Saturday, June 2, 2018

Micronauts - The Collection Concludes

Here we are, the end of the road.  Previous installments can be found herehereherehere, here, here, and here.  My Micronauts odyssey has been a lot of fun but it ends here.  For now, anyway.


59 - The Micronauts appear to be leaving Baron Karza behind forever.  It's a fitting cover for the last issue of the series.  Kelly Jones, who inked a fair number of issues during the last year, provided the art.  It's a good cover for what it is.

As the Endeavor II charges its engines, the Micronauts ponder all that has transpired and mourn the devastation of Homeworld.  Biotron and Microtron struggle to understand the feelings of their humanoid counterparts.

Not a lot happens apart from some flashback sequences.  It felt pretty unnecessary, even with Micronauts: The New Voyages on the horizon.  Kelly Jones' art is good but nothing like the art he'd later be known for on stuff like Sandman and Batman.

This issue might have worked better as the first issue of The New Voyages or being skipped all together.  It's kind of a fizzle as an ending or as a transitional issue.

And that's that.  Or would be if I hadn't wrangled an affordably priced copy of Micronauts #8!
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8 - The Micronauts have never had an artist as good as Michael Golden and it's great to see another of his covers.  This one depicts the Micronauts at Baron Karza's feet with Captain Universe coming to the rescue!

Talk about a blast from the past.  The Micronauts are back in Florida, in HELL, to be exact, and Baron Karza is taking on the army.  Dallan and Sepsis, it's weird reading this issue out of sequence.  Force Commander isn't a douche yet but is already a Centaur.  Rann isn't wasting his time meditating.  Microtron is actually funny!  The last year of Micronauts tales didn't have much in the way of humor.

Ray Coffin, as Captain Universe, arrives to save the day.  The Micronauts head back to the Microverse through the Prometheus Pit and intend to seal it behind them but Karza abandons Prometheus' body to give them chase.

The Enigma Force leaves Ray Coffin, letting him have a reunion with his son, Steve.

This issue would have had a bigger impact on me had I read it in sequence.  As it stands now, it was a reminder of how much the Micronauts lost on their quest to defeat Karza.  It was also a reminder of how often they got pushed into the background on their own book.

Why the hell is this issue so much more expensive than any other Micronauts issue?  Captain Universe has never been popular and probably has made less than 100 appearances in the last 35 years.
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Micronotes:

  • Thus ends the first volume of The Micronauts.  While I'm tempted to track down Micronauts: The New Voyages, I think I'm going to leave things as they are for a while.
  • I'm not sure I want to read any Micronauts material not written by Bill Manto.  Bill Mantlo is to the Micronauts as Larry Hama is to GI Joe.
  • I'm even less sure about reading the IDW Micronauts series.  After you take away everything Bill Mantlo brought to the table, what's left?
  • There are a couple issues of Cable set in the Microverse.  Again, no Mantlo.
  • I plan on mining the Micronauts for source material for a Dungeons and Dragons game at some point.
  • I've got Mantlo and Guice's next project, Swords of the Swashbucklers on deck.  If I continue suffering from Mantlo withdrawal, I might have to track down ROM.
















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