The Micronauts, Part 2

The first issue (see last week's post) ended with Rann and his ragtag band of misfits flying through a rift that took them out of the microverse and into a whole new universe. Their ship--the Endeavor--crash lands on a planet and the Micronauts soon find they are in a very, very strange place.

The first issue had done an excellent job of world-building and setting up the story. With issues #2 & 3 (Feb. and March 1979) we get to the main premise of the series--the fugitive Micronauts, still pursued by the bad guys--are trapped on a world in which they are only a few inches tall.

This makes for some very fun action set-pieces. The storytelling remains fast-paced, but writer Bill Mantlo continues to work additional exposition and character development into that action.

An encounter with a dog and a teenager trying to mow the lawn give the Micronauts a frightening grasp of their situation. They're soon able to make friends with the teenager--named Steve Coffin--which helps them enormously with Prince Shaitan shows up in a powerful battle cruiser and some supporting fighter craft.

We learn, by the way, that the melee weapons carried by the Micronauts are pretty powerful, allowing them to essentially turn a dog fight into a hand-to-hand battle.

The 3rd issue takes the battle to the air. In the confusion, Bug is left behind and poor Steve has to explain to his dad about the carnage from the battle littering the backyard. This actually sets up a future plot point. Steve's dad worked for NASA and when he finds the wreckage of a small but obviously real ship (complete with dead pilot), he realizes that this is something that needs to be studied.

Meanwhile, the battle ends up over a skateboarding park, causing humans to dodge out of the way as Shaitan and the Mirconauts go at it. Shaiton lost all his support craft in the backyard battle, but his main ship can separate into six separate components. The Endeavor is outgunned, so while Biotron flies, Mari and Microtron fire the ship's guns and Rann and Acroyear fly out to fight independently. They manage to shoot down most of the components, forcing Shaitan to warp out with what little is left of his ship.

But the Endeavor is too damaged to leave Earth. The Micronauts decide to return to the backyard and find Bug.

I continue to enjoy this series enormously. The characters (both good guys and bad guys) are all interesting and the action is well-choreographed and exciting. Last week, I expressed regret that I didn't read this series during its original run. But perhaps that's just as well. I'm having a lot of fun reading it for the first time now.

Next week, we take a break from the Micronauts and jump over to the DC Universe, where Green Lantern and Green Arrow will be forced to team up with an arch-enemy.