I was not going to review this title, but a friend, Disturbed in Norcal, mailed the issue to me. In light of reviewing Issue #9, I found the crossover a pleasant shock!
The Good: Decently-paced, well-contained story that actually ties together some elements from the other books. Plenty of G-Force action! A good treatment of the Thundercats characters, and Snarf only got one line.
The Bad: Still having trouble with character voices, though not as much as in other issues.
The story begins with G-Force working a protection mission aboard the luxury liner, Poseidon's Reign. Disguised as waiters, performers and one spoiled brat, the team watches for an expected Spectran raid. They're not disappointed, and predictably clean house--five acting as one at last. Chief Anderson stops them from pursuing the fleeing Spectran mech to its secret base because he has a new mission for them. Meanwhile, the Luminous One punishes Zoltar for his latest failure against G-Force by transporting him to a far away world (guess where?).
Chief Anderson looks over the modified Phoenix, now kitted for space warp travel thanks to Rigan technology--repercussions from his meeting with General Tomak (now revealed to be a Rigan) that was ignored in Issue #9. In exchange for the space-travel technology. Riga calls some favors. G-Force is dispatched to the same place Zoltar has gone: Planet Thundera, where Spectra is stripping the world of its resources and has Wileykit hostage.
There seems to be a set-in-stone comic book law that any characters meeting for the first time in a crossover must misunderstand each other's motives and fight before uniting against a common enemy. This book is no exception. When G-Force lands on Thundera, the Thundercats attack them. The battle stalemates until Lion-O uses the Eye of Thundera to figure out Mark's motives. Then they're buddies. This is what we saw in the Wizard preview and the reason I decided not to buy the book. But once this cliche is done with, the rest of the book makes for an entertaining read.
The characters: I never was much of a Thundercats fan. I liked the Rankin Bass artwork, but the overbearing nature of the characters--epecially Lion-O--irritated me. This book actually treats the Thundercats with a lighter, more respectful touch. More respect that G-Force has received in their own comic book line. Likewise, G-Force and Zoltar have been toned down now that the story takes precedence over any attempt to "rewrite and improve" them. I actually consider Zoltar a more formidable villain here (plus it was nice to see Mumm-ra clean his clock instead of teaming up with him). They all "flow" well, and that's the best part of the book.
However, with the "yo," and "hater," and "suckin' you in" speak going on, I was cringing and braced for somebody to say, "Bling-bling." People complained about the trite '70s CB radio slang of the original TV show ("Ears on! Big ten, good buddy!"). Why substitute one kind of bad slang with another? Especially when it doesn't fit the characters?
The art: I run hot and cold on the art, done by Alvin Lee, Rob Ross and Alan Tam. The stylized character faces are awkward (and how did Tiny and Keyop wind up with big blue eyes?), but the characters are posed well and the backgrounds and trappings are rendered with loving detail. The panels also flow better than in the standard BotP comic line. I really liked their version of Zoltar.
The bottom line: Aside from the obligatory battle of the teams, a very pleasant surprise and an entertaining read.
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I was not going to review this title, but a friend, Disturbed in Norcal, mailed the issue to me. In light of reviewing 