Rann and Biotron fight their way back to Homeworld, denied help by the Time Travelers on the way. Marionette and Huntarr spy on the impending royal wedding while Bug, Acroyear, and Pharoid are ushered into the Pleasure Pits to battle a giant spider creature.
Marionette and Huntarr ruin the wedding and join Bug, Acroyear, and Pharoid against the Death Squad. Argon is unmasked to reveal Baron Karza and Biotron hits the scene!
Damn, Mantlo keeps knocking them out of the park. The stage is set for Micronauts-Karza III. I can't imagine this is going to go very well since the title of the next issue is "Sometimes the Good Guys Lose."
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Arcturus Rann and Baron Karza clash psychically and Karza learns Rann no longer wields the Enigma Force. Devil bursts into flames and crumbles to ashes, revealing a new Fireflyte. Rann and Fireflyte leave Biotron to take on Karza physically as Marionette marshals the rebels and the remaining Micronauts to battle the Death Squad.
No one pulls any punches. Karza kills Slug and Belladonna and then Pharoid as well. Marionette breaks Centauria's spine. The Micronauts deal with the rest of the Death Squad in a similar fashion. Biotron blasts away at the dog soldiers, giving the Micronauts a clear path to Karza.
Karza makes short work of Acroyear and tries to choke Bug with his flying fists. Marionette tries to make the save but she gets taken out as well. The big confrontation between Rann and Karza finally happens...
And Rann gets his ass handed to him. The only thing that saves the Micronauts is Fireflyte teleporting them away.
Wow. That was a very Empire Strikes Back ending. How the hell are the Micronauts going to come back from that? I'm guessing the final issues will be leading up to the final confrontation with Baron Karza.
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The Micronauts are on the run after their defeat at the hands of Karza. Marionette and Rann have a dust up and it looks like Marionette is giving the orders now.
After some zero-g combat, the Micronauts fight off their pursuers and regroup, only to run into the Acroyear fleet. After a skirmish, Acroyear chooses to battle Cilicia in trial by combat to prove his innocence!
There's more friction in the Micronauts than there has ever been. Arcturus has managed to drive a wedge between himself and Marionette. I'm not sure how I feel about Huntarr on the team just yet.
Was it just me or was the coloring of Bug off in this issue. Bug continues to be my favorite Micronaut. If I decide to take on Micronauts: The New Voyages after this, it'll be odd to have someone besides Bill Mantlo scripting his dialogue.
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The issue opens with Baron Karza turning Seazone into a desert. The only survivor is Lady Coral, who vows vengeance. Yeah, what a way to establish Baron Karza as an evil douche bag right off the bat.
Meanwhile, the Micronauts are forced to watch as Acroyear and Cilicia prepare for trial by combat. Acroyear and Cilicia got at it full bore. Meanwhile, Arcturus Rann makes contact with the Enigma Force again and again the Time Travelers deny him aid.
Acroyear fights defensively only, infuriating Cilicia. The battle stops when Acroyear breaks part of Cilicia's armor, revealing she is pregnant!
Mantlo set up more dominoes in this issue. I have a feeling the storyline will span the rest of the title's issues. That final battle should be quite the spectacle.
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Acroyear receives a new set of armor and leaves the Acroyears behind with the Micronauts. Arcturus Rann continues meditating. After some discussion, the Micronauts head to Prison World looking for allies in the war against Baron Karza.
The Micronauts battle some lame ass aliens acting like gangsters until Karza's Dog Soldiers show up. The gangsters join up with the Micronauts only to run into Karza's G-Men.
Yeah, I was not a fan of this issue, although it moved the plot along. I hope the Micronauts aren't on Prison World for long.
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Marionette, Bug, Huntarr, and Acroyear battle the Dog Soldiers and are thrown in the clink. They band together with the other criminals and bust out. The End. At least they'll be leaving Prison World behind next issue.
Since I didn't have a hell of a lot to say about the issue itself, I'll talk about the letter pages. I love reading letter pages from 30 years ago! The comics readers from back in the day are just as big nitpicking assholes as the ones we have today. Some things never change, I guess.
I have to wonder how far in advance Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice knew that issue 58 would be their last. Was Mantlo stringing people along in the letters page by this point? There are only four more issues penned by Mantlo left.
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WHAT? Marionette and Bug boned? Holy shit! While Bug and Marionette have some pillow talk, Arcturus Rann astral-projects to the Temple of Time, only to find Baron Karza already there. Rann and Karza clash, only to have Karza vanish.
Huntarr heads to Homeworld to go it alone against Karza's forces. That explains the cover, I guess. After Huntarr's mother commits suicide in front of him, he goes on a rampage in search of his sister with Lady Coral bearing witness from afar.
Huntarr finds his sister and frees her, only to watch her and the other breeders kill themselves. Huntarr returns to the Bioship and offically becomes a Micronaut.
Aside from Bug boning Marionette, this feels a lot like a missing New Gods story. I don't see things going well once Arcturus Rann gets his shit together. The Micronauts appear to be headed to Kaliklak in the next issue. Hopefully to gain allies. Even if I didn't know there were only four issues left, I'd feel like the tale was winding down, heading toward a big confrontation with Karza. At this point, I don't know who will survive besides Bug, Rann, and Marionette.
I really liked Jackson Guice's art in this issue, particularly on Bug. It's no wonder he went on to bigger and better things post-Micronauts.
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The Micronauts, aboard the Bioship, head to Kaliklak for help. Unfortunately, Kaliklak is under attack by battle beetles. Fireflyte protects Rann as he continues meditating, trying to contact the Enigma Force. The Micronauts kill the remaining battle beetles on the ship and land on Kaliklak, only to find it ravaged.
The battle beetles are converging on the nest, intending on devouring the eggs containing the next generation of Insectivorids. After a skirmish, Bug and company meet Treefern, Jasmine younger sister, much to Marionette's chagrin.
Meanwhile, Karza and Rann beseech the Time Travelers for aid. The Time Travelers continue being impartial assholes. However, they do grant the power of the Enigma Force to both men. Rann becomes Captain Universe while Karza becomes a white version of himself.
It's only a test. Both men reject the Enigma Force and return to reality.
Bug and the Micronauts ride Battle Bats to Hideout to protect the eggs. They arrive just in time to fight off Battle Beetles. The Micronauts win the day but are AGAIN denied aid against Karza, this time by the Insectivorids. However, as a consolation prize, Rann gets his ass in gear and rejoins the team.
A lot of stuff happened in this issue. My favorite part was probably Marionette's jealously over Treefern and Bug. However, she didn't waste any time jumping into Rann's arms. Jackson Guice's art varies from page to page. Some of them are, dare i say, Goldenesque but others look a little off.
On to some kind of winter world. Only a handful of issues left.
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After an interlude featuring war between some tribal folks, The Micronauts take the fight to Karza while Rann wonders if they're becoming too much like him.
Marionette strikes Rann in a dispute over Captain D'Ark, who reveals Karza means to destroy the world of Never-Summer. He holds Never-Summer ransom with the Sun-Scope. The tribal stuff continues, leading me to believe one of the tribesman is going to save Never-Summer using the Sun-Scope.
There is more tension between Rann and Marionette and the tribesman encounters the Bioship. Rann reluctantly follows Marionette's lead.
Ojeeg, the tribesman, continues climbing the sacred mountain and battles a sasquatch-like creature. Marionette throws her relationship with Bug in Rann's face. Bug, by the way, is wearing his revolting garb from Prison World.
The Micronauts reach the top of the mountain to find Baron Karza! Ojeeg arrives just behind them and finds the Sun Scope. Karza uses the Sun Scope and mortally wounds Ojeeg. Karza battles the Micronauts, giving Ojeeg time to wreck the Sun Scope. It has melted the snows of Never-Summer and left it a paradise. Sensing imminent defeat, Karza teleports away in centaur form.
Another action packed issue. What the hell is going on between Rann and Marionette? Rann's got nothing left so he'd better find the Enigma Force within himself fast. Also, I hope Bug gets back into his armor in the next issue, which promises the Triump of the Micronauts.
But first, the X-Men/Micronauts miniseries!
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After the events of X-Men and the Micronauts, The Micronauts, minus the now dead Bioship, return to the Microverse and the Time Travelers seal the Spacewall behind them, forever separating the Microverse and Earth until the storyline demands otherwise.
The Micronauts return to Homeworld to find it devastated. Baron Karza has used every last person to fuel the Body Banks.
Karza sends waves of creatures against the Micronauts. Fireflyte, dying from her efforts to get the Micronauts back to Earth, wraps herself in a cocoon. The Micronauts finish off Karza's creatures and go up against the big dukaroo himself.
Karza shifts to centaur form and Marionette goes after him. Marionette stabs Karza through the heart and they both fall off a cliff. Marionette awakens later in bed to find Karza dead. The Micronauts wonder if they can adjust to a life of peace after years of war.
The people of the Microverse arrive to confirm Karza's death. They are met at the Endeavor II by a new Biotron and Microtron. The Endeavor II leaves Homeworld behind and Fireflyte's cocoon opens, revealing Devil!
And thus ends Bill Mantlo's Micronauts run. It's kind of a sad ending. The Micronauts have finally defeated Baron Karza but there isn't much of Homeworld left. Also, Bill Mantlo leaving leaves a bitter taste in my mouth but it was probably time.
I'll soon be reading Swords of the Swashbucklers but I still have one installment of my Micronauts read left, where I'll cover Micronauts #59 and Micronauts #8, the first appearance of Captain Universe. Better late than never, huh?
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