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Post by brianf on Nov 5, 2020 19:17:00 GMT -5
 Micronauts #3 (Image, 2002) W- Scott Wherle A - Eric Hanson I - Barbara Schulz C - Dave Johnson I'm sorta distracted by the news these days, but quickly - I continue to enjoy this series. This issue adds Galactic Defender to the cast, Karza has a snotty daughter being trained by General Nova, whos' getting tired of her sass. Boitron is being infected by the micronaut. and Acroyear is bro-ing up with the Knave aka Ganam Japan. The issue ends with a prison break. Good pacing, basically introducing characters & building up the plot in a pleasant manner. |
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Post by kirby101 on Nov 5, 2020 19:49:03 GMT -5
I just got my copy of the Michael Golden Micronauts Artist Edition. Page after page of glorious original art.
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 7, 2020 11:47:18 GMT -5
 Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - Gil Kane Inks - Danny Bulanadi Letterer - Novak Colors - Sharen Editor - Al Milgrom Cover Art - Gil Kane Gil Kane is one of my favorite artists - he's dynamic, has a strong story telling sensibility and has really clean lines. Kane is BURIED under Bulanadis inks. Just smothered. I can be a fan of an inker with a heavy hand - Klaus Jansons work in the 70s was always a pleasure to me, and other inkers who's style is very recognizable (like Layton, McLeod & Leialoha) can be welcome as well. But Kane is not served well here. At all. Worse yet is he overwhelms the main characters but leaves a lot of the background blank - inkers like Terry Austin had field days filling in backgrounds, where Bulanadis focus would have been better served. Kane sticks around for 6 issues. The story is ok - Micronauts are trying to get back to the microverse but their ship is damaged. They search for the Fantastic Four for help (the attempts at using the pay phone was decent) and wind up teaming with Franklin Richards, who owns some Micronauts toys. Somehow Argon is aware the are in the Baxter building and sends a wave of scavenger drones after them - The Thing (looking kinda lumpy and off brand) pops up to save the day.
Back in the microverse Argon is becoming Karza, again.
Rinse, wash, repeat... My sentiments exactly. This story was ok, nothing special. Not bad, but nothing worth writing home about. I really, really want the Micronauts to go back to the Microverse! Things are so much interesting there. There, the book is something special. Also, Argon is becoming a stereotypical cackling maniacal despot. Nothing too interesting there. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 7, 2020 11:49:05 GMT -5
 Micronauts #41(1982) Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - Gil Kane Inks - Danny Bulanadi Letterer - Novak / Albers Colors - Sharen / Warfield Editor - Al Milgrom Cover Art - Gil Kane Great cover. The ship Endeavor sinks in a sewer. The Micronauts - hunting for a way back to the Microverse - has a whole follow up issue to play around in the world created in John Byrne's Fantastic Four #236 - Doctor Doom is trapped in a miniature version of himself with the Puppet Master. The Micros get a fight. Not a bad issue but it's just Mantlo playing around in current (at the time) Marvel continuity. back in the Microverse Argon is now pure energy & Slug has her body stolen in the Body Banks. I thought this was an improvement over last issue, anyway. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 7, 2020 12:00:23 GMT -5
Micronauts #42 (1982) Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - Gil Kane Inks - Danny Bulanadi Editor - Al Milgrom Cover Art - Gil Kane This issues starts with 6+ pages of mostly mopey flashback on how bummed everyone is. The Micronauts are hanging out near Janet Van Dynes (aka The Wasp) mansion. She's throwing a party and gets attacked by her old villain Doctor Nemesis. Bug has some weird mental power jolt and draws the team into fighting by Wasps side. By the end of the issue Mari and a few other "Nauts appear to be miniaturized - and returned to the microverse? A boring cover & not one of my favorite issues. We're in agreement again. Not crazy about the cover and one of my least favorite issues so far. I have a lot of problems with this one. The romantic dialogue between Rann and Mari is pretty bad. I find it odd how Acroyear, a king, so readily defers leadership to Commander Rann. Not a big deal, but a little odd. In the last issue, Commander Rann wanted to help others in need while Mari was only interested in working to find a way to get back to the Microverse, and in this issue Mari wants to help others (p.13) while Rann is only interested in finding a way back to the Microverse. They both did a 180 in one issue! Really weird. I would like to see more consistent characterization. Nemesis could've killed Wasp but had to toy with her first, of course. Sigh. Typical supervillain comic book stupidity. Also, Nemisis knew about Hank's developmental adamantium suit but Wasp didn't? That’s pretty weird, especially since the suit was in her how. But the way Nemesis talked on p.5, it seems like Jan didn’t know about that suit at all. Mari says "I still wonder if we shouldn't let Nemesis hit us" (p.19) but it was Rann that had stated that earlier (p.16) not her. The way she worded her thought made it sound like she was the one who had earlier said that maybe they should surrended to Nemesis. Commander Rann doesn't handle adversity well, for a leader. He just fell apart, in the middle of a battle, when Mari was apparently killed. I don’t blame Devil for almost going devilish on him. Rann says he earned his wings millennia ago (p.26), but it was just one millennium ago, not multiple. Millennia is plura, millennium singular. It took them that long to realize that Nemesis's face plate isn't adamantium?? Really? Also,they should be able to knock Nemesis out, even in an adamantium suit. If it were vibranium, which can absorb kinetic energy, then it might be another matter. Also, how is the adamantium suit that flexible? It looks like cloth! |
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 7, 2020 12:04:46 GMT -5
 Since I don't see myself writing out long reviews anytime soon, lets just keep things short here - something's better than nothing! Micronauts #43 (1982) Writer - Bill Mantlo Breakdowns - Gil Kane Finishes - Danny Bulanadi Editor - Al Milgrom Cover Art - Gil Kane The team is split again - for the first 10 pages we get Mari, Acroyer & Bug on the microverse Homeworld fighting Argon & hooking up with the rebels standing against his tyranny. The rest of the issue is taken up with the other members of the team using the assistance of the Avengers and trekking to Florida & the Prometheus Pit. Beyond the running into the villainy of Computrex the cover spoils the return of (a zombie & goopy looking) Professor Prometheus on the second to last page. This issue feels a bit more solid to me, even though the art looks less and less like Kane in places. I agree with you that this issue was an improvement over the previous issue. A significant improvement storywise, the art was decent, but not great, IMHO. How does Mari know so much about travelling to and from the Microverse all of a sudden? Why didn't they ask Dr. Strange for help back to the Microverse? I accepted that they didn't before because how could they know that Dr. Strange was in New York City, which is where they happen to be, but now that they're talking to the Avengers, and they told them about Dr. Strange's trip there, someone should have come up with the bright idea of going to the master mage for help. Did Prometheus look like this before? I though he was roughly half flesh and half robot before, but here he looks like he almost entirely robot. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 7, 2020 14:27:11 GMT -5
You originally saw part of his face & skull and left arm and chest; but, there is nothing that says that more bionics didn't exist...    As you can see, there were hints of implants on his legs. |
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Post by brianf on Nov 8, 2020 18:09:50 GMT -5
 Micronauts #4 (Image, 2002) W- Scott Wherle A - E J Su I - Barbara Schulz Cover A - Joseph Michael Linsner Cover B - Eric Hanson Hey - another fun issue! Pretty much just a prison break here, but the writing gives characters brief moments to learn more about them in an unclunky way, the art is a-ok, and at one point Acroyear cuts through a tube carrying some kinda train which takes down a few villains - the tubes name? Mantlo Tubes! This is a just a fun quick read.  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2020 23:55:43 GMT -5
That Linser Karza cover was reused for the first volume of the Time Traveler trilogy prose novel.  -M |
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 9, 2020 6:37:58 GMT -5
Maybe I'll look for those Image comics after I've done with the Marvel issues. Can never get enough Micronauts, and it sounds from brianf like it's worth reading.
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Post by brianf on Nov 9, 2020 14:58:25 GMT -5
Maybe I'll look for those Image comics after I've done with the Marvel issues. Can never get enough Micronauts, and it sounds from brianf like it's worth reading. Ok, cool - I'll try to keep them spoiler-ish free for you - my original intention was to just blaze through them then get back to the Marvel "Microns" comics so keeping things short was my plan anyway. But once again I had zero expectations, but mrp liked them too. They are cheap too - MyComicShop has them at two bucks a pop for the regular issues. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 10, 2020 9:31:45 GMT -5
 Micronauts #46 (1982) Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - Luke McDonnell Inks - Bulanadi Editor - Al Milgrom Cover Art - pencils by Ed Hannigan, inks by Al Milgrom A decent issue - the 4 who defeated Arcade suffer as his murderworld at sea crashes into the ocean. Microtron, Nanotron & Devil are seemly drowned while Commander Rann is saved by some weird creatures who confuse him for an Enigma Force time traveler. But for me the more interesting part of the issue is the conversation between the body swapped Slug & Lady Belladonna. There's some brutal flashbacks showing Slugs parents being murdered by Karza in the body banks. The whole body banks thing has always been horrifying to me.  I agree, a decent issue. As far as the conversation between Slug & Belladonna being more interesting than the main story, well, I think the happenings in the Microverse are always more interesting than the happenings on earth, so no surprise there. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 10, 2020 9:34:47 GMT -5
 Micronauts #47 (1982) Writer - Bill Mantlo Pencils - Mike Vosburg Inks - Bulanadi Editor - Al Milgrom Cover Art - pencils by Ed Hannigan, inks by Al Milgrom A kind of average issue - the water logged "Nauts 1) find a Biorotron shaped space ship and 2) go into a devil rage. Rann finds out the strange creatures are "psionic vampires" from the Microverse. Meanwhile in the Microverse Bug & Acroyer fight the "Death Squad" to free Prince Pharoid, while Mari runs into Huntarr. A "Lets move some pieces around" kinda issue. I liked this issue a bit better than the last issue. Things are developing, and at least he earthbound stuff had a connection to the Microverse. However, Commander Rann is really getting on my nerves. I'm sick of his constant self-pitying, self-doubting, and whining. This guy is supposed to be a leader? He's becoming my least favorite Micronaut, aside from Nanotron. |
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Post by brianf on Nov 10, 2020 16:28:11 GMT -5
 Micronauts #5 (Image, 2002) W- Scott Wherle A - E J Su I - Barbara Schulz C - Alex Harley More enjoyment - So without going into details our heroes escape. I am a little confused as to who died in the jailbreak. I assume it will be revealed next issue, when there's a new creative team coming aboard. There's also a Karza mini series starting around now, I dunno if it crosses over with the main series (its sounds like just an origin) so I'll keep reading one issue at a time and figger it as I go along. But yeah, first 5 issues are pretty well done. |
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Post by badwolf on Nov 10, 2020 19:43:06 GMT -5
First of all, I love this covor!! Others might object to the color scheme, but I enjoy it. Plus the dramatic group pose. I love the pink background. It's striking in the same way that X-Men #138 was striking. |
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