For lovers of action, sci-fi and furries, welcome to the world of Thundera and its Thundercats!

Dynamite Comics takes this popular IP and reintroduces the world to newcomers while leaving plenty of Easter Eggs for fans of the original series. Yes, including that glorious 80s rock-star hair.

In this universe, Lion-O is the young heir to Thundera but when the planet is invaded, he and a small, loyal crew rocket out like Superman to land on the Third Earth. During this flight, Lion-O’s icy containment pod glitches and he rapidly ages into adult form. Now he has the bod of a warrior but feels just as immature and inexperienced as an adolescent. Difficulties times are definately ahead when he is thrust into the role as leader, trying to cement his authority but again, not really knowing what to do.

But Lion-O will have to learn fast as the Third Earth has plenty of troubles. Not only as a hostile, unknown territory but their mortal enemies, the Mutants of Plund-err are close on their heels. But worst of all, Mumm-Ra has awakened.

Firstly, the art by Drew Moss is wonderfully dynamic and lush. The color palette has nice contrast between the moody shadows present during melencholic/dramatic scenes, the bright coloring of the Thundercats’ fur (and 80s hair. God, that 80s hair is amazing) and the earthy browns, and greens of the Third Earth and the mutants. It’s semi-realistic which adds to the texture of the character’s animal animorphic states and pulls a bigger punch in the action scenes.

My own nitpick would be sometimes the panals during dramantic scenes with Mumm-Ra can get confusing to read because I can’t tell if it’s a flashback or really who he is even talking to.

But the characters are what I truly care about. Murphy gives a bulk of the page time to our protagonist (obviously) but leaves intriguing tidbits of the other charcters to be hopefully explored later. That makes Lion-O a great character to follow but I feel less invested in the others.

Lion-O is a classic hero. Because he was frozen at age 11 or so, and woke up as a adult after weeks but feels like one night to him, he is left disconcerted. His attempt to be a leader is gleaned from legendary stories where the king must walk alone. That makes him rash, confrontational and outright stupid when others try to advise him because he feels that they’re treating him like a child.

Which, again, he has the mind of a child so it makes sense but he is trying to overcompensate and thus pushes them away. To make it even more psychologically complicated, part of him wants to be a child as he was only a few weeks ago and let others make the decisions. He doesn’t want to make a mistake, put people’s lives in danger, to fail. It’s a wonderfully layered character that I enjoyed following.

Although, I mentioned that Lion-O is the primary focus, other characters have thier own moments in the limelight. Primarily Panthero as he serves as a gruff, mentor/right hand man to Lion-O. Panthero was the right hand man to Lion-O’s father, Claudius and so takes his duties as protector and general very seriously. But he also undermines Lion-O’s leadership because of Lion-O’s inexperience. It’s understandable but it’s hard for him to follow through his challenge to Lion-O- Be a leader, act like one if Panthero won’t follow the orders he thinks are stupid.

Cheetara is the more open-minded mentor to Lion-O who stands up to Panthero’s stubborn streak. but she doesn’t sugar-coat it to Lion-O, he has a lot of flaws to overcome and she gets a nice spotlight with him in #5 as she helps fight through each of his inadequacies and fears. She is also more powerful than readers may realize and gets her own mini-series exploring her more spiritual powers which I may review later.

Wily-Kat and Wily-Kit are Lion-O’s childhood playmates who feel left behind due to Lion-O’s sudden growth and responsibilities and serve a nice highlight of who Lion-O was before the tragedies that befell him.

That leaves Tygra. the mechanic of the ship and not much else. I mean he’s nice. He bears an atrocious old-guy mustache that I want shaved off. There’s not much else. I don’t know how he was in the original series but in the 2011, he had an interesting position as Lion-O’s adopted, older brother who many preferred to be king because he was an athlete, a strategist, and a competent warrior. Even he thinks so while he does not do a full Scar moment and betray Lion-O, he does willingly undermine Lion-O’s self-esteem. But Panthero sort of fulfills that role here so I get why they cut that. But it just makes him feel superfluous now.

Then there’s Calica, a Thundercat that was held hostage by the Mutants whom the the Thundercats rescue. But her hostage story seems too pat and Panthero doesn’t quite trust. However, Lion-O is blinded by attraction and Calica’s helpless, leaving a mystery to whether or not she’s a spy.

The answer’s obvious in my opinion but I’ll stop the spoilers here. I’ll just say I wasn’t a fan of it as not only was it predictable but it relies on love at first sight for Lion-O and found it hard to believe he’d fall so hard within two issues or like three days within the timeline.

Finally, there’s the mutants and Mumm-Ra who are suitably creepy but one-dimensional which is fine since not every villain has to be complicated. Some can be evil incarnate and Mumm-Ra brings in the nutjob creepiness as he converses with the specteral Jaga (the spiritual guide and mentor to Lion-O and the Thundercats whose death casts a shadow of grief throughout the story).

The whole Jaga thing was Shakespearen in nature but confusing in execution. It felt like one of those things that original fans understood but I was constantly confused about this prophecy that no one elaborates on.

Overall, it’s a great reboot in my opinion as new fans will enjoy this fascinating animal blend of sci-fi and magic with plenty of action while old fans will appreciate the new gloss on favorite characters, exploring a different side to them (except Tygra) and I look forward to the next volume.