ThunderCats, Vol. 1: Omens

ThunderCats

by Declan Shalvey, Drew Moss (artist)

With a new story arc launching with issue 6, the smash hit series from Declan Shalvey and Drew Moss continues to win more and more readers.



Fans who might have missed the earlier issues can now catch up, and thrill to the story of the last survivors of Thundera and their arrival on Third Earth, where they battle not only their mortal enemies, the Mu’Tants of Plun-Darr, but also the evil of Mumm-Ra, the devil-priest of Third Earth!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Adventure, Graphic Novels Comics, Action, Science Fiction

136 pages, Hardcover

Published October 22, 2024

About the author

Declan Shalvey is an Irish comics artist and writer.

Reviews

[Khurram]

Yes, I am biased because I grew up watching the Thundercats, or I could day I am a fan of the original cartoons and hab superhigh expectations for this book. Whichever way, I loved this book. I wanted to give it 4.5 stars, but I could not give it a round down. Declan Shalvey (also a fan of the original series) understood completely the visual appeal of the series, and with Drew Moss has managed to bring all of that in this book.

The Thundercats have crash landed on Third Earth (they have always referred to Earth as that). Lion O leads them as the Lord of the Thundercats. However, the last time the other Thundercats saw Lion O, he was a cab under their care, not the cat leading them. Also, their ancient enemy has followed them across the stars to finish the job and a new the even more ancient enemy has been awoken by their arrival.

The artwork is beautiful. The visuals of the series have been captured perfectly, I also love the harder and fierce cat-like feature of the Thundercats (especially in chapter/issue 5). The story is okay. I do like that they are exploring Lion O, getting used to his new body, feelings, and experiences as he has not had the benefit of growing up the traditional way. The book finishes with a huge thumbnail varient covers gallery that contains every issue cover.

[Robert]

Thunder, Thunder!, THUNDERCATS!!!

Fun to spend some time with these characters. Especially Snarf.


Always Snarf.

[Drew Canole]

Huh. This was my intro to the ThunderCats universe. Maybe I saw an episode as a kid, but I don't recall.

It's a space opera with anthropomorphic characters. The Cats and Mutants (lizards?) are in a perpetual war that ends with the Cats planet getting blown up, so they take the battle to a new Earth type planet. This book focuses on Lion taking over leadership and not doing a great job of it. The mistakes he makes are a bit too obvious and you see the betrayal coming from a mile away.

Drew Moss's artwork is the highlight of the book.

I think with some more nostalgia this could have been good. I'm just not sure who this book is for. It feels like it's written for a younger audience. I thought it was for millenials who grew up with the story - and was expecting a similar treatment to what DWJ did with Transformers last year.

It was a bit bizarre how sexualized the Cheetah character is on the alternative covers. Gave me some Furry vibes for sure. I guess the whole thing is furry vibes. Especially the fifth issue where Lion and Cheetah are drawn a bit more realistically.

Not for me!

[Βασίλης Δ. Πεσλής]

Μου είχαν λείψει οι Thundercats!
Και σε πολύ ακόμα κόσμο της γενιάς μου, αν κρίνω από την αποδοχή που είχε η νέα σειρά κόμικ.
Πέρα από τη βαθιά νοσταλγία και τις αναμνήσεις που ξύπνησε, το κόμικ αποτελεί μια επαναδιήγηση του origin story, με κάποιες ενδιαφέρουσες προσθήκες και μικρές διαφοροποιήσεις.
Το σκίτσο είναι αρκετά καλό και κοντά σε αυτό του αρχικού καρτούν και η πλοκή εξελίσσεται σταθερά, χωρίς βιασύνη -υπάρχει μια τεράστια μυθολογία πίσω από τους Thundercats, αρκετή για να κρατήσει τη σειρά κόμικ ζωντανή για χρόνια, άλλωστε.

[kaitlphere]

There are so many pun names in this IP. I never got into Thundercats as a kid but I can see why it was popular.

On one hand, it's a unique take that a kid in an adult's body has to lead, and on the other hand I felt like the others fed Lion-O's ego to the point that he was at times selfish and at others self-doubting as a result.

[Adam Fisher]

Oh I've missed this cartoon! I have watched several episodes in the last couple years and this takes all we love from that, reimagines the lore a bit, and makes it new for fans old and new! (Side note: Saw online that we will soon be getting a comic launch of Silverhawks. Excited for that too!)
Highlights:
- Lion-O, Panthro, Cheetara, Tigra, Wily Kit and Wily Kat are all here, as well as Jaga, Snarf, Slythe, Monkian, and Mumm-Ra.
- There's introduction of new character Calica, a potential love interest for Lion-O, but also revealed as a spy and operative for Mumm-Ra.
- Was surprised to see the Sword of Omens shatter, and wonder how it will be better when reforged.
Overall, this was very much an intro story, which was needed to get back in the lore and universe, but I'm very excited to see what happens next.
Strong recommend. Jump on this now, while it's still at the beginning.

[Jones & the books]

Come! Come to the grand opening of the reading in 2025! You’ll be highly disappointed!! 😔 Silly me that I thought it was a safe bet go after a childhood favorite…

[Joe Lambert]

Super fun read. I may stick with this series for a while. Good for old fans and new fans alike.

[Art the Turtle of Amazing Girth]

4.35

I love the Thundercats, have since I watched them debut in mid 80s as a wee lad

This is amazing, good artwork, and love the new wrinkles in the storyline

[Soim]

The writers understand Thundercats.

[Nick Pratt]

3.5/5 great art, heaps of nostalgia, fun new angles to explore. All in all, a really solid foundation, but how they move forward will really determine whether this series is worthwhile or not.

[Mathew]

Some potential, but overall this one blew pretty hot and cold for me. I like that they're trying to tell and new TC story and the creative elements are fun while still maintaining that classic Saturday morning feel, however, I think that they dawdle and rehash the same plot points and cover the same ground again and again, that the first 3 issues are a bit meh~ as the pieces are being reset on the board. They really oversold the Lion-O stasis pod point if you ask me, however. the first mumra battle is fun, and also jumps up the level of the art! The final issue in the volume is gorgeously illustrated, but really looks more like a selection of movie posters that they've collaged together, and didn't do much to enhance the sequential art or story. Will this book get better? It seems like it could, but I'm not super inspired since there isn't all that much plot, especially since Lion-o seems to be getting over his confidence issues already. I'd still read vol.2 just to see.

[Akshay]

Another well loved and nostalgic franchise from the 1980's gets a comics reboot here and this time it is the Thundercats - a cartoon that was not the greatest in terms of writing quality, but was a fun little concept that as a child, was quite enjoyable. I admit that while they're all kiddish and goofy, there is some fun to be had rewatching some in my experience (like TMNT, G.I.Joe, He-Man, etc) and others are perhaps not as engaging anymore; maybe that is a function of which one was more attached to as a kid?

Personally I always enjoyed the comics over the years that reimagined the franchise and this one also is definitely an improvement on the source material in many ways.

The basic premise is the same: The planet Thundera is pretty much destroyed and the enemies of the Thunderan people, the Mutants of Plun-darr, are wiping them out. One ship carrying the last remaining group is fleeing to find sanctuary and they end up on a planet called Third Earth (I always found that a funny choice!) - there they crash land and the venerated leader/elder Jaga is dead and the survivors, Panthro, Cheetarah, Tigra, Wily-Kit, Wily-Kat and there young prince Lion-O, must salvage the wreckage and try and stay alive and figure out their future. The only difference from the previous incarnations is that in this version, the choice of planet was not just because it was the only available choice by luck, Jaga steered them here by his own specific choice and we don't know why and the Thundercats themselves do not know he did that or have never before heard of this planet.

Here the alterations and all come into play - there is the familiar trope that Lion-Os' stasis pod was malfunctioning so while he is still technically a child, he is now physically a fully grown man, but even that angle is played up and focussed on a lot more to showcase his still having a childs way of thinking and reacting and as the supposed new royal/leader, the angst and pressure that comes with it all. This puts him more overtly at odds with Panthro who wants him to be more mature and learn and it is a much more antagonistic vibe than any version so far. The rest of the characters are limited in their characterisation thus far so maybe that will be delved into in future installments - the only major change seems to be that Snarf, the 4-legged companion to Lion-O is not part of the original group and is introduced by a funky new mystically-sci-fi mechanic partway through the story. In addition, there is the introduction of a new Thunderan female as the story progresses and she is very much in the questionable morality kind of vibe from the beginning. The Mutants as the familiar group no longer exist and we have way more build with the various types (lizard, canine, vulture, etc) than in any version I've seen til date and that is actually one of the most interesting new developments + the introduction of Mumm-Ra who has always been the primary protagonist, is quiet slow-played and there wasn't enough to say whether he is really altered much and there's not much to say about him at all in this volume.

The artwork is mostly quite good - there is a bright and colourful feel to all the pages that is reminiscent of the 80's era of cartoons and while the layouts and facial art is occassionally not-great, the overall artwork works quite nicely and some of the more dramatic bits pop-off the page quite well. There is a single chapter where Stephen Mooney takes over the artwork and I have to admit, I did not like it at all - the drastic change in style and colours and more was deeply jarring and I have to admit, I do not like this kind of artwork that feels like an artist trying to stylistically paint each panel but none of it has the rhythm and flow of what good panel-to-panel artwork is supposed to have in comics.

Declan Shalvey was an artist who I was extremely fond of for years (still am) and he worked on numerous iconic comics, but in recent years he has steadily been working as a writer on many titles and for the most part been decent in the quality of his output. This reboot is also handled reasonably well with decent choices made to balance out what to retain and what to alter and the overall progression of the narrative is paced well enough to not bore the reader while still giving at least some characters a good focus and to let the story breathe a bit - the choice to give more space to a whole new dynamic for the Mutants and to add in a nice juicy little mystery element with the backstory of Third Earth are all handled nicely and were some of the things that most made me want to read some more.

For fans of the franchise, I think this will be a nicely balanced reboot and it is most definitely a solid start to the series. How it shapes up is anyones guess but it is a good start.

[Duncs Comics]

It's kind of the era of nostalgic cartoon revivals in comics with the Transformers/GI Joe Energon universe, Space Ghost, Gargoyles, Dick Tracy, Jason Aaron's TMNT and Thundercats all being popular titles releasing right now. We have more on the way too in the form of Silverhawks, Power lords and Captain Planet. And I'm loving having an entry point in these franchises where I don't have the same childhood reference as other readers might. It's so cool that these beloved characters and stories can live on in comic book form.

I know for me, any Power Rangers or Star Wars related comic that is released and I'm there. As an aside, I should mention that I did enjoy the short-lived Thundercats (2011) animated series, but that is my only engagement with it so far.

In its first volume so far, Thundercats hasn't quite gripped me in the same way some of the aforementioned books have. I must have forgotten Lion-O's origin is that he is a thirteen year old at the time of his home planet Thundera's destruction, and due to a malfunction with his suspension capsule on the trip to Third Earth has aged up as a result... He's a kid in a man's body. It's kind of a weird premise, I can see how it would work previously for kids to have an insert character in the cartoon, but reading as an adult it detracts from my connection with him.

Part of what all of these comics are doing well is acknowledging that their audience has grown up, and so they are presenting a more 'mature' shade to their stories whilst maintaining the charm and enthusiasm of their originals. They are not tipping the scale to be grimdark or edgy. The key is to strike the balance. I'm not sure Thundercats Volume 1 has quite done that in tone yet. Yes, we are getting 'fleshed out' versions of the cast, Panthro, for example, has a unique voice as Lion-O's discerning elder. We get internal monologue from one of the villains, who I would assume would typically be a one-dimensional character. But the audience doesn't feel clarified, and the direction the series is going not quite clear yet either.

Funnily enough, my favourite issue of the bunch was actually a breather issue, #5 with an alternative artist, an issue where Cheetara trains Lion-O in combat, where the focus is Lion-O developing as a leader. THAT I can get behind, if we can take this character on an arc where he develops as a first-time leader, kind of like Leonardo in the TMNT, it could be satisfying.

The audience has grown up, and maybe it's time for Lion-O to do so too. I'll give Thundercats a chance.

[Michael Emond]

Like many 80's children I have fond memories of the TV show but if you tried to translate that into a modern comic it would come across as silly. I admire Declan's attempt to put a modern spin on the Thundercats I just was underwhelmed by the end result. You get four issues of a start up arc and one filler issue which is really, really weak.

This is an intro to the Thundercats so a writer could have rode the wave of discovery and made some fun comics. Instead we got a lot of infighting, some tangents with the Mu'Tants, a taste of Mumm ra, and a new Thundercat who goes nowhere. It was frustrating for me. It felt like Declan was so interested in setting up future stories he didn't bother to craft interesting ones in the present. I get discouraged feeling like "it will be 50 issues before all of this plays out! We are drawing this out extra long!". I compare this to the most successful translation of a TV cartoon into a comic book - G.I. Joe. Every issue was fun, had a start and finish, introduced us to new parts of the Joe world but still managed to progress the overall arc without sacrificing the entertainment of the issue we were presently reading.
This collection introduces some curious plot threads. Not necessarily interesting - because they didn't make me think "can't wait to learn more about this" it had me thinking "just tell me what this is about already! Stop stalling!"

And, worst of all, the character development wasn't there. And to prove it - issue five was a whole issue with full pages just barfing up character descriptions. What is Tigra like...here is a full page of text to tell you. A good series wouldn't need that. I would know who Tigra is because of his actions and interactions. It read like a Wikipedia page on the characters.

So, yeah. Had high hopes but they were dashed. At least the art was amazing.

[Marcus]

A fun time and a breezy read. This is my first introduction to the Thundercats overall and though the first four issues or so I found to be just okay as things progressed I became more fond of the characters, the art and the where the plot takes us.

I initially picked up the book because I thought it would be a coming of age tale, I was interested in learning how Lion-O handled his sudden thrust into leadership and the survival of his people. That is certainly an element that is explored here but I was surprised to find myself drawn to other characters like Panthro and Tygra more.

The plot isn’t dense per se but there’s a steady flow of new mysteries and new enemies to chew on each issue and the character interactions are well written without being overwritten. Shalvey gives the characters room to reflect and express their misgivings to the other characters which closes off unnecessary drama. The action is good as well but it was the characters that were the draw for me. This managed to straddle that line between feeling Saturday morning cartoonish while not feeling immature or too childish.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez]

Una lectura que me trae recuerdos hiper vagos de la serie de animación... pero más bien del revival de current anime energy de 2011. Entiendo que seguramente Dynamite y Declan Shalvey tengan esta premisa en mente de jugar al término medio con esa visión más moderna y la original... El caso es que la historia de estos alienígenas felinos refugiados por el cosmos se vuelve a recontar en la mayor libertad del cómic. La editorial desde luego parece haber aprovechado esto a la hora de afianzar oferta comiquera con spin-offs y sub series hasta de otras franquicias extendidas.

Si de algo me quedo con esta lectura es el dato que no tenía tan interiorizado de que Leon-O realmente es un niño pero en un cuerpo adulto por un proceso de madurez desarrollada de forma accidental en el sistema de animación suspendida de la nave a la hora de caer en el planeta que actúa de escenario para la aventura. Esto también ha añadido mucha SALSA a la hora de ver al nuevo personaje femenino hacer esa jugada para el cliffhanger camuflada de interés romántico que debe servir como primera dura lección del líder de los Thundercats en este aciago momento de su raza.

[Ανδρέας Μιχαηλίδης]

So, not to put too fine a point on it: I really hate the art in this new Thundercats, especially the character designs. They feel blocky, bulky and sloppy, I hate Tygra's moustache, I hate Wilykit's hairdo and I absolutely hate Snarf's redesign. On the other hand, the vehicles are very decently drawn, which makes me think Drew Moss is more used to drawing machinery. And this is further accentuated by how good Stephen Mooney's issue looks by comparison.

Now the writing isn't too bad, though again, a telepathic non-speaking Snarf is not a great idea. The retelling of the crash and early days on Third Earth are fine, as is the substitution of Mumm-Ra-as-Pumm-Ra with an actual traitor Thunderian, Calica.

However, the fact that Mumm-Ra and Jaga seem to know each other bodes ill for the changes made to the story. As for the extradimensional treasure vault, I sense it might complicate things sooner rather than later.

Not a great start, at least for this old fan.

[Joe Bogue]

Thought the 4 issue 'Arch 1' was boring and could have been condensed into 2 issues. Also, there was foreshadowing to time travel, right? Why isn't the series about that?

Also... SPOILERS...but...

The Thundarians as a race (& "noble bloodline") are doomed from before the opening of the series, so I had a hard time caring about the characters or the events of the story. Like, there's six of them, only two of whom are women. Even if each one can beget multiple litters of multiple Thunder-kittens, there's they can keep their race alive, let alone populate an entire planet.

Also, why did Calico have to honey pot Lion-o in order to steal the Eye? Panthero would have told her to stay back during MumRa's attack regardless

[David]

Thunder

Thunder

Thundercats .... Hoooooo!!!

*sword kerching sound*

The Thundercats was a childhood favourite of mine, so when I saw this on sale (in 2025), I thought I might as well give it a go.

Pleasingly, this requires no foreknowledge of the cartoon, with this starting right at the very beginning, with the Thundercats fleeing Thundera whilst being pursued by the Mu'tants and crash-landing on 'Third Earth', to find that their leader Jago has perished in the journey and that his son 'Lion-O' hibernation pod has malfunctioned so that Lion-O is now fully grown.

They have yet to directly encounter Mumm-ra the ever-Living.

I think I'll keep an eye out for more of these.

[Dakota Morgan]

I knew basically nothing about the ThunderCats going into this volume and, thankfully, it does a great job of setting up the world and the characters. So, points for that. The art is also pretty swell. The downside to Omens covering all the basics is that it very much feels that way. Here's each character, here's their deal, here are their foes, here's the obvious twist, etc.

I guess it's about "saturday morning cartoon" level storytelling, which does feel appropriate. Omens flies by and definitely leaves me interested in more, so certainly gets the job done as far as rebooting the ThunderCats (hooooo!).

[Jarred]

Nothing groundbreaking, basically a retelling of the origin story for the thundercats. Fun to read in comic form, but nothing really new or original in the plot or story. The art isn’t bad, but in the collected 5 issues of this volume the art style changes drastically between some issues, likely different artists were involved, but it is a little jarring. Like hiring different actors to play the same character on a tv show and swapping actors out every other episode. Hopefully the art gets a little more consistent and the plot grows to some new/original content in the future.

[Urbon Adamsson]

EN My review will be a bit biased, as ThunderCats holds a strong nostalgic value for me.

The story itself isn’t amazing, but it was great to revisit these characters from my youth. That alone made the experience worthwhile.

That said, I’m not sure how I feel about the decision to reboot everything from the moment the ThunderCats arrive on Third Earth. This effectively wipes out all the original cartoon continuity, which is disappointing. Sure, they’ll probably reintroduce all the familiar characters eventually, but I think a much better form of fan service would have been to pick up the story where the original series left off.

It seems like American comics have a tendency to reboot stories again and again, and I believe this constant restarting is part of what’s contributing to the decline of the American comic book industry.

Still, despite my reservations, I enjoyed it.

--

PT A minha opinião vai ser um pouco tendenciosa, porque ThunderCats tem um grande valor nostálgico para mim.

A história em si não é nada de extraordinário, mas soube muito bem revisitar estas personagens da minha juventude. Só isso já tornou a leitura recompensadora.

Dito isto, não tenho a certeza se gosto da decisão de reiniciar tudo a partir do momento em que os ThunderCats chegam à Terceira Terra. Isso apaga completamente a continuidade do desenho animado original, o que é algo dececionante. É claro que provavelmente vão reintroduzir todas as personagens conhecidas, mas acredito que uma forma muito melhor de agradar aos fãs teria sido continuar a história a partir de onde a série original terminou.

Parece que os comics americanos têm uma obsessão por reboots constantes, e acho que essa repetição está a contribuir para a decadência da indústria de banda desenhada nos EUA.

Ainda assim, apesar das minhas reservas, gostei da leitura.

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant]

I never watched the original show, so I have no point of comparison, but this didn't grab me at all, the story is very childish and very clearly aimed at preteen boys, the protagonist's need for affirmation, the parental figures, the first love, its basic scifi for that target demographic, and its nowhere near the the quality of other modern reboots, like the new Power Rangers and TMNT series, so this volume was probably it for me. Art's pretty good when its not rushed, but David Nakayama's covers are all fire.

[Erik]

The story is decent enough as a Thundercats reboot, although I don't like all the changes they decided to make. The characters at least seem mostly in line with the original cartoon, which is good enough to get me to the next volume to see if it gets any better. The 5th issue at the end of the main story is a complete waste though. It adds hardly anything to the story and reads more like the secret files issues DC sometimes puts out. The art is by far the weakest part. Pretty much all the redesigns are terrible, but I found Tygra's facial hair especially poor.

[Beckiezra]

Hoopla bonus borrow. It’s been decades since I watched Thundercats so I only have the vaguest memories. For a first volume this wasn’t super informative. We get a vague idea of the situation, planet destroyed, on the run to a new earth, some bad guys sort of introduced, but overall I felt like I was left with more questions than answers, not a very good introduction to the characters, and not a lot of motivation to keep reading. The art on the last issue was ugh and didn’t even match the character designs of the previous issues very well.

[Jason Tanner]

It's nice to read a Thundercats comic series written by people who respect and understand the source material and want to do right by it. The book is a lot of fun, but there is room for the creative team to grow, and I have confidence that they will. Any complaints I have are mild, and mostly boil down to wanting a bit denser plotting. But in general, the book delivers, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

[Nathan]

Lots of nostalgia, but I'm not sure it holds up well. The writer did a good job of the theming and making it relevant and the idea of being thrust into a leadership role when you are not ready and still a child mentally. The art is well done as well but having everything be 'Thundar' -this, or Thundarian that seemed a little repetitive. It worked in the cartoon when I was 7. Not sure if I'll be sticking with it.

[Art]

This was a nostalgic little trip for me. I remember watching this after college classes. There are, of course, some differences. I read somewhere recently that Mum-Ra might not be the bad guy we thought. There he was, on his own planet, minding his own business, then the Thundercats crash there and start taking over territory. The comic does NOT play it that way, but it is a different way to look at the situation.

[Chad]

A really decompressed opening arc. Most things are the same as the cartoon except Wilykit and Wilykat are there from the beginning this go around. That makes things slightly different as Lion-O was their age when they left Thundera. Drew Moss's art is good. I am surprised they are already doing a Cheetara spinoff.