30 Years of Thundercats

[Pinwig]

Not going to do this regularly, but this week I'm adding a 30th Anniversary Thundercats re-read to the Transformers one already in progress.

30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #1

Part of Marvel's attempt to further utilise the comic output of its American parent saw Action Force debut thirty years ago last week, but this week the inhabitants of Third Earth arrived in newsagents off the back of the success of the previous year's annual and the TV cartoon. Because of the way the water-testing annual used the first two issues of the US comic, the launch of the weekly UK title stepped straight on to issue three - a curious opener for a new comic in which Panthro rescues a scantily clad maiden from marauding Rock Men, while Lion-O annoys the rest of the Thundercats by using the Sword of Omens to summon them just to help him shift rocks.

The lack of a proper character introduction meant the US strip was headed by a quick three-page Simon Furman effort drawn by Steve Parkhouse in which Snarf commentates on an all out fight between the major characters so he can name them all. A full page photo advert reveals that the initial toy line consists of Lion-O, Tygra, Panthro, Cheetara, Mumm-Ra, Slithe, Monkian and Jackalman, while Mumm-Ra in his ancient form can be sent away for with four tokens from packs. The vehicles available are the Thundertank and Monkian's Sky Cutter.

In the back up slot, Power Pack's first US issue begins a reprint to set the scene so the strip can continue on from it's run in Return of the Jedi Weekly, which ceased publication last June thirty years ago. 

[The Doctor]

I loved the prismastic badge!!!

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

The advert made me realise how short changed we were as Transformers fans. Robot Points were universally pointless, yet here, buy four figures and get an exclusive fifth that actually features in the story? Amazing. What did we get? Crap transforming watches.

Wish I'd kept my Thundercats. I have no toys now, just the comics. I was recently pondering getting one of those 14 inch Mezco jobs to see what they were like.

[Pinwig]

Oh my god. I've just realised that explosion on the cover is supposed to be Thundera isn't it. But because the issue doesn't even mention that it makes no sense. I've always thought it was just an exciting backdrop for the badge.

[The Doctor]

I stuck my badge on top of Thundera on my issue. It made the cover even more exciting.

My issues are long since gone though I still have a couple of the Annuals.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Mar 14, 2017 21:29:16 GMT Pinwig said:

Wish I'd kept my Thundercats. I have no toys now, just the comics. I was recently pondering getting one of those 14 inch Mezco jobs to see what they were like.

Never did Thundercats but I bought a few MOTU toys a few years back, some of them were great. I'd always wanted a Battle Ram but the Attack Trak was amazing!

[The Huff]

I still hear (what I used to call) the Attack Trak theme from the cartoon in my head when I hear anyone mention the toy!

[Andy Turnbull]

I did like the Thundercats comic, but it never got that Target:2006 moment to really lift it up to on a par with Transformers, I'd say out of the licensed comics it was a distant third behind Zoids but in front of Action Force.

Andy

[The Doctor]

It followed the TFUK theme very closely: US reprints and UK originated material by the Furmanator and gang with a back-up strip of something else and a comedy cartoon half-pager. At least until it was downgraded to younger kiddy fluff post #100.
It would buy a reprint series of it though. I have some fondness for the title.

I would place The Real Ghostbusters above it though (until that too was downgraded to a younger demographic). At least some of it was (badly) reprinted though.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

I think the fact it started from a Stars imprint title meant it was fighting a losing battle to establish a cohesive world. Where Transformers pooh poohed the cartoon and did its own thing, Thundercats remained loyal to it (from what I remember! I'm looking forward to going through these issues again as I don't remember a thing about them)

[Andy Turnbull]

Mar 16, 2017 22:12:49 GMT The Doctor said:

It followed the TFUK theme very closely: US reprints and UK originated material by the Furmanator and gang with a back-up strip of something else and a comedy cartoon half-pager. At least until it was downgraded to younger kiddy fluff post #100.
It would buy a reprint series of it though. I have some fondness for the title.

I would place The Real Ghostbusters above it though (until that too was downgraded to a younger demographic). At least some of it was (badly) reprinted though.

-Ralph

I always put The Real Ghostbusters in a category of it's own, it was always more comedy than action/adventure so it never seemed quite like-for-like when comparing them.

I would be all over reprints of Thundercats as well.

Andy

[Andy Turnbull]

Mar 16, 2017 22:16:11 GMT Pinwig said:

I think the fact it started from a Stars imprint title meant it was fighting a losing battle to establish a cohesive world. Where Transformers pooh poohed the cartoon and did its own thing, Thundercats remained loyal to it (from what I remember! I'm looking forward to going through these issues again as I don't remember a thing about them)

Yes, it was pretty loyal to the cartoon as I recall both with the Star reprint and indeed the UK stuff. There were a few glimmers of promise but sadly it wasn't to be.

[The Doctor]

I remember being frightened by WAKING NIGHTMARE. Even the cover of the Collected Comics reprint was scary.

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

That was a great tale as I recall.

I do remember when they tried for a big epic storyline World in Xhaos if I remember correctly, I couldn't help compare it to Target:2006 - which didn't help.

[Pinwig]

Mar 9, 2019 22:18:53 GMT primenova said:

Simon said he left being the editor back in 87 when he did Thudercats?

Wow, really? I didn't know he edited Thundercats. I just assumed he was on the UK comic until he started on the American one.

[inflatabledalek]

He was, Thundercats was a parallel gig (maybe even before he replaced Ian Rimmer on Transformers?).

[primenova]

I can't find details about the UK comic other than it went monthly & ended #129.

[Pinwig]

Pity he didn't write more of the content then. He did the three page intro strip in the first issue and some plot outlines, but nothing more in-depth.

[Andy Turnbull]

It went monthly for a spell, and I think back to fortnightly.

[Pinwig]

Thundercats was weekly from 1-83, then went fortnightly 84-95, monthly from 96-104, fortnightly 105-129. Which meant it managed to creep on all the way from 1987 just into the first week of 1991.

Furman wrote the three page 'introducing' story that was in the first issue, Waking Nightmare (#9-10), which was the first original UK story, and also the overall plot for the big six-part World in Chaos story that ran from #30-35, also scripting the last two parts of that. Ian Rimmer wrote the bulk of the UK stories, but when Steve Alan arrived with issue 60 he did a lot too, especially the text stories that brought Pumyra, Bengali and Lynx-O into the comic before they were in the main strip.

[Andy Turnbull]

It always felt even as kid, that it lacked some of the substance of Transformers, both the US and the UK material.

It was enjoyable, but not really all that memorable - arguably Waking Nightmare is probably the most memorable of the material.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

I found the US Thundercats comics a more satisfying read. Perhaps it was just the US format that made them feel less like something made for younger children - though still clearly aimed at a younger readership than TFs.

Martin

[Andy Turnbull]

Or possibly because, the UK TF material had already had a sense of world building from the get go, and added depth to the ongoing story. There really wasn't much of a sense of an ongoing narrative with Thundercats, thus meaning the UK material was even more disappointing, as you knew what Marvel UK could do.

[Pinwig]

I did a re-read of the first 85 issues on their 30th anniversaries. I've got scans of almost all of the rest but stopped when I ran out of my own paper copies. It feels a lot like the toy range, well intentioned but not quite up to the competition. If Furman had gone to town on it like he did Transformers, there was potential, but he wouldn't have been well supported by the Star US material in weaving an immersive universe. Andy said before that World in Chaos built a beautiful world that could have been the start of something big, but the writing after that never really used it. In truth, the comic was pitched at a younger audience than Transformers and was much more about weekly fun than it was about world building. The mad thing was that the text stories did a better job of providing an ongoing story because they filled in the back story of how the third wave toys got to third earth over quite a long period before they were in the strip.

[Pinwig]

Mar 10, 2019 20:58:24 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

I found the US Thundercats comics a more satisfying read. Perhaps it was just the US format that made them feel less like something made for younger children - though still clearly aimed at a younger readership than TFs.

Martin

Some of the earlier ones were good, but quite a few of those issues were just cartoon adaptations, which was noted by the readership at the time on the letters page. I think the lack of a backbone driving them hurt it.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Mar 10, 2019 21:11:53 GMT Pinwig said:

Some of the earlier ones were good, but quite a few of those issues were just cartoon adaptations, which was noted by the readership at the time on the letters page. I think the lack of a backbone driving them hurt it.

Yeah, the first six issues, written by David Michelinie, were far and away the best, being a connected story rather than disposable standalones.

The early UK annuals showcased most of them as I recall.

Martin

[Pinwig]

I think it has to be regarded as a success though. I mean the comic here didn't start until the toy line was pretty much finished in America, and the UK comic lasted almost three years past the end of the US one. I just looked, didn't realise the US comic was six times a year from August 85 to October 86, so it had been running 19 months when the UK one started!

[Andy Turnbull]

Oh yes, it lasted the course.

Beating out more than a few launches along the way - Action Force, Galaxy Rangers, Death's Head, Action Force Monthly, The Bog Paper, Slimer, Visionaries.

Just it didn't quite have that something that Transformers did. I think Zoids came closest, out of all the licensed books. I wonder what would have happened if we'd gotten that monthly by Morrison and Yeowell - edited by Starkings.

[Pinwig]

Mar 10, 2019 21:15:25 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

The early UK annuals showcased most of them as I recall.

Martin

Yes. The first annual predated the comic by seven months and had issues one and two in, so when the comic started they needed Furman's intro short then went straight into US issue 3. Then 3/4 were reprinted in the second annual after they'd been in the comic, presumably because that annual would have been in the works before the comic started, and the first annual was reprinted as a hardback called 'origins'. So Star 1/2 were never in the comic.

I also discovered doing my re-read that there was a Marvel softback book for Thundercats that came out with the Transformers equivalent (Plague of Insecticons). But rather than being reprint material from the comic, it had a Star issue that wasn't used in the UK comic. US issue 9, The Price of Pride.

[Andy Turnbull]

Ooooh.

This thread has me contemplating tracking down more Thundercats comics...