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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 29, 2020 10:28:29 GMT -5
Micronauts The New Voyages #19 (1986) Writer - Peter Gillis Pencils - Howard Bender Inks - Bulandi Editor - Macchio Cover Art - K Pollard Geeze, so much gobbledygook. I've gone from being bored to actively disliking this series. The best comics books show you a story. This series is a perfect example of why "show not tell" is the best way to write a comic book. For lovers of exposition only. I don't even want to do a brief description of plot, but very briefly - Rann pretty much becomes Karza at the end of the issue, and the Micronauts will have to commit suicide to save the Microverse. Ugh.
So it's been a few years since Karza died? It sure didn't seem like that much time passed in comic time. Why does Acroyear (and the other Micronauts) think Scion is dead? The Beyonder resurrected him right in front of their faces! The reason for the Makers making the universe resemble a DNA molecule doesn't make any sense to me. How'd Karza use the Prometheus Pits to destroy all life on Homeworld?? They're just portals between earth and the Microverse. The end with Rann becoming Karza to redeem Karza's machines doesn't make sense to me, and no explanation of how Rann performed this feat, or where Karza came from. I enjoyed the first 13 issues of this series, it was different and thought-provoking. However, they are limping to the finish line.
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 29, 2020 10:32:36 GMT -5
Micronauts The New Voyages #20 (1986) Writer - Peter Gillis Pencils - Kelley Jones Inks - Bulandi Editor - Macchio Cover Art - Bill Sienkiewicz As the individual spheres of Homeworld spread out the Micronauts travel through the Prometheus pit and arrive on different sections, to trade their lives for the Microverse. Rann is being infected by Karzas armor and tries to weasel out of the plan but Mari pushes him through. So they die (maybe?) and save the Microverse. Ugh. How did they retcon this so Bug, Mari & Rann - who are used in later Marvel comics - survive? I dunno. I originally thought that if Marvel ever got the rights to reprint Micronauts they should do them all, even the Gillis comics. At this point I think not. There's nothing here really, except for completists. So here's hoping all the Mantlo comics get reprinted. Me, I just gotta figure out if I wanna keep hauling these issue around with me or should I dump em. I mean, they're not out right crap, there's some good ideas here and there, but the execution's weak and there's not much fun to be had. I can't see ever re-reading this series. Rann gives an example of someone replacing his aging body a dozen times of a 1,000 year life, implying that the average lifespan is in the neighborhood of 80 years. So that contradicts the idea that Mari is well over 100 years old, which never made sense anyway. More of Karza is in his Body Bank machines than in his body (p.4)? Uh, ok, whatever. What nonsense. However, there are some deep thoughts here when the sacrificing Micronauts are sent off to the worlds of their death, which I kinda enjoyed. Reflections of the Micronauts' lives. Kinda cool. Bug has a hanky? Where'd it come from? Kinda sad that the Micronauts died at the end. That really sucks, in fact. Not a cool way to end a series. Having said that, I didn't think this conclusion was all that bad, considering how mediocre the previous several issues were. I do hate the fact that Gillis killed everybody off, though.
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Post by dbutler69 on Nov 30, 2020 12:34:45 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... I recently read that Bug comic. It was cute. Good humor. Not exactly what I expected, but definitely worth picking up for Bug fans. A light read.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 1, 2020 9:52:39 GMT -5
I really enjoyed Bug in the Star-Lord segment of Annihilation. No idea why he was full-size, though.
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Post by dbutler69 on Dec 1, 2020 11:01:30 GMT -5
I really enjoyed Bug in the Star-Lord segment of Annihilation. No idea why he was full-size, though. I've never read Annihilation. I guess I'll have to check it out. They probably figured it would be easier for him to interact with the other characters and to perform superheroics at full-size, and maybe they just didn't feel like coming up with a reason for it. It's just because.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 1, 2020 13:37:27 GMT -5
I really enjoyed Bug in the Star-Lord segment of Annihilation. No idea why he was full-size, though. I've never read Annihilation. I guess I'll have to check it out. They probably figured it would be easier for him to interact with the other characters and to perform superheroics at full-size, and maybe they just didn't feel like coming up with a reason for it. It's just because. From what I've read of the post-Micronauts appearances of the non-licensed characters, their entire backstory simply seems never to be alluded to.
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Post by dbutler69 on Dec 1, 2020 15:32:44 GMT -5
I've never read Annihilation. I guess I'll have to check it out. They probably figured it would be easier for him to interact with the other characters and to perform superheroics at full-size, and maybe they just didn't feel like coming up with a reason for it. It's just because. From what I've read of the post-Micronauts appearances of the non-licensed characters, their entire backstory simply seems never to be alluded to. Interestingly, in that Bug one shot, I was surprised that the name Karza was mentioned, and the name Micronauts. I'd assumed that they didn't have the rights at that point to use either of those names. While their backstory from the Mantlo series was not at all the focus of that issue, it did make a brief appearance with Rann and Mari appearing, them fighting dog soldiers, and some mention of them battling Karza's tyranny or something like that. They also showed glider wings which looked a lot like the Micronauts' gilder wings.
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Post by brianf on Dec 5, 2020 19:46:00 GMT -5
Micronauts Karza #1 - #4 (Image, 2003) (W) Jim Krueger (P) Steve Kurth (I) Ray Snyder (#1 & #2) / Bard Schulz (#3 & #4) (Covers) Steve Kurth / Angel Medina (#2) Issue one begins with Ryan Archer fighting side by side with the other Micronauts - he falls into a cave where the Time Traveler takes him to Karzas past and even gives Archer the option of killing a young Karza, but he chooses to try and reform him instead. So he whispers to Karza while he sleeps. It doesn't work. A Pharoid priest joins the story and carries a lot of the plot as we hit the mid point of the mini-series. By the end of the 4th issue - like most time travel stories - we loop back and return to where we've begun. While this isn't great, it is a different take on an origin story, the art is good and over all I liked what I read.
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