On The Shelf: A Thundercat spins off, and some old friends reunite

 Dynamite Entertainment has been rolling of late. Their adaptations of beloved cartoons like Gargoyles, Space Ghost, & Thundercats have won critical praise, and now, the latter series has birthed its first spin-off.

Cheetara tells the story behind the team's fastest & sexiest member, well before the team we all know & love was formed. In the context of the series, from its inception in 1985, Lion-O was aged up due to an accident while in suspended animation en route from Thundera to Third Earth, as he is but a child in Cheetara's story, and he looks upon her as a mother figure. The current series posits the possibility of the two becoming a couple now that Lion-O is an adult. 

That said, Dynamite has gone further with the 'Cats than Marvel or Wildstorm ever did, and that's saying something. I'm enjoying the ride, and the various covers all make for good posters.

Rating: A.

Retro reads: Speaking of Marvel, the company's ill-fated Star Comics line added Thundercats in 1985 as a book aimed at pre-teens and up. While the creative teams were more of a revolving door, with artists like Ernie Colon and Jim Mooney among the pencillers, the book remained faithful to the 1985-8 series, and lasted almost as long, 24 issues. I think Dynamite is waiting for the sales figures on the current book to determine whether or not they can gain the rights to do a trade paperback of the Marvel version.

Rating: A-.

Mad Cave acquired the rights to Marvel-Star's 1986 Defenders of The Earth book, based on the cartoon of the same name. You might remember it.

It was supposed to be an ongoing series, but it was cancelled after 4 issues as the Star line began imploding. Another Marvel-produced cartoon, Visionaries, was also part of the line, and was quickly cancelled.

Anyway, the four issues collected adapted the initial story arc from the TV series, but left some plotlines dangling due to cancellation. The cover to Mad Cave's trade paperback volume emulates the style of 90's icon Bruce Timm, as if they're wishing he could bring the Defenders back.

The trade comes out weeks ahead of Mad Cave's own adaptation, set for 8 issues, to debut next month, written by former DC editor Dan DiDio, whose writing has been grossly underappreciated because of his failings in the editorial office.

Marvel's version gets a B.

Other news: If Gocollect.com is to be believed, Titan is scaling down its revival of Savage Sword of Conan to 6 issues, despite a crossover set to start in September following the preview of Battle of The Black Stone back in May. If the info is accurate, Savage Sword will end in January. The first 3 issues wll be collected in a trade paperback out in September.