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Post by brianf on Sept 29, 2020 17:58:55 GMT -5
 Micronauts #57 (1984) Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - Jackson "Butch" Guice Inks - Kelley Jones & Sam Grainger Editor - Macchio Cover Art - Guice While Commander Rann has rejoined the Micronauts, his philosophy of mercy is at odds with the hardened battle plans of his team mates. They discover Karza has plans to destroy a world called Never-Summer as an example to the rest of the mircoverse, so they go to stop him. The inhabitants of Never-Summer live primitive lives and are written as a Native-American stand ins. A big chunk of the comic follows Ojeeg - the chief of the wolverine tribe, where his selfless actions saves his people. Over all I like this issue - the art is beautiful, and while it's a bit sappy, I like what Mantlo was trying to do. However, I don't like the blue ink used in some of the exposition boxes - it makes it hard to read.
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Post by brutalis on Sept 29, 2020 18:17:38 GMT -5
Even if Mantlo's writing doesn't hit all the sweet spot's at times, 'Nauts was truly blessed with some amazing artists. Golden, Broderick, Guice and Jones. You can find a lot to simply gaze upon and pore over while skipping some of the storylines.
Mantlo fell into the Starlin/Thanos trap in that he created such a powerful, iconic and classic villain in Karza that ALL others paled in comparison. Every other force of evil in the Microverse came across more or less as losers. Star Wars Darth Vader had Tarkin and the Emperor to play off, Orion, Mister Miracle and Desaad provided Darksed interesting counterpoints. Poor ol' Baron Karza, once the initial story ends in his defeat is doomed to repetive loss each time without ever learning from those defeats.
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Post by brianf on Sept 29, 2020 18:48:38 GMT -5
Even if Mantlo's writing doesn't hit all the sweet spot's at times, 'Nauts was truly blessed with some amazing artists. Golden, Broderick, Guice and Jones. You can find a lot to simply gaze upon and pore over while skipping some of the storylines. While he was inked too heavily, ya gotta add Kane to this list. Sadly not Chaykin - even though he coulda done better, Chaykins work on Micronauts was the worse. Hell, even giving the Ditko issues props for artwork makes more sense because Ditko was just doing his current style at the time. |
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Post by brutalis on Sept 29, 2020 18:58:08 GMT -5
Even if Mantlo's writing doesn't hit all the sweet spot's at times, 'Nauts was truly blessed with some amazing artists. Golden, Broderick, Guice and Jones. You can find a lot to simply gaze upon and pore over while skipping some of the storylines. While he was inked too heavily, ya gotta add Kane to this list. Sadly not Chaykin - even though he coulda done better, Chaykins work on Micronauts was the worse. Hell, even giving the Ditko issues props for artwork makes more sense because Ditko was just doing his current style at the time. Almost added Kane and Ditko, chose to leave them out and give props to the "new guys" as even at their least, I ALWAYS enjoy Gil and Steve (and most any other "classic" oldsters) doing art "robot". |
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Post by brianf on Sept 30, 2020 21:22:24 GMT -5
    X-Men and the Micronauts #1 - #4 (Jan - April 1984) Writers - Bill Mantlo & Chris Claremont Pencils - Jackson "Butch" Guice Inks - Bob Wiacek & Kelley Jomes (#2) Editor - Bob Budiansky Cover Art - Guice This mini-series has a lot of mind swapping, size changes, universe jumping and over all it's one big nothing burger. Every time I re-read it I just get kinda bored. The main plot is an evil entity has invaded the mircoverse causing the Micronauts and Karza to team up to defeat it. Karza winds up going through the space wall and tracks the source of the entities power to Xavier. Yeah, the villain is Professor Xs dark side - I guess this is the start of Onslaught? Its also using a story that Mantlo wrote for an X-Men fill in back in X-Men #106 as a plot point. Kitty Pride & Karza swap bodies, various characters get mind controlled, the Biotron ship dies at the end, I dunno..... I do like the art.   Oh, I should also mention there's some sexually inappropriate moments with the young female characters Kitty & Dani. Special times.   |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 1, 2020 5:58:30 GMT -5
Why do villains wear bathrobes over their armour when they want to kick back and take it easy?  That miniseries was underwhelming, which is surprising considering the momentous repercussions it had on the 'Nauts' main series. Karza's empire was essentially wiped out off-screen, and the seeds of the obliteration of the Microverse were planted right there. Xavier's evil dark side had been seen previously (early on in the New X-Men run) and I think you're right about it being part of Onslaught's development. (As a Cyclops fan, I can't help notice that Xavier gets a free pass for destroying the best part of an entire universe out of pure malice -hey, it wasn't really him, it was his dark side- but that Scott can't play the same card when he's possessed by the Phoenix. Plot necessities make for elastic legal precedents). Guice's art was as good as usual, but I never cared for his depiction of Wolverine's mask. The "ears" curved forward to such an extent that they started to look like the collar of Dr. Strange's cape! |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 1, 2020 7:22:30 GMT -5
Why do villains wear bathrobes over their armour when they want to kick back and take it easy? (...) For the same reason that the guys in Kiss wear heavy polyester robes over their leather and vinyl outfits while chillin' by the pool in the southern California sun... |
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Post by brianf on Oct 1, 2020 18:08:08 GMT -5
 Micronauts #58 (1984) Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - Jackson "Butch" Guice Inks - Kelley Jones Editor - Macchio Cover Art - Guice This is Mantlos last issue of Micronauts. This issue starts off directly after the X-Men crossover. After limping to Homeworld the Micronauts find everything deserted and in ruins. Karza has pretty much put the population of First Zone into the body banks. The final confrontation happens when Zarza appears with warped victims of the body banks. In issue #56 Karza regained his humanity, making him vulnerable to normal attacks, which provides the key to victory for the Micronauts. While once again the laws of diminishing returns make it hard for me say this is a great issue, I do like it and think it looks good. I do really wish Marvel could get the rights back, even short term, just to reprint the series. Maybe in a few omnibus volumes? Considering the condition Bill Mantlo is in these days it would be nice to honor the man while he is still alive by putting one of his most famous creations back in print.. For all it's ups and downs I am really glad I own this series.      |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 1, 2020 20:57:44 GMT -5
Why do villains wear bathrobes over their armour when they want to kick back and take it easy? (...) For the same reason that the guys in Kiss wear heavy polyester robes over their leather and vinyl outfits while chillin' by the pool in the southern California sun... Well, if what some of my reactionary neighbors said in the 1970s is true, that was just because Satan's Knights don't do very well in sunlight. |
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 1, 2020 22:25:03 GMT -5
I really liked the Guice 'era' of Micronauts. I still have #57, it seemed almost like it could've been an early Marvel 'graphic novel'! I hated the mini-series, those two scenes with young female characters no doubt written by Claremont may have even been about where I thought he had become a parody of himself, that and the Magik mini.
Gil Kane did some neat Micronauts covers where he inked them himself I thought. He was doing a Zabu back-up in Ka-Zar for awhile I think as well. I don't think Marvel knew what to do with him then... I might've gotten him to do The Avengers!
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Post by brianf on Oct 1, 2020 22:51:47 GMT -5
I really liked the Guice 'era' of Micronauts. I still have #57, it seemed almost like it could've been an early Marvel 'graphic novel'! I hated the mini-series, those two scenes with young female characters no doubt written by Claremont may have even been about where I thought he had become a parody of himself, that and the Magik mini. Gil Kane did some neat Micronauts covers where he inked them himself I thought. He was doing a Zabu back-up in Ka-Zar for awhile I think as well. I don't think Marvel knew what to do with him then... I might've gotten him to do The Avengers! When I first read this I thought you meant the Jungle Book shorts from Marvel Fanfare - but no, you are right - Kane drew some Zabu back ups in Ka-Zar the Savage. I was buying that off the shelves when it came out even though at the time I could care less about Ka-zar, but I love what Bruce Jones did with him. A few years back I picked up a complete run of the series for real cheap but I haven't re-read it yet. Sounds like this is a good reason to do the re-read. And yeah, in the 1970s Kane did like every Marvel cover for years, then in the 80's he was really underused by the company. I think Shooter had issues with him. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 1, 2020 23:59:42 GMT -5
I really liked the Guice 'era' of Micronauts. I still have #57, it seemed almost like it could've been an early Marvel 'graphic novel'! I hated the mini-series, those two scenes with young female characters no doubt written by Claremont may have even been about where I thought he had become a parody of himself, that and the Magik mini. Gil Kane did some neat Micronauts covers where he inked them himself I thought. He was doing a Zabu back-up in Ka-Zar for awhile I think as well. I don't think Marvel knew what to do with him then... I might've gotten him to do The Avengers! When I first read this I thought you meant the Jungle Book shorts from Marvel Fanfare - but no, you are right - Kane drew some Zabu back ups in Ka-Zar the Savage. I was buying that off the shelves when it came out even though at the time I could care less about Ka-zar, but I love what Bruce Jones did with him. A few years back I picked up a complete run of the series for real cheap but I haven't re-read it yet. Sounds like this is a good reason to do the re-read. And yeah, in the 1970s Kane did like every Marvel cover for years, then in the 80's he was really underused by the company. I think Shooter had issues with him. I would suspect vice-versa, too, based on his Comics Journal interviews. |
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Post by brianf on Oct 2, 2020 18:42:03 GMT -5
 Micronauts #59 (1984) Writer - Peter Gillis Pencils - Kelley Jones Inks - Bruce Patterson Editor - Macchio Cover Art - Michael Golden A new team takes over for the last issue of the series before it gets relaunched as New Voyages. Kara pretty much razed Homeworld & the crew is getting their new ship charged up. Before they leave they decide to leave a telepathic beacon as a memorial. The whole issue is the new versions of of Biotron & Mircotron interviewing the crew about emotions as a way to help them find the words. I dunno, it's kinda like Gillis has training wheels on and wants his first issue to show that he understands the characters. A lot of talking going on. Eh. Jones got some criticism for his artwork and while he is kinda raw here (and I am a fan of his later/current style) but it looks fine to me.   |
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Post by brianf on Oct 2, 2020 18:51:02 GMT -5
So a few years ago I bought a cheap run of Micronauts : The New Voyages, along with the comics put out by Image & Devils Due, but after being bored by the first 3-4 issue of New Voyages I stopped reading and never finished the series, or started on the post Marvel comics.
I think for poops & grins I'll try again, and share my brief POV here.
I wanna justify my comics!
Who knows, maybe it'll make we want to check out the IDW Micronaut comics?
Bug, Commander Rann, Marionette and (a different version of) Huntarr are still owned by Marvel and have been used here and there, so I'll share that stuff too.
Why not?
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 2, 2020 20:16:30 GMT -5
I made it to #5 of Micronauts Vol. 2 I think. I think Jones shows inexperience sometimes as in that one Acroyear figure, but he seemed to be trying to maintain Guice's style (and he was trying to keep to some of Golden's original designs for the microverse generally). I don't know why I never bought even one issue of Swashbucklers, maybe I missed #1 or something... There was a Bug solo comic circa 1997, no idea what it was like. They do show up in the Peter David Captain Marvel series...    |
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