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Crossovers, Special Issues and Extra Artby The JavaScript Source
THE SOURCE BOOOK  Issued January 2003 Text by Ford Gilmore. Art by various contributing artists A guide to the main, and some minor, characters from the show. Mostly well written and beautifully illustrated, the only disappointing part is that the book didn't go in depth or explain anything about the characters that most fans didn't already know. BATTLE OF THE PLANETS/THUNDERCATS  Issued April 2003 Story by Munier Sharrieff. Art by Lee, Ross & Tam Scans, review & summary courtesy of Matt Glenny The story starts of in the BOTP universe, where they're intercepting a Spectra attack. Then, using the new jump system on the Phoenix to arrive on Thundera, comes news of Spectra's off world activies. Bring in the Thundercats, who are looking for a captured WilyKit. The ThunderCats think the G-Force team are enemies who are drilling into the planet's core and a small battle ensues before sight beyond sight shows the true nature of G-Force to Lion-O. They discuss battle plans while Jason and Panthro discuss vehicles/boys toys. They then begin their attack on the Spectra base. They break in Keyop and rescue Kit, while the otehrs hold them off - Mumm-Ra and Zoltar have a brief meeting. Of course, Mumm-Ra threatens people as usual. The two teams begin the escape of the complex, with Lion-O meeting up against the Mutants of Planet Plundarr. Lion-O finishes of the big robotic drilling platform. With time running out they say their goodbyes (Keyop and Kit share a kiss, where as in the other book it's Cheetara & Jason) and then they vanish, leaving Panthro upset that he didn't get to test drive Jason's car. The book finishes with the G-Force professor welcoming the team back. THUNDERCATS/BATTLE OF THE PLANETS 
 Issued July 2003 Story and Art by Kaare Andrews. Additional Art by Noguchi, Hou and Yan I'll admit, I'm not much of a BOTP fan -- I only vaguely remember the show. And that likely explains why I snatched up the more TC-oriented version of this crossover venture. The basic plot here is that there's a mysterious "disturbance" that the ThunderCats and G-Force are investigating on their separate worlds. Little do they know that the disturbance in question is a portal that will bring them together. Lion-O and Mark end up enslaved by reptilian Mutants -- with Slithe leading them -- who have increased powers. While those two are trying to figure out how to escape, their respective friends are trying to figure out how to rescue them. My favorite part is when the other ThunderCats end up on G-Force's homeworld and try to disguise themselves in native duds -- I literally laughed out loud at that part. Another amusing part came near the end, when both TC and G-Force factions exchanched some good natured ribbing. Overall, it was a decent issue as far as amusement factor. Fans of either franchise would get a chuckle from it, me thinks. THUNDERCATS/SUPERMAN 
 Issued January 2004 Story by Judd Winick. Art by Garza The story of this unlikely crossover begins with Mumm-Ra eyeing Orbs of Barrak in his cauldron, knowing the orbs have the power to quickly access any place on Thundera. Suddenly, a scantly clad woman appears in the Pyramid. Of course, this doesn't sit well with Mummsie but before he offs her, she convinces him that she can unlock a greater power in the Orbs - namely, the power to transverse diminsions. The submissive Lantana Lin, as she's called, also knows just where to transport the Mutants (hey, what are schmucks for if not inter-diminsional dirty work?). This other world happens to be the one inhabited by Superman, and conveniently enough, the object they're going after happens to be a twin to the Eye of Thundera. The Mutants are given glowing green talismens to wear - I'm sure you can see where this is going... Unbeknownst to Mumm-Ra and his uninvited guest, the ThunderCats' spy, a creature named Nupil, heard everything and reports back to the ThunderCats. They plan to intercept Mumm-Ra and his new ally before they can open the door to that other diminsion. Plans go awry, however, and the ThunderCats are swept into Metropolis along with the magically bedazzled Mutants. There's two immediate problems the 'Cats face: 1) No one in Metropolis can understand their language and 2) the 'Cats can see the Mutants, but no one else can - of course, the 'Cats don't realize only they can see their enemy. The Mutants, in a stunning stroke of smarts, use both against the ThunderCats, making them look like they're dangerous and violent to the people of Metropolis. Up to this point, Clark and Lois had been attending a boring museum tour. Once the commotion starts outside, Clark dashes off. It's not long before Superman has Cheetara in his clutches both misunderstanding the others intentions. Lion-O is angered to see Cheetara at the stranger's mercy and moves into attack. A fight scene ensues where Superman is not to thrilled to realize Lion-O's Sword is magical. And in a clever move by the Mutants, Superman thinks the Sword is blasting him with Kryptonite (little did he know it was the Mutants close proximity to him with the Talismens and not the Sword that was responsible). In one of the odd moments, Snarf produces an wand called the Clarifying Staff of Knowledge, which makes it so Superman and the ThunderCats can finally understand each other. After explanations and apologies, they become allies - Lion-O and Superman made quite a pair as brothers in smarm, heh heh. I'm not going to tell much more, though I'm sure you can guess who came out triumphant and who ended up looking like a Monkian's butt. But I can tell you Mumm-Ra fans won't be happy about the mummy being duped by what turns out to be a Captain Bragg look-a-like. Amusing moments: **The Tcats discussing Nupil's peculiar...odor. **This quote from the Bragg look-alike, which are his parting words to Mumm-Ra: "Well, toodles. Let's try and keep the ranting and raving to a minimum. They say stress is bad for the skin and frankly, you shouldn't rock the boat in that department." Ouch, owned by an intergalactic chode. **WilyKit, while waiting to attack the Mutants: "Let's go now...we got them with their pants down!" WilyKat's response: "Not that they wear pants or anything." ORIGINS: HEROES AND VILLAINS  Issued February 2004 This one is broken up into four distinct chapters, so I'll list credits with individual synopsis in an enumerated fashion. CHAPTER ONE: MUMM-RA Story by Ford Gilmore. Art by Vo, Park and Saka Obviously, this one deals with the origins of Mumm-Ra. As one might guess, his mortal beginnings stem back to ancient Egypt where he was known as Wahankh, a sem-priest. While putting up a loyal front to the reigning Pharaoh, Wahankh was plotting to over throw him, confessing all his devious plans to a pup he called Ma-Tep. Wahankh came about 4 stones he used to summon the Ancient Spirits of Evil, and begged them to make him powerful enough to defeat the Pharaoh. Of course, there's always a price exacted by the ASOE when they grant power, and this is no different. You'll have to read the isse to find out how this pans out. I will say, out of the four stories in this book, this one was my favorite. CHAPTER TWO: THE RACE Story by Ken Siu-Chong. Art by Barberi, Rios, Strachan This story takes place on old Thundera, and features Cheetara as she participates in a race that will determine who should be chosen by Claudis and Jaga to be brought into the royal inner circle. Cheetara isn't exactly the confident ultra-fast runner; apparently she hasn't discovered her super speed yet. But she is aware of her budding sixth sense. By story's end, she manages to use both powers to save the day. CHAPTER THREE: YOUNG CLAUDIS Story by Ford Gilmore. Art by Dos Santos, Avina Also set on old Thundera, this story goes back farther in time to when Claudis was a young man and going through his Anointment Trials. You can see where Lion-O gets his cocky streak from by the confidence the young man exudes. That is, until he's told who his last Trial - the Trial of Evil - is going to be against. He faces this enemy and puts up a heroic fight. Two things are shocking in this tale - that there was a traitor among the ThunderCats besides that which one would expect (Grune) and how Claudis disposes of his opponent. No wonder he paused to consider whether he was any better than the evil he'd just disposed of. CHAPTER FOUR: THE BIRTH OF THUNDERA Story by Ford Gilmore. Art by Perez, Campus The final story in this issue is a narrative that tells of Thundera's early, primitive history. It asserts the planet started like the others in the universe did - starting with the Big Bang, followed by life forming upon it, up until said life evolved into the cat-like bipeds that eventually became the ThunderCats' ancestors. According to the tale, the early cat clans didn't get along until much later. And of course, out of the Lion clan emerged Lion-L (trivia buffs will note this name is a nod to what was supposed to be Lion-O's character name in the early development days of the TV series), the first Lord of the ThunderCats. There's also a distinction made between Lord of Thundera and Lord of the ThunderCats. The discovery of the Eye of Thundera and making of the Sword of Omens is briefly touched upon here, with perhaps more to come in the next book. ORIGINS: VILLAINS AND HEROES  Issued February 2004 This is also broken up into four distinct chapters, so I'll list credits with individual synopsis in an enumerated fashion. CHAPTER ONE: GRUNE AND JAGA Story by Ford Gilmore. Art by Vo, Park and Saka Not surprisingly, this segment deals with the conflict between Grune and Jaga that ultimately lead to the demies of Grune as witnessed in the episode, "Ghost Warrior". In fact, the story is the lead-in to the psychic vision Cheetara had in that episode. Jaga and Grune are seen sparring, and at first, one would think they're already at odds. Turns out, they're only practicing in an effort to keep their skills sharp during the post Mutant War era. Grune easily defeats Jaga, and offers this explanation as to why - it's not that Jaga's out of practice, as the old jaguar claimed. No, it's that Jaga never enjoyed fighting and revels in the peaceful times. Grune admits he misses fighting, that he even hungers for it. However, Jaga's concern for his friend peaks when Grune begins treacherous speech by telling Jaga that the lowly Thunderians are not worthy of the ThunderCats' service. Grune boldly declares that the Thunderians should be made to serve the ThunderCats and that they're neutered by the Code of Thundera. Shocked, Jaga suggests Grune leave before he says anything else damaging. Grune obeys by going to his waiting comrades (the band of marauders Cheetara saw in her vision, I assume) and tells them to attack at dawn. When a girl runs in to tell Jaga they're under attack by their own military, the wise one is not surprised. Donning his battle gear, he leaves to confront Grune - and the rest we pretty well know from "Ghost Warrior". CHAPTER TWO: PUPPETS OF MEN Story by Ken Siu-Chong. Art by Bancroft, Humber The art in this segment reminded me of a Disney flick, specifically Aladdin. Anyway, it's the story of Tashi, you know, the Doomgazin' gal from the Time Warp Prison as seen in "The Doomgaze". Here, we go back to 3000 B.C. to the Mayan Civilization. Tashi seems to have some sway over the ruling Priest, and she is certainly not kind in how she treats her servants or the peasants - particularly the men. Why all the bitterness? Tashi's hatred of men began when her father abandoned her family and was furthered when her poverty-stricken mother was forced to hand young Tashi over to the chief Priest as a servant. She begged the Gods to free her from her miserable and humiliating lot in life by giving her the power to overthrow her oppressors. But ultimately, it wasn't the Gods that answered her prayers. Instead, the ASOE came to her aid by bestowing the strange power over men known as The Doom Gaze. All went well until her own servants poisoned her, realizing that she had held some kind of unnatural power of the chief Priest. She is banished from the Mayan land until she is summoned later by Mumm-Ra himself. No mention was made of the Time Warp Prison, and the vanity apparent in her character in the show seemed absent here. CHAPTER THREE: SWORD OF OMENS Story by Ford Gilmore. Art by Dub, Dery The third tale in this book covers the origin of the Sword of Omens. A Bengal cub runs through a crowded market square and bumps into Tigon, a Thunderian officer. Turns out, the boy's father is a famed blacksmith and is working on a sword for the officer. In addition, Tigris also has forged a special sword for Lord Cougartha. Cougartha, overhearing Tigon's conversation, decides to go down to the blacksmith's forge and fetch his special blade himself. Tigon shows up before the Lord does, and so Tigris explains the virtues of the fine sword he crafted with the ThunderCat leader in mind. Strong, yet light weight, he declares it a "war sword, fit for delivering the proclamations of a king. It's a sword of omens." Tigris is about to ask Tigon if he'll deliver the sword to Cougartha, when the Lord arrives at the forge. He's taken with the weapon, going so far as to say it's what Lion-L II imagined - a magical sword to lead the ThunderCats into battle. And as such, it just needed one more thing - the Eye of Thundera mounted in it. The only thing I found disappointing was the fact that the origin of they Eye itself - which is where the magical power of the 'Cats comes from - is not touched upon. CHAPTER FOUR: THE DESTRUCTION OF THUNDERA Story by Ford Gilmore. Art by Perez, Campus As with the first Origins book, the last story is told in narrative style. As you can tell by the title, it covers the last day of Thundera. What starts out as a beautiful autumn day would end in violent horror. Most of the planet's population was blissfully unaware anything was remotely wrong. But Thundera's chief scientist knew, and Thundera's parliament spent some of that last day arguing about whether the scientists' findings had any truth to them. Jaga, as acting ThunderCat Lord, convinced the council to formulate a planet-wide evacuation plan. Trouble was, they thought they had weeks to plan it - no one knew Thundera would die that day. Limited numbers of ships, as well as the planet's fast demies, resulted in whole tribes going extinct. There was also a definite advantage in richer provinces when it came to the Exodus - access to ships and being among the first to know of the situation was what they had over their poorer counterparts. Jaga waited until the Exodus was well under way before he worried about the ThunderCat nobles. He was willing to stay behind and see the Exodus through, but Claudis insisted that it be Jaga that go, given that he was now acting Lord and was needed to mentor Lion-O, the future Lord. The rest, is Exodus history. I've a few nits on this one, heh heh. 1 - No mention at all that it was Jaga's tossing the Sword of Plundarr into Thundera's core that caused Thundera's demies. Perhaps they didn't know that then, but I think it would have been interesting to have some of that guilt in there as we never did see how that fact affected Jaga in the show. 2 - In "Return to Thundera", Claudis says he stayed behind because the flag ship's sensors were damaged in the tremors and he needed to guide it into space from the ground. 3 - Also in "Return to Thundera", it seemed the planet had been on a decline for some time, giving me the impression that the Thunderians had a bit more of a head's up. But that's a minor nit and certainly open to interpretation.
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The Show
