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Post by Trevor on Jan 31, 2016 16:17:50 GMT -5
Micronauts #12  Writer - Bill Mantlo Penciler - Michael Golden (his last issue, alas) Inker - Al Milgrom Colorist - Carl Gafford Letterer - Diana Albers Editor - Al Milgrom Cover Artist - Michael Golden Wikia Synopsis Karza is dead! The Great Pit is dark, the Body Banks are quiet, the Dog Soldiers are imprisoned. The people of Homeworld honor the Microns at a rally. Then the time comes to heal, to rebuild, to chart a new future. The team mourns Bug, who disappeared after an explosion. Acroyear must part from the Microns to return home and lead his people through their own renewal. On Earth, Colonel Macey sifts through the wreckage in the Human Engineering Life Laboratory. He finds an Acroyear preserved in a tube and sends it to SHIELD. Later, Nick Fury and Dum-Dum Dugan summon Agent M to take it to someone in New York. That evening, Ray Coffin and his son, Steve, share a bonding moment after their recent experiences. On Spartak, Shaitan stands trial for treason. He has always hated his brother, King Acroyear, and turned him over to Karza as much out of revenge as ambition. When the king offers exile instead of execution, Shaitan invokes the tradition of blood-feud, that is, trial by combat. Acroyear and Shaitan are dropped off in the Shattered Plains, the least habitable part of Spartak, to hunt and kill each other. A light crosses the sky. Acroyear remembers that this same Herald Comet appeared when he and Shaitan were born. Shaitan takes advantage of this distraction to ambush him, by crushing him under a boulder. Acroyear loses his power sword under the rubble. The battle begins. While he fights for his life, Acroyear again offers to spare Shaitan's. The traitor accuses Acroyear of growing soft during his time with the Microns. Acroyear contends that emotions such as love denote strength, not weakness. Without his sword, though, he finds it hard to prove his point. Shaitan beats him back to the lip of a magma pit. Acroyear gropes for a weapon, anything, to deflect the next blow. He finds Shaitan's sword and raises it to parry Shaitan's force-hammer; but Shaitan lunges forward, impales himself on his own sword, and dies. "Are you satisfied now, you cold, unfeeling world?" says Acroyear. "Brother has killed brother! Justice has been won by the sword! By the Holy Rock, how I have come to despise your 'justice'!" He sees the Herald Comet again. This time, though, it is a Time Traveler following Bug through hyperspace. Once Bug, still unconscious, returns to normal space, he falls through a forest canopy and lands on Kaliklak, his own world .... |
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Post by Trevor on Jan 31, 2016 16:31:34 GMT -5
Made a New Year's Resolution to continue my commenting here, with a goal of one issue a month. Noticed the date I figured I better start already! Left my notes at home, but here's the cover and some general details at least. I'll add to that post later, and hopefully move right into issue #13 soon.
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Post by Trevor on Feb 28, 2016 17:10:45 GMT -5
Issue twelve, while a great comic imho, is a bittersweet thing to me, as it is the last issue with Michael Golden on interior art. I think it was that pairing of Mantlo and Golden that cemented this series as perhaps my all-time favorite, beginning with the wonderful splash page one in issue one.
But enough negativity! After last issue's climatic victory over Baron Karza, this issue starts to wrap up some loose ends and give most of our heroes some time to recuperate. The main storyline of brother battling brother is well done, and snippets of Earth, Bug's fate, and the Microverse beginning to rebuild mix in very well.
I always enjoy reminiscing thru the advertisements, and actually miss them in modern comics. I once placed an order of novelty gag items from a place like the Fun Factory ad on the inside front cover; and I was very disappointed in the actual products of course. The Saturday morning cartoon ads get me quite nostalgic, and I recently confirmed that Grit is still around, although in magazine form now. And of course, the Hostess comic story ads were always fun. I always wanted that Rom toy on the inside back cover, but it was too expensive for my parents iirc.
Alas, no letters page this issue.
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Post by Trevor on Feb 28, 2016 17:22:03 GMT -5
Micronauts #13  Creators Al Milgrom editor, inker Bill Mantlo writer Bob Sharen colorist Howard Chaykin penciler Jim Shooter editor Joe Rosen letterer Mary Jo Duffy editor Michael Golden cover artist Wikia synopsis Bug awakes in a forest, glad to be alive (he barely survived an explosion in issue #10). When he climbs a tree and spots the Central Nest, he is glad to know that he is on his own world of Kaliklak. Then he remembers that Kaliklak is still, as far as he knows, under the thumb of Baron Karza's colonial administration. He ambushes the driver of a snail lorry to get some information and finds that the driver is his mentor, a master thief. He also finds that Wartstaff, a rival, now runs his old gang at the Lair. On Earth, aboard the Heli-Carrier, Agent M receives a package with instructions to take it to a civilian in New York. It holds the remains of two Acroyears and their ship. Bug ambushes the guard at the Lair and strolls inside. He sees Wartstaff at a banquet with his own gang and with Jasmine's, who have formed an uneasy alliance with them. Wartstaff fires a puls-blast; Bug dodges and upends the table. Wartstaff, he now learns, told the gang that he (Bug) sold them out to the colonial administration, when in fact Wartstaff sold Bug out, which eventually landed him in Karza's Pleasure Pits (see issue #1). Now, though, Wartstaff wants to welcome his son home ... all the while holding a knife behind his back. Jasmine warns Bug about the knife, then cuts off Wartstaff's antennae to humiliate him. Bug announces that he's taking over. When one of the cutthroats objects, Bug pierces his chest with a rocket-lance. On Homeworld, Arcturus Rann has grown restless. The people want to worship him as a god, an avatar of the Enigma Force, but he wants to reunite the Microns and explore the Microverse. Marionette agrees to go with him. Bug, Jasmine, and the gang watch the Colonial Air Terminus for several weeks. When Jasmine asks why, Bug says that they're going to overthrow the colonial administration .... |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 28, 2016 17:30:28 GMT -5
talk about false advertising! A gorgeous Michael Golden cover, hiding decidedly underwhelming art. Chaykin is, in my opinion, a comic-book god (or demi-god, at least) but his Micronauts run looks like had no interest in the book at all.
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Post by Trevor on Feb 28, 2016 18:00:47 GMT -5
talk about false advertising! A gorgeous Michael Golden cover, hiding decidedly underwhelming art. Chaykin is, in my opinion, a comic-book god (or demi-god, at least) but his Micronauts run looks like had no interest in the book at all. Yep, it was a quite shocking switch after 12 issues of Golden greatness. Chaykin stayed in for at least a few issues iirc, I forget if he improves, but will find out next month! |
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Post by Trevor on Feb 28, 2016 18:44:39 GMT -5
Issue 13 continues the usual pattern that Mantlo excels at, keeping a few storylines going simultaneously. The main focus is on Bug's return to his home planet and that battle to regain his status of course, but I enjoyed seeing the bits about the shenanigans of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Homeworld scenes of our Micronauts preparing to get back out there.
Yes, the focus on this issue is often on the loss of Michael Golden on interior art. I often like Howard Chaykin's art, but just can't enjoy it much here.
The letters page returns, and with a missive from future Eclipse publisher cat ywronde too!
The ads are pretty similar to last issue's, but with a few interesting notes. The center two page spread from Kenner seems like a conflict of interest! It's a shame that the explosion of Star Wars mania short circuited the growth of the Micronauts toy line. The Mego Micronauts really were much better toys than Kenner's stuff, in my not so humble opinion perhaps, but there was no stopping the Star Wars juggernaut. The ROM Spaceknight in-house ad is amazing, and makes me wonder why I didn't buy those early ROM issues. The Hostess ad is interesting in two respects. One, the art is by Frank Miller; and two, the enemy created for this ad, Icemaster, enters main Marvel continuity years later in Thunderbolts. I wonder who wrote those ads? We really need a Hostess Omnibus.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2016 18:54:28 GMT -5
Since I started this thread when I started to read/reread the series a while back, but stopped after a bit, I thought since I finished reading the series recently I should put my coda on it summing up my impressions of the series, so I am quoting here what I said over in the "What Classic Comics Have You Read Recently" thread...
-M
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Post by Trevor on Feb 28, 2016 21:28:15 GMT -5
Booger mrp, you've put a downer on my little 47 month project here  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2016 22:21:48 GMT -5
Booger mrp, you've put a downer on my little 47 month project here There were certainly some high points, and the Broderick, Kane and Guice issues are worth checking out for the art alone, but the rest didn't do it for me, and overall the low points outweighed the high ones. I liked some of the character development (Acroyear's arc overall was good but felt glacially paced at times and forced at others, Mari's was going well until Rann went into isolation and she seemed to lose her humanity and become a cold-hearted b*tch fixated on revenge instead of the heroic rebel trying to help people she started out as; Bug's characterization was all over the place and never seemed like Mantlo had a cohesive vision for him, Huntarr and DEvil seemed ill-fitted for the crew and there arcs were too similar to make either stand out, Rann was another arc that seemed to go all over the place and nowhere at the same time, etc.) The only time the characters seemed to come into focus or have direction is when Karza showed up, and that to me was the problem, without Karza the characters didn't have anything to do to give them purpose, but the best Karza aory was the first, so everything after paled in comparison and had diminishing returns for me. However, someone else may like the later stories a lot more than I do, and I look forward to your (and others) views on the issues moving forward. So don't let my opinion dissuade you form doing the rest of the series. I still at some point plan on reading the 2nd Micronauts series form Marvel (the New Voyages) and eventualy checking out the Devil's Due and Image series I have languishing in boxes, but getting through the first seires left me drained and wanting something different, so it will be a while before I dip into those. -M |
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Post by hondobrode on Feb 28, 2016 23:15:45 GMT -5
The first 12 issues are very much praised by readers of the time, but, as for me, I really loved all of the original run.
It, and ROM, both had kinda the same great 80's toy / sci-fi feel, and were both very much of the 80's. I guess it's hard to put my finger on exactly, but I love em both.
Gotta confess, I've got all the second run too, and have not read them yet.
I know I've been saying this for years, but later this year I'll be moving back to Iowa, and will finally have the opportunity and time to get my collection sorted, and lots of stuff read that's long overdue.
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Post by Trevor on Feb 29, 2016 12:25:44 GMT -5
I was a monthly reader through the entire run, and remember being disappointed in The New Voyages. I'm hoping my first re-read of all those issues as an adult (well, as an older adult) will allow me to appreciate the grander themes.
I was in and out of comics during the Devils Due and Image runs, but think I've pieced together most of their issues.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 29, 2016 16:08:58 GMT -5
I was an avid reader of this series - well, both Micronauts series, actually. They're both among my all time favorites! Yes, The New Voyages is very different than the first series, but I thought it was very good in its own right. The first series was a standard action/Sci-Fi comic with a great bad guy. The second series was more thought provoking and cerbreal, though with less action. Mostly very good art on both series, too, though I did not care for the Ditko stuff.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 29, 2016 17:20:34 GMT -5
I was an avid reader of this series - well, both Micronauts series, actually. They're both among my all time favorites! Yes, The New Voyages is very different than the first series, but I thought it was very good in its own right. The first series was a standard action/Sci-Fi comic with a great bad guy. The second series was more thought provoking and cerbreal, though with less action. Mostly very good art on both series, too, though I did not care for the Ditko stuff. I first thought New Voyages stank, but after re-reading it in its entirety I came to fully concur with your evaluation. It tried to be more 2001 and less Star Wars, and for the most part succeeded. There was some real Kirby-ish grandeur toward the end! I still wonder who the Micronauts currently active in the Marvel universe can be, considering the rather final ending of the series... I once fan-explained their presence by supposing that the renewed Microverse, once it had used the Micronauts to kick-start its rebirth, had relinquished them to their individual form. |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Feb 29, 2016 17:28:09 GMT -5
Yes, the focus on this issue is often on the loss of Michael Golden on interior art. I often like Howard Chaykin's art, but just can't enjoy it much here. The Hostess ad is interesting in two respects. One, the art is by Frank Miller; and two, the enemy created for this ad, Icemaster, enters main Marvel continuity years later in Thunderbolts. I wonder who wrote those ads? We really need a Hostess Omnibus. I think Micronauts #18 was the only issue fully pencilled by Chaykin. I don't remember whether that issue looked any better. GCD credits him with breakdowns on #13 & 15 and layouts on #14, 16 & 17. Was Miller's Hostess ad inked by Micronauts alumnus Josef Rubinstein? Bob Rozakis, the Answer Man, is known to have written half a dozen of DC's Hostess ads, but I have no idea who wrote the ones Marvel published. Scans of all the Hostess ads can be found here, but without credits. |
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