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Post by brianf on Nov 2, 2020 18:39:09 GMT -5
Micronauts #1 (Image, 2002) W- Scott Wherle A - Eric Hanson I - Barbara Schulz C - Dave Johnson This is a complete reboot. Its not bad for what it is. The first issue only has 3 returning characters I recognize - Acroyear, an evil Biotron (?) & Baron Karza. Obviously they can't use a lot of what was created in the Marvel comics. The plot is a mini black hole-ish portal opens up outside of Las Vegas. Some rich people disappear and a project gets launched to try and go through it. The plan is to send an unmanned probe through the portal called the Micronaut. The main scientists son named Ryan sneaks into the lab to observe and sees weird soldiers come though the rift. His dad is killed and he is taken through the portal to a different universe. He's a prisoner of Karza. A few other characters are introduced, and basically this is an ok first issue for a reboot. But I have zero expectations and have heard no talk about this series.
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 3, 2020 9:54:25 GMT -5
Micronauts #30 Writer - Bill Mantlo Penciler - Pat Broderick Inker - Danny Bulanadi Letterer - Shelly Leferman Editor - Louise Jones Cover Art - Pat Broderick Synopsis : Back in the Microverse our heroes track the clues planted in Commander Ranns head, the search for 3 keys needed to find the missing Enigma Force begins. Things happen! A mysterious monolith found in India. Subconscious signposts are decoded. Lengthy expositional conversations are speech bubbled. Nanotron, a robot assigned a female gender, is introduced so Microtron has someone to fixate over. Along with Acroyer leaving the team, Planetquakes are a precursor of the great distress to come. The remaining team heads to Oceania and is attacked by a giant fish. Meanwhile, Acroyer returns to the now dead Spartak and accepts the judgement of his people, the brand of Traitor. In the rest of the issue we get a fair amount of "Jonah and The Whale", aquatic civilizations that don't communicate, Microverse history, & Merman threats. Oh, and a Dr Strange cameo too! Comments : As time dragged on while I didn't follow up on my review pledge, I would spy the cover of #30 sitting next to my computer and find myself smiling at the old school Marvel corner box & top cover "Marvel Comics Group" banner. I pleasantly think of easily finding Marvels while scanning 7-11 spinner racks on road trips with my parents as a kid. While no means a bad comic, after the conclusion of last issues Karza fight Mantlo is back to universe building and methodical muliti-issue story plotting. So this comic being just one chapter in a longer narrative shows its seams as the bigger story gets sewn together. I enjoyed this one quite a lot. I love Mantlo's Microverse building. I find it fascinating. I just wish they'd spend less time on earth, but I know that return visit is coming up soon. And I love the Micronauts' corner boxes, especially this one with Acroyear!
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 3, 2020 10:41:20 GMT -5
Micronauts #31 Writer - Bill Mantlo Penciler - Pat Broderick Inker - Danny Bulanadi Letterer - Joe Rosen Colors - Bob Sharen Editor - Louise Jones Cover Art - Frank Miller Synopsis : We open seeing Dr Strange meditating on the monolith found in India. Using the Eye of Agamotto Strange observes Microverse history.... Meanwhile Bug unhappily rides a fish. Splashing around in SeaZone The Micronauts continue their hunt for the Three Keys & we get fish battles, Mer-Humans, sibling rivalry and city destruction. To save the day the Merman uses his Key & turns everyone into fish to save them from drowning. Commander Rann smooth talks the fishy friend to give up the key so the Micronauts can continue their quest as not-fish. Comments : Hey, Frank Miller did the cover! So Mantlo works some of his earlier (unfinished) Marvel stories into the Micornauts history. There's a lot to unpack and since I can't seem to find time to do a write up that does the story justice I'm just gonna keep things short. This link has more info - Sword In The Star
Fun Fact - The Sword in the Star / Prince Wayfinder first appeared in Marvel Preview #4 (1976) & #7, also #4 the 1st appearance of Star Lord (not in the same story) & Rocket Racoon first appearance is #7. Great info about the Sword in the Star! I never knew!
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 3, 2020 10:45:54 GMT -5
Writer - Bill Mantlo Penciler - Pat Broderick Inker - Danny Bulanadi Letterer - D. Albers Colors - Sharen Editor - Tom Defalco Cover Art - Layton / Janson Hey look - Devil already made the corner box in only his 2nd appearance! All three keys in their possession the Micros head for a rendezvous in Aegypta, where they are betrayed by Argon. Highlights of this mostly action issue is Bug finding Snail-Loaf in their prison cell and the return of the "Nauts as freedom fighters against corruption. The series continues to be fun and stuff. And we get more Dr Strange checking things out too. The cover is kinda confusing on this one. The lines here are Force Commander's lines, but the person speaking them looks nothing like Force Commander, nor like any other character in the Micronauts comic that I'm aware of. Did they just want a more super-villainous look, to make this seem more like a superhero comic instead of a science fiction comic, and thus hopefully pull in more readers? By the way, the Micronauts really should have taken Force Commander and that chief scientist hostage, but I guess that would have ended things too quickly.
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 3, 2020 10:52:38 GMT -5
Writer - Bill Mantlo Layouts - Val Mayerik Finished Art - Danny Bulanadi Letterer - Rosen Colors - Sharen Editor - Tom Defalco Cover Art - Layton Farewell Pat Broderick - you were wonderful on the 'Nauts. We have various fill in artists until #40 and Gil Kane takes over. Argon going full Karza, rebels get back to rebelling, and the Micronauts run off with the 3 keys. We get a microverse history lesson, a Dr Strange team up and some demons. The Micros save the day but Argon is still being a jerk so the Micronauts have to hightail it outta there. I have to say after all the build up the ending to this story is kinda meh. I think they added a handful of other Micronauts toys to pad this issue out with pointless fight scenes. First of all, I love this covor!! Others might object to the color scheme, but I enjoy it. Plus the dramatic group pose. Yeah, this was a good one, but not as good as the some of the big battles with Baron Karza. Cantaura should have blasted Mari when she had the chance, but in typical supervillain mode, let her off the hook for the more "satisfying" kill, which of course never happened. Rann foolishly delayed putting the keys in, but eventually did the job. Also silly of him to drop the keys over what he should have known was an illusion. And yes, a sad farewell to Pat Broderick, who did an excellent job on this series.
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 3, 2020 10:56:19 GMT -5
Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - Keith Giffen Inks - Danny Bulanadi Letterer - Simek Colors - Sharen Editor - Tom Defalco Cover Art - Layton I'm a fan of 70s/early 80s Giffen art, but man does Bulanadis ink dominate. I don't really see any Giffen here. Micronauts escape back to earth and big people. They battle Argons Death Squad of other Micronaut toys in a school the whole issue. That's it. I do enjoy the Bob Layton cover art Yes, while this issue is fine, it's certainly nothing special as far as this series goes. I like the cover also, and the interior art I think is actually very good, also. The battle here is pretty good, but again, I wish for a return to the Microverse.
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 3, 2020 10:59:16 GMT -5
Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - Keith Giffen (pages 1-13) / Greg LaRocque (pages 14-21) Inks - Danny Bulanadi Letterer - Novak Colors - Sharen Editor - Tom Defalco Cover Art - LaRocque / Milgom Huntarr, a new Micronaut, is introduced this issue. Genetically engineered to be a weapon by Argon in the reactivated Body Banks, Huntarr is a goopy lumpy dude who can change his shape at will and do all sorts of blowing up of stuff. It makes for an entertaining issue. Sure, it's another mostly fight issue but there's a few moments of enjoyable characterization between our heroes to make things work for me. The art looks better this issue too. And I don't mind the unnecessary guest appearance. Mari says that Force Commander has "become a far more ruthless dictator than Karza". Huh? Really? Well, anyway, a decent issue. As you say, we get some characterization, especially with Bug being jealous over Acroyear's closeness with Devil, and we get some decent fight scenes, though I refuse to believe that the Danger Room doesn't have an emergency off switch, although I suppose it could have been destroyed in the previous damage to the Danger Room, though it didn't read that way to me.
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Post by brianf on Nov 3, 2020 18:52:39 GMT -5
Micronauts #2 (Image, 2002) W- Scott Wherle A - Eric Hanson I - Barbara Schulz C - Dave Johnson Ya know, I kinda like this. Karza wants something from Ryan, who doesn't understand and gets tossed back in a prison cell. We see this Karzas origin, meet an evil princess, and Biotron kills most of Ryans cell mates. There other evil stuff happening, it's an quick read with solid art.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2020 0:00:04 GMT -5
I'll say this and many won't agree, but I liked the Image/Devil's Due Micronauts series more than any of the Marvel Micronauts stuff outside the initial 12 issues. In hindsight, all you have to read is those 12 issues because nothing new was done through the rest of the Marvel run until Gillis came on board, it was all wash, rinse, repeat of the basic precepts of those first 12 issues, and while Gillis did something different, it wasn't really good. Those Image/Devil's Due books have their faults (and there are many), but they were at least telling their own story and doing something new with the IP. Also, the three Micronauts prose novels-The Time Traveler Trilogy (well at least the first book as the second is almost impossible to find and way overpriced when you do) are based on the Image premise and set up with Ryan and such, but are more are not an adaptation of those books, but more like a different writer taking the same set up and doing his own thing with it.
The Devil's Due books are slightly different from the Image books, not quite a continuation but an alternate take on the premise as well, but it's been a few years since I read the Image/DD stuff so my memory is a little fuzzy.
The IDW stuff is different altogether. It had a lot of potential and it seemed like good Cullen Bunn (the guy who wrote the Sixth Gun and Damned) was on board at the start, but somewhere along the way he gave way to bad Cullen Bunn (the guy who does most of his work-for-hire DC and Marvel stuff), and it fell short of that potential. I only read the main series, but again the line-wide crossover (I forget what it was called-Revolution or Rebellion or some other Re- prefixed word) kind of interfered with the story (and may be when bad Bunn took over) and I never got to the Rom crossover stuff nor the Karza centric spinoff mini.
-M
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 4, 2020 6:33:03 GMT -5
I'll say this and many won't agree, but I liked the Image/Devil's Due Micronauts series more than any of the Marvel Micronauts stuff outside the initial 12 issues. In hindsight, all you have to read is those 12 issues because nothing new was done through the rest of the Marvel run until Gillis came on board, it was all wash, rinse, repeat of the basic precepts of those first 12 issues, and while Gillis did something different, it wasn't really good. I haven't read any of the other Micronauts series, but your assessment of Marvel's series is spot on. But man, those first 12 issues...
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Post by brutalis on Nov 4, 2020 8:19:10 GMT -5
Missed out on Devil's Due 'Nauts and did get the IDW series. It showed potential as you said and then flushed it away. Once it, ROM, Transformers, Joe's and M.A.S.K went all unified universe the tiny fighters fell to the side in favor of the bigger named toy lines controlling any main story.
As a whole, none of the new characters had much going for them. Giving Karza a wife and daughter humanizes him too much and detracted from his singular villainous tone and style. None of the other'Nauts outside of Acroyear looked interesting in design or character or story and when your entire team is mostly whitney's and unlikable it doesn't make for a fun read. The original had such strong ideas mixed together with a sense of playful fun and IDW went to dark science fiction/fantasy.
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 5, 2020 16:29:08 GMT -5
Marvel lost Broderick and then Giffen to DC (the Legion and Firestorm seemed more enticing than the Micronauts to them?) I really liked the Gil Kane stories, they kept me buying until Jackson 'Butch' Guice arrives. Well, I could understand the Legion, which I think was a really good selling comic at the time, one of DC's top sellers even, I think, but Firestorm??
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 5, 2020 16:33:58 GMT -5
Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - Steve Ditko Inks - Danny Bulanadi Letterer - Novak Colors - Sharen Editor - Al Milgrom Cover Art - Michael Golden Well, this is a silly issue. The first 6 pages are set in a comic book store where it's explained that Micronauts is now only available in comic book stores, then the Micronauts show up and destroy some Micro toys, before flying off. Now, I've enjoyed some of the Fantastic Four comics where we see Lee & Kirby getting story ideas from the actual FF to create comics in the Marvel universe, but how does that work for the 'Nauts? Also, why do this bit in an issue that's only available in comic stores - wouldn't it make more sense to run it before Micronauts went direct sales only? The people reading the comic must already know where to find it, eh? Oh, comic book logic. We also see a battle between our heroes and an squad of Acroyers, and the "Nauts get an assist by a crew of construction workers. The final panel shows their ship the Endeavor getting washed down a sewer drain during a rain storm. Silly. As others have mentioned Bulanadi inks are really over powering, but I kinda like him with Ditko here. Yeah, this was one of my least favorite issues so far. Go back to the Microverse! And while I'm not a big Ditko fan, the art here is pretty decent, so Bulanadi must get some of the credit for that.
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 5, 2020 16:37:09 GMT -5
Story #1 - Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - John Garcia Inks - Danny Bulanadi Letterer - Novak Colors - Sharen Editor - Al Milgrom Cover Art - Michael Golden Story #2 - Writer - Mantlo Art - Gil Kane Starting with issue #38 Micronauts (along with Moon Knight & KaZar) becomes a direct sales comic only, no more news stand sales. When this was announced I was buying the comic, excited about the prospects and was looking forward to the change. This issue was a major disappointment. We get the return of Golden on the cover but the main story is a flashback hodgepodge. In the letters column in an issue during the Chaykin era (don't remember which one) it's mentioned that John Garcia was working on an issue, so the main story is a inventory story of modest entertainment value. The 2nd story is another flashback showing how Bug & Acroyer met. Drawn & inked by the legend Gil Kane, this at least looks better. In a future letter column it's mentioned that Giffen was expected to become the new regular artist but due to unexplained reasons that didn't happen, so I assume the lack of a regular artist threw things off. While this issue didn't advance the saga at all, as just a couple of flashbacks, I did enjoy it. I always enjoy reading more backstory about the Micronauts, and I also enjoyed the John Garcia art.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Nov 5, 2020 17:38:35 GMT -5
Marvel lost Broderick and then Giffen to DC (the Legion and Firestorm seemed more enticing than the Micronauts to them?) I really liked the Gil Kane stories, they kept me buying until Jackson 'Butch' Guice arrives. Well, I could understand the Legion, which I think was a really good selling comic at the time, one of DC's top sellers even, I think, but Firestorm?? Broderick would probably have wanted to continue on Micronauts, but was unable to after his artwork for #35 was rejected. He said in an interview that he left Marvel because Jim Shooter had all but told him his art sucked and he would never get another raise there. linkEdit: I found this quote frm Bill Mantlo about Broderick's exit: "Events culminated a few months later when Broderick submitted the first ten story pages of Micronauts 34 (October 1981). "The first ten pages were comics story-telling at their best. ... First ten pages were brilliant. Then we got the second ten pages, and they were terrible, both from a story-telling standpoint, and from on art standpoint. They looked rushed, they were crazy giant two-panel pages with talking heads ... He was told to redraw it, and he decided not to. He'd washed his hands of the book." linkPerhaps I'm misremembering and it was #34 not 35 that caused trouble.
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