After being shot down in the middle of a war zone, five Thunderan warriors are fighting for their lives. Together they face a horde of heavily armored soldiers, and the team’s only hope is to somehow break through their lines to reach the wreckage of their ship.

Such overwhelming odds will strain their abilities to the absolute limit. But even if Pumyra, Lynx-0, Shen, Ligon, and their hammer-wielding commander Bengali make it out alive, will they still be able to complete their mission? And even more important: who is the mysterious antagonist who is hunting them and what is his connection to the Book of Omens?

An action-packed mini-series, this explores the B-team of the Thundercats. The ones who go on a secret mission and don’t get the glory, thus they know it’s unlikely they’re going to get a calvary to rescue them when they’re stranded on Third Earth.

It literally starts with the massacre of their ship, and the death of their leader in front of them, the blinding of their other leader, and the second ship of fellow cats is presumed dead. That’s a lot of trauma for the first issue, but they band together like any ragtag team and set out into the wilderness.

Pumyra is the medic turned leader of the team, and she goes through a predictable yet moving arc of learning to defend her decisions and take charge. Her compassion is her greatest strength which is hard for the other (cough Neko cough) hardened warriors to listen to, but her decisions bring them less trouble than Neko’s. A lot of Katara vibes from her.

Neko’s the typical tough girl warrior type, hot headed, stab first and constantly tries to undermine Pumyra because she sees the teary healer as weak. She’s frustrating at first because her undermining does not help the team morale. Again, it only leads them to trouble like cannibal cultists. Thankfully, Brisson slowly but surely has Neko see Pumyra’s inner strength and comes to return the favor for all the ways Pumyra saved her. They make a good opposites attract friendship.

Lynx-O doesn’t have much of an arc, but I think he makes up for it by being badass. He gets blinded, but carries on like it’s nothing. He single-handedly holds off the big antagonist of the book, Scorpius, because the one who is underestimated usually has the upper hand. He’s Pumyra’s biggest defender and wisely advises her through her doubts, and keeps everyone centered on the mission. He’s a cool dude.

Ligon has the weakest characterization, I think, as the brawn of the group with a running gag of being mortally wounded five issues in a row. It comes to head in issue #8 when his mortal wound becomes infected enough that he can’t fight and they’re faced with the choice to get his help or carry on their search for the Book without him. The threat of death leads to some self-awareness as Ligon encourages the group to leave him, their mission is more important and that he’s proud that he got to fight beside him. He always suspected he wasn’t wanted on the elite force, that Claudius saw him as an oaf, but he hoped he proved himself to them. Just awww. He’s such a softie underneath that heart, and only wish he got more time to prove himself and do the final knock-out of Scorpius.

While Bengal’s death is a moot-point since readers know he survived to enter the mainline Thundercats comics, #5 centers around his journeys through Third Earth until Panthro-O saves him. I know this might sound repetitive as I say this about every character that journeys across unfamiliar land, fights monsters and grows a beard but I got such Odysseus vibes in that story. I just wish we got more motivation from him beyond wanting to prove himself to Cheetara again. It’s annoying when a girl is all about the love interest, it’s annoying when a guy is too.

Scorpius is a formidable antagonist with his Terminator-driven mission to kill all Thundercats and bounty hunter armor. The reveal that he rules Third Earth behind the scenes, and installs (and kills) puppet rulers at whim add to his ruthlessness. I just think #9, which reveals his backstory had some lost potential in showcasing the evolution of Scorpius over thousands of years and prime flashback moments. We learn that Thundercats have been to Third Earth before, acting as imperialist colonizers in taking resources back to their kingdom, killing and enslaving inhabitants. It could have had more impact if we had the accompanying visuals.

This revelation has great moral implications that have yet to be explored. Ligon believes these are all lives, but the contrasting accounts of the Thundercats on this planet from the cultists to the giants to the pirates contradict each other, so the cats are left unsure. Clearly, their ancestors were here before, but they’re in the dark on why. I kinda want Scorpius’ grievances to be true because the group grappling with the sins of their king and the affect it has on their mission would be a moral struggle to see.

Fortunately, issue #9 is the only one that misses visual impact. Lobosco’s art is amazingly versatile in depicting the various citizens and landscapes of Third Earth like the hyena warehouses, the bloodied pigs, underground cultists, and seafaring pirates versus Scylla. Each location has its own distinct atmosphere, and palette that you can hear the sounds of waves and silent woods just as you can see the bone-crunching punch to the jaw they give each other as they fight to the death.

Lost may have also supplanted the main Thundercats gang for favorite group. The dynamics here are that of a found-family. Okay, maybe family is too close, at least found work-family. They feel a lot closer despite their fights, because of their reliance and trust in each other. The main Thundercats gang feels easily split up into pairs, broken up by their own warring egos, and lack cohesion that this group does. I only hope they get another mini-series or join the main cats soon. It might be crowded, but would certainly add some spice to the group dynamics. I feel Neko could give Lion-O a kick in the pants by showcasing how annoying he used to be in his hotheadedness. Pumyra and Calica would get along well, I think. Same with Panthro-O and Lynx-O being long-running soldiers on the frontlines and the latter could advise Panthro-O through his new disability and not let it define or stunt his fighting prowess.

4 stars.