ThunderCats, Vol. 4: Hammer Hand's Revenge

ThunderCats #4

by Fiona Kai Avery, Carlos D'Anda (Illustrator)

Hammer hand and the Berzerkers, in an attempt to ransom the Japanese Empire, have abducted Hachiman, the son of the Japenese ruler. The Berzerkers have asked for an outrageous ransom for Hachiman's return to his people. On behalf of the Japanese Empire, the Queen of the Amazons contacts the Thundercats, aware of Hachiman and Lion-O's deep friendship. Lion-O and the others rush toward their confrontation with Hammerhand, unaware that this is exactly what Hammerhand was planning all along, Will the Thundercats be destroyed once and for all?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

If i were to rate the book on art alone, it'd be 5 stars. Carlos D'Anda did a superb job and the coloring & inks were on point. Lettering was rock solid, too. There is a splash page where Lion-O is riding a griffin and the Claw Shield and Sword of Omens are both on the wrong hands, but otherwise I really loved looking at this book.

Reading it was an entirely different story. If I had to guess, I'd say Fiona Avery had never seen a single episode of the original cartoon. Few of the characters were actually in character and the worse offense was with Snarf, who, for whatever reason, Avery selected as the second act's primary expositional device. She has no clue how Snarf speaks, and she makes him worse than a comic relief nursemaid. He is transformed into pure "Elmo idiocy", never once using the first-person pronouns "I" or "me", electing to use "Snarf" in every instance. And he talks like a brain dead paper plate. It's terrible.

Another annoyance is trying to figure out where in the mythos this story fits. After the very entertaining "Dogs of War" we get this story that seems to pre-date all three previous story arcs, and follows sometime after the Thundercats animated success over the Berzerkers, but one can only guess where in that span.


All in all, the writing is clumsy, at times lazy, and completely unfamiliar. For as much as fans griped about The Return, this is far worse in my opinion. Just a writing atrocity. Thank goodness it has pretty art...

Writing: 1/5 Stars
Art: 4.75/5 Stars
Overall: 3/5 Stars

[Ανδρέας Μιχαηλίδης · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a rather confusing series, both in the context of that time's comic book continuity, as well as internally. Hachiman is kidnapped for ransom, repeated attacks from his father's ships make clear that ransom will not be delivered, yet he is not killed, giving ample time to the Thundercats to arrive. Then there is a showcasing of various characters, the introduction of the Griffin Princess, all too briefly for some reason, and lots and LOTS of useless dialog and vertigo-inducing panels.

The action is decent, the cartoon heart is there, but the execution is sloppy and not fully though out. As for the art, mediocre at best.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this is volume 4 of the Wildstorm Thundercat’s series, it doesn’t fit into the storyline the rest tell. It fits somewhere in the time of the cartoon and is closest to it of the Wildstorm books, but if you want something like the cartoon, just watch the cartoon. It works better than this. Snarf is also totally out of character and even more annoying.