Cover Date: February 1979
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Penciller/Co-plotter: Michael Golden
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: F. Mouly
Cover: Golden & Rubinstein
Editor: Al Milgrom

"Earth!" (17 pages; color)

Synopsis: The Endeavor breaches the walls of the fringe with the aid of the Time Traveler and the ship and its crew wind up in Florida in our world. They begin to explore, but Karza's forces seek them out, led by Prince Shaitan, Acroyear's traitorous brother. Meanwhile Karza reveals Price Argon, Mari's brother is alive, and will be spared, but only to be the subject of Karza's experiments. With the aid of an adolescent boy they meet at their crash site, Rann and his intrepid band escape the Acroyear pursuit forces and teleport away. 


Ratings

Story: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

Comments: Golden's art looked a little rushed in places, still great, but not quite on par with last issue. The quirky toy look is gone from the equipment though, so that's a plus. I do like the way Mantlo handled the Micronouts discovering they were on a world of giants, very reminiscent of some classic sci-fi moments in other media I have seen here and there through the years, but still feeling organic and appropriate for this situation, not a forced homage or hack copying. Mantlo is also introducing some tension between Mari and Rann, that is probably meant to lead to romantic tension, but right now, however, it does feel forced and hackneyed. There are some interesting character bits being showcased though...the camaraderie of Bug and Acroyer, the inferiority complex of Biotron, and the fierce streak of independence and cold desire for revenge in Mari all work well so far. 

-M

As I mentioned, I just read #5 and will be working on he review shortly, but first I want to talk about the letters page in #5, featuring reactions to #1.

There were two letters that particularly caught my eye-one who wrote in to ask why the main character of the book was not female or non-white. This has been a touchy subject of late in a lot of modern comics and message boards have been clogged with chatter over this the last while, while some dismiss it as modern PC bs, but it's not really a new argument. It was a question being asked even as far back as 1979 by comics fans. The editorial answer her e(I assume by Al Milgrom as he was editing the book) was that there was no main character for this book, it was an ensemble cast and each Micronaut was equal-male female, human, alien, white and non-white. Not a bad answer even if a bit evasive. The same letter wirter went on to complain about the extensive borrowing going on in the Micronauts-I've noted the Star Wars moments here and there, but he also pointed out that the scene in #1 where Commander Rann returns/reappears on Homeworld borrows heavily from the scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind when the WWII soldiers emerge form the UFOs atop the mountain. He also points to Karza resemblance not only of Vader form Star Wars but Darkseid, and Bug's similarity to the Forager and Bugs in the Fourth World saga. He tries to suggest that the use of dog soldiers for Karza's troops is a borrowing of Hyborain terms, but that one, at least is way off, not so much with the same critique for the use of Shadow Priests though, which does have a certain Stygian ring to it.

Milgrom's response is pretty much, yeah the Kirby homage in Bug is intentional, Karza however was designed by the toy company not them, that Golden was a huge fan of Close Encounters and that dog soldiers is pretty much a trope for foot soldiers going way way back.

It all ties into a conversation my old thesis adviser and I used to have about studying human civilizations and their accomplishments concerning the question of what is innovation? Is it creating something completely new and original? If so, then there are a frighteningly small number of innovative civilizations. Or can innovation be taking something pre-existing and using it in a new way? Synthesizing diverse elements into something new? We would go back and forth on this a lot but we both usually came down on the same side of it-that synthesis into something new qualifies as innovation, as completely original things are few and far between, almost as rare as ex nihilo creation itself. If you look at the Micronauts in these terms, there is a lot that is not original here, but the series as whole is very innovative. It is taking things that seem familiar and synthesizing something new here, something that has warts for sure as some of those familiar elements stand out way too much, but also something that feels fresh and exciting.

The second letter of note, is from cat yronwode, she of the Lesser Book of the Vishanti fame that I posted about here before, and who was a prominent editor in many of the indy books of the 80s (and 90s). She expresses her initial reaction to hearing about the book was that a book based on plastic toys was just tacky, but goes on to say she was glasd she tried it because it is a beautiful book with an intriguing concept with amazingly polished art and lettering. She does go on however to voice the idea that this must be separate from the main Marvel Universe because of the concepts involved (paraphrase-I trust we won't see the Micronauts alongside Spidey in Marvel Team-Up)-she does this in the context of discussing Mantlo' writing saying she likes when he is doing original concepts moreso than when he is adding to an existing mythos-again a discussion that presages a lot of the creator-owned vs. mainstream corporate comics discussions fans are having today too (I guess the more things change and all that with us comics fans....). Milgrom responds that this is a mainstream MArvel U title and the Microverse is part of the MU...timing here is everything as #6 will see our first guest star from the MU too.

-M

I'm glad you're reviving this thread - I should so my part and finish up my part of doing super short notations about the end of the series.
I've also wanted to talk about the use Marvel made of the characters they owned once they lost the licensed Micronauts - for example I really liked the Bug one shot