Dynamite’s ‘ThunderCats’ Covers And Character Designs Revealed
by Erik Amaya
The ThunderCats team continues to assemble.
Dynamite revealed new details of the upcoming title on Thursday — a part of the company’s new collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products. As previously announced, Declan Shalvey, Drew Moss, and and letterer Jeff Eckleberry are the primary creative team with Shalvey and Lucio Parrillo providing covers. Today, the cover team expanded to add David Nakayama, Jae Lee, and Ivan Tao. Nakamaya’s cover (below) will be featured on the November edition of Previews.
The new series returns to the earliest days of Third Earth with Lion-O, Snarf, Cheetara, and the rest still getting their bearings after fleeing Thundera. Lion-O, for example, must get comfortable with being the ThunderCats new leader and wielding the legendary Sword of Omens. But as fans know, Third Earth is brimming with native inhabitants none-too-pleased to see new arrivals. It is also home of Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, an ancient evil who hopes to destroy the Sword of Omens and its magical Eye of Thundera. Will the ThunderCats be up to the task of stopping him?
“Getting to work on these characters is a dream come true based on a dream I never dared have,” Shalvey said in a statement. “ThunderCats is one of those shows that blew my tiny mind when I first saw it. The scope, the imagination, the action. Looking back at it now, it has so many creative concepts woven through it, there’s so much room to explore this world that I’m excited to dig into. Especially, to see it all re-imagined through Drew’s eyes.”
The company also released some model sheets of Moss’s re-imagined characters. “When I first received the offer to draw ThunderCats, the eight-year-old inside of me did a backflip. I immediately started doing sketches and it brought me back to my youth. It is a dream come true to have the opportunity to add to the mythos with Declan,” Moss said.
“These are the ThunderCats you know, but the story’s not going where you expect,” editor Nate Crosby said. “It’s a mystery wrapped in sci-fi and magic, starring a stubborn group of survivors from a destroyed planet, desperate to survive. But survival is only the beginning.”
“ThunderCats is such a juggernaut, beloved franchise for multiple generations,” added Dynamite CEO and publisher Nick Barrucci. “We’re putting our full force behind this to provide readers with a thrilling narrative, both injecting a new approach for a new era as well as appealing to fans who have been with these characters for nearly 40 years.”
ThunderCats #1 hits store shelves in February.