“Yesterday’s” Comic> Thundercats: The Return #2

“Lion-O, I’M supposed to be the blue one!”

Thundercats: The Return #2

WildStorm (May, 2003)

WRITER: Ford Lytle Gilmore

PENCILER: Ed Benes

INKER: Joe Pimentel

COLORING: WildStormFX

LETTERER: John Layman

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Kristy Quinn

EDITOR: Ben Abernathy

Lion-O and Snarf return to Cats Lair and see what Mumm-Ra has done to the place. They also grab Panthro’s nunchucks and head for the mine where he’s being held and forced to work. Mumm-Ra has been watching the whole thing, even torturing Wilykit for taking too long bringing Ma-Mutt to watch. They’re able to get him free, with the other slaves sacrificing themselves so they can escape and form a resistance movement by rescuing the other Thundercats.

What they got right: I will admit that the art is really good and the fights are pretty cool.

What they got wrong: But here’s where things get a bit disturbing as a fan. It’s weird seeing Lion-O snapping a guy’s neck, like he does to one of the monkey mutants (not Monkian himself, mind you). Snarf is still arguing with the Book Of Omens, and he mentions not wanting to be around Cat’s Lair because it reminds him what Mumm-Ra did to Bengali but we don’t know what that is, at least not yet. Seeing Mumm-Ra torture Wilykit (which may just be another excuse for Benes to draw sexy Wilykit…I mentioned my problem with that last issue) also bugs me as someone who grew up with these characters.

Recommendation: Hey, if you like dark and violent (and think that means more grown-up for some reason) versions of the classic Thundercats maybe this won’t bother you. Wait until next week, where you’ll see just why I would never recommend this miniseries to anyone, especially a fan of the original Thundercats show.