WRITER EXCLUSIVE
ThunderCats return to comics, and their origins, in Dynamite Entertainment’s new series
► SCI-FACT! Comics of other Warner animated series such as Jonny Quest, Space Ghost and The Flintstones are also in the pipeline.
→ A BIG CHILDHOOD FAN OF ThunderCats, Declan Shalvey is now writing a new monthly series starring the fearsome felines for Dynamite Entertainment’s new line of comics based on Warner Bros Discovery’s animated properties. “I found the original cartoons in the same way that every kid did back then,” Shalvey tells Red Alert. “As that classic opening came on the TV, I was transfixed. It was like pure adrenaline on the screen! I was just the right age when ThunderCats debuted, or at least by the time it debuted in Ireland, as back then it took a while for American shows to make it over the Atlantic.”
With the damaged Royal Flagship landing on Third Earth after the ThunderCats flee their devastated home world of Thundera, the series is set some time before the events of the animated show, which ran for four seasons from 1985 to 1988.
“I just went back to the source; the first episodes of the cartoon,” explains Shalvey. “I didn’t want to get bogged down in too much of the lore, as essentially we are creating a new one, using the original series as a jumping-off point. The origin story is the same, but I wanted to see the ThunderCats on the back foot. The Royals are now homeless, looking to find security and safety while dealing with huge new problems they couldn’t possibly foresee.”
With its natural features ranging from the Acid Lake to the Cliffs of Vertigo, Third Earth’s diverse milieu acts as an interesting backdrop for the ThunderCats.
“The environment is really a tool to force the characters together in order to see if any friction forms,” says Shalvey.
