Micronauts #25 (Jan 91)

Writer - Bill Mantlo
Penciler - Pat Broderick
Inker - Armando Gil
Colourist - Bob Sharen
Letterer - Joe Rosen
Editor - Louise Jones
Cover Art - Pat Broderick

Synopsis:
Using a "Mentascope" Mentallo & Fixer track the Micronauts. Unaware they're being monitored, we see the Micronauts aboard the Endeavor either chitter-chattering (Biotron & Microtron), dreaming of love (Bug), or getting down and making sweet sweet love (Acroyear & Cilicia, and Mari & Rann). All are disturbed when the bad guys swoop in trying to capture our heroes.
The Micronauts defend themselves, and bring the battle to an innocent bowling alley. Mentallo is brought down by Rann & Biotron "telepathically conversing in a language unknown to" him, while the Fixers electric weapons are shorted out by Bug using a handy soda machine.
Interrogating the bad guys using his newfound telepathic talents Rann discovers Mentallo is being guided by Hydra, which is being controlled by... Karza?

In this issues TOTMV we get Baron Karzas origin, and the physical revival of the Baron himself.

Comments:
Golden is no longer the regular cover artist, and while he is missed you can't say Broderick didn't earn the right to take over.
Over all this is a solid comic, with the various story lines continuing to build.
The main story continues to be a bit silly, while the back up is more serious.

I am really enjoying Brodericks art - the panel layouts are varied, the detailing in the background is eye catching, and the story telling is very clear.

I do remember as a kid reading this being a little surprised by the amount of casual sex in the comic. Nothing I was against, just not something you'd usually see in a Marvel comic.

Micronauts #26

Writer - Bill Mantlo
Penciler - Pat Broderick
Inker - Armando Gil
Colourist - Bob Sharen
Letterer - Joe Rosen
Editor - Louise Jones
Cover Art - Pat Broderick

Synopsis :
Using the information gleamed from Mentallo last issue, on the opening page we see The Micronauts approach an epic high altitude battle between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra.
Seeing the easy to distinguish different uniforms Bug comments "Well, it sure was nice of 'em ta >tik< give us a way to tell good guys from the >tik< bad guys" as he blasts Hydra agents from the Endeavor.
Boarding the helicarrier the Micronauts split up to hunt for "ESPers" in contact with evil forces in the Microverse, and we get some fun well done hunting and shooting, with a bit of comic relief from Bug.
We see a somehow reanimated acroyear warrior corpse by the name of Dagon revived and agreeing to work with the Micronauts. We see Commander Rann fight past a "freak psionic flash field" created by the Baron Karza controlled ESPers. We see Karza breach the spacewall and tear the secrets of the Enigma Force the mind of Commander Rann. We see Karzas chest disintegrator apparently destroy Princess Mari. Karza claims victory but lets the Micronauts live as he departs to finalize his domination of both Earth & the Microverse. The first story ends with Rann mourning Maris death, while Nick Fury & S.H.I.E.L.D. try to find out whats been going on.

In this issues Tales From The Microverse we get a continuation of the main story as we see a very not dead Princess Mari is not destroyed by Karzas attack, but is shrunk back to normal size and sent back to the Microverse. She finds herself on Homeworld where she quickly joins back with Slug and calls a meeting with the Planetary Council to raise the alarm about the return of Karza. After comparing notes a decision is made to contact the Shadow Priests, who could summon the Enigma Force using Time Travelers to stop Karza. But they are too late - the final panel shows Karza & Hydra have the Time Travelers already captured!


Comments :
Whew, there's a lot going on this time around, but since Mantlo had laid the groundwork over the last few months, it's a fun easy read.

I haven't mentioned Armando Gils wonderful work as an inker - he started w/ Broderick on #19 and this is his last issue. Armando Gil has a strong identifiable style, and while some folks don't like inkers who presence is too obvious, for me if the art looks good then I'm happy with it, and Armando did a very good job with Broderick.
Interviewed in 2009 he says -

"Jim Shooter walked into the office and saw some of my samples and said, “Why don’t you give him a shot at inking?” Originally I wanted to pencil but I’d take any work [laughter] so they put me on the book over Pat Broderick’s pencils. We were doing really well there but I’ve always struggled with deadlines, physically and mentally I just get exhausted. I had done about five issues of Micronauts and I was doing it for Louise Jones, who was the editor on it, she was a great gal and really easy to get along with, and I was putting a lot of effort into those issues, doing all these zip-a-tone effects and overlays because I was competing against a really great artist in Michael Golden. I wanted the audience to realise that the book didn’t die just because he left it and I wanted to continue some of the Golden look so I could keep some kind of consistency. I thought Howie Chaykins work on Micronauts, even thought he’s a great storyteller, veered too much from Golden’s work. They took me off the book because they said I was having problems meeting the deadlines which I didn’t really agree with. I think I was maybe a week or two late though, but in business I guess that’s a lot."

The full interview can be found here -

ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2009/01/looking-back-with-armando-gil.html

This story line with SHIELD and mentallo and the Fixer is when i felt Broderick was finding his own style and having fun with the "Nauts making it all his own. Great visuals and fun story combining to reignite the series which had been seeming to flounder in continuing and that return of Karza: just beautiful! I had just graduated high school and it was the perfect teenage comic book that presented new and interesting that captivated my attention.

How i loved and adored these issues when they came out at the time. I was just out of high school and in full spending mode and Micronauts was a must buy! That SHIELD and Hydra were made a part of the war made this a full on Marvel Universe event. This was some of the best renditions of Nick Fury and SHIELD since the Kirby days. A Mantlo/Broderick SHIELD series should have been born from this because that then would have been a great comic book.

Micronauts had a few low spots but Mantlo and Broderick were really on fire with a slow build as they began to find their way and these issues were a bomb bursting visual spectacle and treat. Broderick's Karza and Acroyear and Bug were amazing. His Marionette a dancing doll of delight and Commander Rann was truly heroic looking. And Biotron and Microtron were comedic gold in the Laurel/Hardy and Abbott/Costello and Martin/Lewis and Rowan/Martin straight man/funny man routines.

Yeah, i knew of Nick and his gang from Captain America stories and Nick's occasional appearance in FF or Avengers and i had a few of the old Strange Tales with Kirby and knew of the Steranko SHIELD but had only ever seen a page here or there so this was my 1st full on Nick Fury and SHIELD exposure and i just loved it. Mentallo and Fixer were fantastic villains that were visually odd, strange and exciting all at the same time.

I kind of agree that the ending to the storyline was rather abrupt, especially since the build-up was in the back-up stories; but, it was darn good. I cut out that splash page and put it on my wall; it was so epic!