Over a year ago, Dynamite announced that — along with other properties from Warner Bros. — they had acquired the license to Thundarr the Barbarian, the cult classic ’80s cartoon. While at the time it was speculated Rob Liefeld might take on the title, given his public love for the character… Not so. In fact, it’s writer Jason Aaron and artist Kawber Baal who will tackle Thundarr, starting in January.
“This strange new world arisen from the old, a world of savagery, super-science and sorcery, as created by so many comic book legends, imprinted on me in a profound way at an early age,” Aaron said via a press release provided to Comic Book Club. “Thundarr the Barbarian isn’t simply my all-time favorite Saturday morning cartoon. It’s a fundamental component of my DNA as a writer. To say I’m thrilled to be crafting Thundarr’s first ever comic book adventure would be a gross understatement. In a career full of dream jobs, this one will most assuredly go down as one of the dreamiest. And as a lifelong fan of this character and his richly-imagined world, I’m intent on creating a story that honors the cartoon we all know and love, while propelling Thundarr into his most epic adventure yet.”
In case you’re not familiar, the cartoon ran for two seasons, and featured classic fantasy tropes including wizards, monsters and more, but thrust them 2,000 years into a post-apocalyptic future. And in Dynamite’s series, “Thundarr and his trusty companions Princess Ariel and Ookla the Mok fighting to save the world’s last surviving humans from enslavement by mutants and wizards. But when Thundarr’s greatest foes, like Gemini and Mindok the Mind Menace, team-up to devise the ultimate revenge, the heroes must battle to save the future itself, an adventure that takes us all the way back to that fateful day in 1994 when a runaway planet came hurtling between the Earth and the Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. And for the first time ever, we’ll also learn the origin of Thundarr, including his first meetings with Ariel, Ookla, and the first time he ever wielded his mighty and mysterious Sunsword.”
Surprisingly Thundarr has never before appeared in comics, though it has comic book bonafides: Jack Kirby worked on production design for the show, and Alex Toth also designed key characters. Steve Gerber, who folks might know from his work on Howard the Duck and Man-Thing, was the creator of the show. And in fact, two previous comics projects focused on Thundarr, including a Sunday newspaper strip by Kirby, never saw the light of day.
Speaking of dreams fulfilled, Liefeld may not be solo taking on the title, but he will provide covers, alongside Dan Panosian, Francesco Mattina, Michael Cho, Joseph Michael Linsner, Björn Barends, and more. You can check out some of those covers and interior art, below.
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