Thundercats First Appearance – Bronze Age Hot Pick
With the new release of the Masters of the Universe film, it makes you wonder when some of these other dormant 80’s cartoon giants finally make their way to the big screen. One of those old-school animated properties that has been rolled around for years is ThunderCats. Although the live-action He-Man film has already brought mixed reactions, ThunderCats feels like it could absolutely work on a much bigger scale if handled correctly.
CLICK HERE – Masters of the Universe Movie Review
Why would it work? There is one big reason. The team concept still connects with the masses. X-Men, Justice League, Guardians of the Galaxy, Transformers, Avengers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and so on. Everyone has a favorite Turtle. Everyone has a favorite Avenger. That same idea always existed with ThunderCats. Whether it was Lion-O, Panthro, Tygra, Cheetara, Jaga, WilyKat, WilyKit, or even Snarf, the 80’s crowd had their favorite. That matters. That kind of character spread translates directly to the screen, to toys, to shirts, to statues, to Funko Pops, to whatever else gets slapped on a shelf when Hollywood decides nostalgia needs another withdrawal from the bank.
And let’s be honest, the concept is not that hard to sell anymore. If audiences can fall in love with a talking raccoon, talking robots, mutated turtles, blue aliens, and whatever else Hollywood throws at us, then a team of cat-like humanoid warriors from another planet should not exactly break the public’s brain. The idea is already built for a modern blockbuster. You have a fallen world, a new planet, a mystical weapon, a young leader, a team dynamic, monsters, mutants, and Mumm-Ra. That is not a hard pitch. That is Saturday morning cartoon chaos begging for a big budget.
The ThunderCats first appeared on the comic book scene in their self-titled comic from Marvel’s Star Comics imprint. ThunderCats #1 arrived in 1985 and featured the story “Survival Run!” with work credited to David Michelinie, Leonard Starr, Jim Mooney, Brett Breeding, Petra Scotese, and Janice Chiang. The franchise itself was created by Tobin Wolf, with the animated series becoming one of those unmistakable 80’s properties that never really left the collector mindset. The cartoon had the intro, the toys, the characters, the villain, the Sword of Omens, and that strange little magic trick where everyone who grew up with it still remembers it like it aired yesterday.
The comic series lasted 24 issues, and there is value scattered throughout the run. The final issue, ThunderCats #24, has quietly commanded decent money because of its tougher print run. A recent raw copy sold for $100, while a CGC 9.0 sold for $125. There are only 94 total graded copies of that possible hidden gem, with 74 of those copies sitting in the 9.0 to 9.8 range. Yes, that is extremely top-heavy for a “rare” book, but it is still appealing because scarcity inside a nostalgic 80’s licensed run can get very interesting if the property heats up.
But the main attraction here is ThunderCats #1, and this one brings its own kind of collector weirdness. There are 3,755 total graded copies of this comic, with 2,867 sitting in the 9.0 to 9.8 range. That is top-heavy. No need to sugarcoat it. This is not some impossible-to-find ghost book hiding in a dollar bin under three copies of NFL SuperPro. There are copies out there. Plenty of them. But the market does not seem to care as much as one would think.
A recent raw copy sold for $100, and then the graded market gets very wonky. A CGC 8.5 sold for $215, while a CGC 9.4 sold for $140. Yes, the much higher grade sold for less. Both were UPC copies, which makes the pricing even more of a head-scratcher. Then two CGC 9.8 copies sold for $500 and $590, both direct market copies. So, what does all that tell us? Simple. The market is messy, inconsistent, and clearly still trying to decide what this book is supposed to be. That is usually where opportunity lives, right between nostalgia and confusion.
There is no use trying to fully figure out that hot mess, but the collector interest is there. It is also there for other books in the series. Many issues from this run have their own appeal, whether it is first appearances, lower-print later issues, character covers, or collectors simply trying to complete the full Star Comics run. Browse the boxes, check the stores, and do not sleep on the middle issues. There are 22 issues sitting between the first issue and the final issue, and some of those books are not exactly sitting in every back issue bin waiting to be rescued.
If a live-action ThunderCats film ever truly gets moving, this comic series will explode regardless of the large graded population on issue #1. That is the power of 80’s nostalgia when Hollywood finally kicks the door open. Overprinted or not, ThunderCats #1 is the first comic book appearance of a major animated property with a cult following that has never gone away. Lion-O and company still mean something to a generation of collectors, and that kind of built-in emotional attachment is exactly what drives markets when entertainment news hits.
If you do not have ThunderCats #1 or any part of this original series in your collection, now might be the time to start looking. Not because every copy is rare. It is not. Not because every sale makes sense. It does not. But because this is one of those nostalgic 80’s books with a cat-cult following that will always be there. Buy smart, buy clean, and understand the market before chasing the hype. This collector sees upside here. Tremendous upside if this movie ever finally comes to fruition.
Speculation isn’t about hype. It’s about awareness.
-Jay Katz