Gritty adaptations of beloved childhood shows have surged in popularity. The ‘80s cartoon “ThunderCats” took a darker turn with several mature comics.

The “He-Man/ThunderCats” crossover that ran from 2016 to 2017 saw Mumm-Ra impale Prince Adam with a sword, but he transforms into He-Man, healing himself.

WildStorm’s “ThunderCats: The Return” is even grimmer. The plot starts with a mentally deteriorating Snarf freeing Lion-O after five years of training within the Book of Omens.

With Lion-O’s return, he finds a changed world where Mumm-Ra dominates Thundera, and most ThunderCats are dead or enslaved, setting a deeply unsettling tone for the series.

The mutants hold Cheetara and Tyga captive, Pantrho works in the mines, and the twins WilyKat and WilyKit are Mumm-Ra’s servants, and he even refers to WilyKit as his “concubine.”

Readers of the comic were generally off-put by the story. One reviewer on Amazon criticized the writers for confusing “shock value with a more mature intellectual story.”