ThunderCats #16
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThunderCats #16 (July 16, 2025) is the opening chapter of Declan Shalvey and Drew Moss's fourth story arc on their Dynamite run — the issue that formally introduces the Knights of Thundera, a brand-new in-universe concept representing a more aggressive, armored incarnation of the team. With Lion-O's disappearance finally resolved, Cheetara assumes leadership and the surviving Thunderians reorganize around this new proactive security force, each member equipped with Drew Moss-designed weapons matched to their individual fighting styles and outfitted in Thundore-alloy armor — a structural and cosmetic overhaul that reshapes the visual identity of the franchise in comics. The issue also brings Bengali (from the companion series ThunderCats: Lost) across into the main title, pulling the growing 'ThunderVerse' of connected Dynamite series into tighter narrative alignment. As the jumping-on point for the run's second year, it stands as a meaningful status-quo reset for what had, by Shalvey's own account, grown into a significantly expanded mythos from its 2024 debut.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Dynamite Entertainment announced this ThunderCats ongoing at New York Comic Con 2023, following an October 2023 licensing deal with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products that opened up the Hanna-Barbera animated library for comics adaptation. The creative team of writer Declan Shalvey and artist Drew Moss (with letterer Jeff Eckleberry) launched the series with issue #1 in February 2024, building a connected 'ThunderVerse' that eventually encompassed ThunderCats: Cheetara, ThunderCats: Apex, ThunderCats: Lost, and a SilverHawks ongoing. Issue #16 itself suffered multiple distribution delays — originally solicited for May 21, 2025 under Diamond Comics Distributors, it slipped to June 4 and then to July 16 before finally shipping, the delay partially attributable to Dynamite's mid-2025 transition to Lunar Distribution following Diamond's January 2025 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
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- First appearance of the Knights of Thundera as a formal institution — an armored, sword-equipped team configuration created by writer Declan Shalvey and designed visually by artist Drew Moss.
- Marks the first issue of the series' fourth story arc; Shalvey and Moss had been the unbroken creative team since issue #1 (February 2024).
- Resolves the multi-issue mystery of Lion-O's disappearance that had been the series' central dramatic question across the preceding arc.
- Cheetara formally steps up as acting leader of the ThunderCats in this issue, a significant character role shift within the Dynamite continuity.
- Introduces Thundore, a new metal alloy invented by Tygra, which forms the basis of the Knights' armor — originally designed to help the injured Panthro walk again after his battle with Mumm-Ra.
- Bengali, a character who debuted in the companion title ThunderCats: Lost, makes a crossover appearance here, deepening the interconnected 'ThunderVerse' Dynamite had been building.
- Cover G by Ken Haeser is an explicit homage to the cover of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (1984); an action-figure variant cover featuring Claudus was also included in the cover lineup.
- The issue was originally solicited for May 21, 2025 (Diamond Comics) but shipped July 16, 2025 through Lunar Distribution, after two missed release dates connected to Dynamite's mid-2025 distributor transition.
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