bit of a “WTH?” moment! 
All thoughout the ThunderCats saga Lion-O and the others had shown respect for life, suddenly here’s Lion-O deliberately killing his enemies. I understand the purpose of that scene - as well as making Lion-O look like a tough guy it was also to try and show that the stakes had been raised. However, for me it (and a lot of the other adult content that just conveniently snuck its way into the story over the following issues) just took credibility away from the storyline, because it actually showed a lack of understanding of the personalities belonging to the characters being portrayed. 
The one thing I will give a massive thumbs-up to for The Return is Ed Benes’ outstanding, outstanding artwork! I thought pretty much all of the DC/Wildstorm TCats artwork was mindblowing, but Ed’s is my absolute favourite for its realism, spot-on accurate visual representations of the characters, and just for the sheer beauty of his work!
Take care…
I really enjoyed The Return, although like Purrsia says, it does seem a bit rushed…I’d like to have seen what happens next.
I wholeheartedly agree with Chris’s comments about Ed Benes. His artwork is absolutely superb and should be appreciated by all TC fans. If they’d made the series longer, there would have been more to see!
Once I’d finished it, I gave it to my other half to read. He really hated it … moaned on about perverted artists, and what kind of ending was that, anyway? … ! I guess there’s no pleasing everyone! 
I was going to make a thread about this and then used the search to find if one already existed. Lucky for me it does.
I just recently got all of the Wildstorm Thundercats comics off eBay so I am a bit behind. I just never picked them up back in the day…:?
Anyways; What I wanted to comment on was that I always wanted to see a Thundercats comic or animation released with a more “adult” feel. And Yet I found myself a bit “uneasy” about seeing Lion-o snapping a jackalmans neck as well. It was a mix of good and bad emotions. “How strange” I thought. This is what I have been wanting to see, Thundercats actually killing mutants, etc… and yet it didn’t go over as well as I thought.
I have only gotten through the first few issues but I do like it. Being a past comic book collector/reader, I am glad that Wildstorm did these and not Marvel or DC. The art is fantastic.
I didn’t like The Return so much mainly because of one of the themes hinted at and the death of Bengali. I bought the books and the trades but I don’t even look at them. I agree with Purrsia that The Return was a bit rushed.
I only assume that was because the people in charge said it had to fit in such a shuch a length. That and the licensing was running out on the whole property quickly. I guess everyone was under the wire to do what they could while they still had legal rights to.
I really hoped that the 'Cats series would have been made a monthly.
It seems like Cheetara gets passed around like a lukewarm can of beer throughout all the comic series too. :cheetaraveryhappy:
I was just glad that they made an all too brief return to book form. I miss it!
You know whats funny is that even though Cheetara is a slave, (and implied that she is raped and abused by the mutants), they still drew her all sexed up, rather then what a battered and broken slave would look like.
I understand that “sex sells”, and I am completely fine with a more “adult” oriented Thundercats story, but I would have preferred for the artist to have represented Cheetara’s “state” as a slave more accurately.
Here are some good scans I found:
http://rayne.woot.net/pix/Thundercats03.JPG
http://rayne.woot.net/pix/Thundercats02.JPG
(I do love the way they drew Mummra here)
http://rayne.woot.net/pix/Thundercats00.jpg
Unfortunatly the thundercat comics is one of those I let slip me by. Something i’ll probably regret in the long run, but oh well.
If you ever wanted to pick them up you can get them off eBay for next to nothing.
Any other online retailers that has them all?
I’m not a big fan of ebay you see.
Chris here…
I’ve no idea what they currently have in stock, but I’ve always been a big fan of www.milehighcomics.com, the folks I got pretty much all my Marvel/Star ThunderCats issues from!
Take care…
Seems they have issues 1 to 5 of the return series.
Whats the difference between each issue and it’s variant? is it just the front cover artwork?
Chris here…
In a word - yep!
Take care…
Amazon sells the comics in a collected hardcover/softcover (issues 1-5 in one book.)
Alt, I’ve used www.ruppsworld.com I bought 1 of my last two from MileHighComics, and they were damn cheap I think they have a wesbsite, so you might not have to go thru eBay - I’m not sure tho.
Sorry to revive a realitivley old thread… But I just finished reading all the Wildstorm comics and would like to add my opinion on the subject..
I enjoyed reading the stories for the simple fact that they were NEW stories.
On the other hand, I didn’t like some of the creative desisions made in regard to the series..
I was really disapointed that Bengali was killed off, and not just killed off, but completely written out in the sense that we didn’t even get to see his death scene, just a single reference to it and nothing more. I also didn’t like that Pumyra was barely around for the later parts of the story (The Return and Dogs of War) As much as she was ignored on the series, I would’ve liked more of her in the comics.
I also didn’t like the whole “Slave” situation with Kit and Kat.. It just didn’t feel very authentic to the characters or the universe that had been established already. That goes for Lion-O as well… Snapping a mutant’s neck is just not something he would do - EVER.
I also didn’t like the jumps in time… 5 years, 10 years… That’s just too far into the future for my tastes.
I did like a lot of the artwork, except for Issue #3 of “Reclaiming Thundera”. That particular issue’s artwork was awful by my personal tastes. Way too over-exagerated and not at all what the thundercats really looked like.
I also liked the addition of characters, such as the new thunderkittens, and Bobcat. New characters to get to know are always great. I’m sad that the series ended after only a few issues. Despite my mis-givings on a couple of counts, I did enjoy them over-all.
Benes’ work here is better than his current work on Justice League. This was a lot smoother and cleaner.
The Return is one of the best of the four series. It was darker than I would’ve expected. I don’t shock easily, but even I found certain aspects a bit disturbing, like the implied treatment of Wilykat, Wilykit, and Cheetarah. Even Lion-o’s killing didn’t surprise me (I’ve seen gorier), and I could understand why he did. The twins enslavement was especially jarring. I’m watching them as kids on the show one minute, they’re sexed up here the next, Kit looking like a Benes pin-up. Rolling over so easily for Mumm-Ra seems unlike them.
I wish Gilmore had continued this. The only good thing about Dogs of War was Brett Booth’s work.
Y’know I have all the comics, and i don’t think i’ve even read Dogs of War yet. I should do that on my day off
Maybe w/ the movie coming out, there’ll be a resurgence in the comics… I would HOPE