One of the benefits of an established franchise releasing new content is that there’s a built-in audience that will eat up the material. However, the downside is attracting newbies to give it a chance. That’s the conundrum for ThunderCats: Lost, as the legion of ThunderCats fans will surely find lots to enjoy, but those coming in with fresh eyes might be overwhelmed and left confused. It’s a delicate balance to try and maintain, with the finished product fine overall, but definitely lacking in certain areas. Between old and new characters, there’s something for everybody, though the advantage goes to the informed.
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Let’s talk about the positives. ThunderCats: Lost #1 is a beautiful story to look at. The pages go from dropping the reader directly into a warzone to our team of remaining ThunderCats fighting to survive and coming up with a game plan. It rightly puts the focus on Bengali, a familiar face from the ThunderCats animated series. But just as readers start to pull for him, Bengali is cut down in the heat of battle. There are other returning cast members like Pumyra and Lynx-O, but we also get new characters like Ligon and Neko. They’re all given plenty of page time to flesh out their respective personalities, with Neko never afraid of a fight to the more calm and cool-headed Pumyra. Though it’s a somewhat large cast, they all get a moment to shine.
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While we said earlier that jumping in fresh may be a deterrent for some readers, we do admit that the writing tries to be welcoming to newer eyes. A team of ThunderCats were traveling to Third Earth to save Thundera, something happened, and they are now shipwrecked. That’s easy to understand on the surface. What we have to learn in future issues is what sent the team off course. There’s a nice wrinkle that some time-travel shenanigans appear to be at play, so once that’s fully explored it should enrich the overall story even more.
We know their introduction was intended to be menacing, but there is something about Scorpius that left a lot to be desired. Scorpius’ design is ominous, and he has the backing of a returning Captain Shiner, but we’ll need to see Scorpius in action before we start fearing for our ThunderCats. And speaking of Captain Shiner, he gets a larger spotlight in ThunderCats: Lost as our Big Bad. His presence will raise plenty of questions for fans, but the final page looks to clear up some of that confusion.
As someone with a passing memory of the original ThunderCats animated series, we’re intrigued to find out how ThunderCats: Lost adds to the franchise’s mythos. The team at Dynamite is building and adding piece by piece, so there’s a golden opportunity for ThunderCats: Lost to provide a path for new adventures and unexplored corners of the ThunderCats Universe. The only question is whether it’s something that fans will truly digest, or just give it a passing glance while they wait for stories featuring the ThunderCats heroes and villains they’re already familiar with.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Published by Dynamite Entertainment
On March 18, 2025
Written by Ed Brisson
Art by Rapha Lobosco
Colors by Roshan Kurichiyanil
Letters by Jeff Eckleberry
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Image courtesy of Max
