Micronauts

This article is about the Marvel comic series. Gordon Williams also wrote a series of unrelated novels called the Micronauts.

The Micronauts was a Marvel comic book published between 1979 and 1986 based on the Mego Corporation toy line (which was based on the popular Japanese Microman toy line) of the same name.

The series was written by Bill Mantlo and later by Peter B. Gillis. Regular artists were Michael Golden, Pat Broderick, Gil Kane, Jackson Guice, and Kelley Jones. Despite then-prevalent skepticism about a comic book based on a toy line, the Micronauts comic outlived the toy line on which it was based by six years.

Characters (volume 1)

Space Glider: Commander Arcturus Rann spent 1,000 years in suspended animation exploring the Microverse with his co-pilot, the roboid Biotron on the HMS (Homeworld Micro Ship) Endeavor. He returned to his native planet Homeworld and found his former mentor, Baron Karza, had staged a coup and slain the royal family a thousand years earlier -- his parents, Dallan and Sepsis Rann. Karza fears what Rann may have discovered in his travels through the Microverse. Indeed, the telepathic Rann, because of his travels and partly because of his bloodline (he is a descendant of Wayfinder of Ithaka, the discoverer of the Microverse), became the template for the embodiment of the Enigma Force and its awesome emissaries, The Time Travellers. The Enigma Force enabled Rann to eventually defeat Karza.
Commander Rann was usually confident and focused but not above kidding around with his comrades. He felt responsible for all the Micronauts and would have rather admitted he's unsure about a course of action rather than risk their lives. Rann was sometimes unsure of himself when it comes to fighting Baron Karza whom Rann says was once like a second father. He agonizes over what went wrong while he was away exploring the Microverse. Or was Karza's former friendship with his star pupil a front? The loss of any friend who fell in battle upset him and he went into reclusive meditation after a major defeat by Karza that resulted in the deaths of many friends.

Baron Karza: Homeworld's former chief scientist was a genius in biological engineering. He bribed Homeworld's citizens with the promise of eternal life via his Body Banks. Not everyone was unhappy with Karza's new reign in the beginning, but Karza's de facto rule of Homeworld is enforced by his Dog Soldiers and bioengineered creatures. Many former Karza supporters eventually lent their aid to the rebellion against him. In his own communion with the Time Travellers, Baron Karza realized that what he sought was more than mere power. Though his science had effectively made him immortal, his essence and emotions were still that of a man. Although Karza transcended his organic body and become a being of pure energy, Karza refused the Time Travellers' offer of godhood. Karza re-evaluated his philosophy and concluded that true godhood cannot be obtained without understanding what one needs to experience in order for one's soul (as opposed to one's mere body) to transcend physicality. Thus, Karza, in committing one unspeakably inhuman act after another, believes he will become indifferent to the concept of wielding power over the living. NOTE: Although the late-70s timing of the original Baron Karza toy figure appeared as something of a Darth Vader knockoff, it was based on the mold of the anime super robot, Steel Jeeg (not part of the original Microman toy line, but the toys for the show were manufactured by Takara, which made the Microman toys).

Acroyear: Crown prince of the ebony-skinned race whose name he bears. For a time, Acroyear's people served Karza under the mind control of Shaitan, Acroyear's traitorous brother. To help defeat Baron Karza, Acroyear sacrificed the Worldmind of his home planet Spartak, thus rendering it incapable of supporting life. For this, he was branded a traitor and cast out by his people while his bonded mate Cilicia ruled as regent. Acroyear vowed to redeem himself and traveled with the Micronauts, most of whom are also outcasts. Stoic in battle yet hospitable to his comrades, Acroyear does not believe it weakness for a warrior to express his feelings to those he loves. He confides in the Micronauts and his complex warrior philosophy often serves as spiritual nourishment to his fellow Micronauts. Acroyear hoped to make his people understand that a warrior need not become as cold as the steel they wield in battle. But Acroyear fought alone as his race chose neutrality in the war against Karza.

Marionette: Princess Mari of Homeworld, along with her brother, Prince Argon, were the only survivors of the slaughtered figurehead royal family just before Rann's return. They have the hapless job of initiating rebellion against Baron Karza. Argon, who becames Force Commander after his alteration in Karza's Body Banks, eventually died after being temporary host for a resurrected Karza. Marionette called the Micronauts family and Commander Rann her love. She served as nominal leader of the Micronauts during a brief, trying period when a demoralized Commander Rann removed himself from active duty following a major defeat. Strong-willed and independent while still warm and generous, she showed no mercy to those who willingly served Karza's evil. But she would risk her life to persuade any who serve Karza because they saw no other hope that there was an alternative. Her hand of friendship brought one of Karza's former creatures, Huntarr, into the fold.

Bug: A master thief on the Insectivorid homeworld Kalikak, Bug was a jokester and rogue by nature but always a professional. He and Acroyear shared a unique friendship as the two are totally opposite in personality. Bug's friendship with Acroyear may be responsible for Acroyear's decision to question the sometimes overly cold warrior ethic that seems to rule his people. During the period that Commander Rann became a recluse following a defeat by Karza, Bug appears to act as a surrogate lover for Mari. Bug's inexhaustible humor and optimism is one of the things that Mari credits with preventing her from losing all hope in herself as well. Despite his jovial exterior, Bug readily admitted to feelings of inadequacy, homesickness, and sometimes loneliness. By the end of the Karza war, Bug is the only Micronaut not left homeless. In their succeeding voyages, he occasionally gave in to deep depression about the home he left behind.

Huntarr: A late addition to the Micronauts, Huntarr, the Living Weapon, was originally charged with guarding the body banks of Force Commander (who was then serving as the host for Karza). Huntarr was once a young man named Iann 27 subjected to Karza's experiments which made his body incredibly metamorphic. He almost killed Princess Mari in her attempt to reach Force Commander, but Mari sensed Huntarr's confusion and sadness and convinced him he could find peace of mind by joining the Micronauts. Huntarr travelled with them for a short time, unsure of himself as he had family on Homeworld. But after a side trip to Homeworld, and witnessing the tragic suicide of both his mother and sister, he returned to the Micronauts' welcome. Huntarr was probably the youngest of the Micronauts but he spoke with a maturity that belies his age.

Biotron: Commander Rann's roboid copilot during his 1,000 year sojourn through the Microverse, Biotron served as Rann's telepathic eyes and ears while his physical body was kept in stasis. Biotron continued to serve as Rann's copilot aboard the HMS Endeavor in their war against Baron Karza. Biotron was an unflappable foil for Commander Rann. Biotron's model series had long since become obsolete and, of course, he takes this in stride with his trademark dry, erudite wit. Tragically, Biotron was the first major casualty among the Micronauts in the Karza War. Biotron was somewhat reborn as the Micronaut's second ship, the Bioship. This Bioship's personality was based on Microtron, Nanotron, and Commander Rann's memories of the original Biotron.

Microtron: Princess Mari's childhood roboid tutor, Microtron and Biotron became somewhat of the Micronauts' comedy relief in the tradition of Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy. Microtron could be serious, especially when Princess Mari or later his love Nanotron were in danger. Microtron and Nanotron sacrificed themselves so that their memories could be incorporated into a giant duplicate of the late Biotron, which would serve as the Micronauts ship after Endeavor was destroyed.

Force Commander (Prince Argon): The toy had the same body as Barron Karza but a different head. He was also white in color. In the comic book the hybrid centaur was explained as the result of Karza's experiments on Argon. Being Marionette's brother, he took on the leadership of the Homeworld after the first time Karza was defeated but later was corrupted by absolute power and became a villain as evil as Karza (but not as powerful).

Wayfinder and the origins of The Microverse

The Homeworld region of the Microverse is located far from Sub-Atomica, a region occasionally visited by the Fantastic Four and the original Ant Man. It was discovered by the people of the planet Ithaka (a reference to Ithaca where the legendary Odysseus was born). They were forced to find a new home after the death of their world, joining with refugees from worlds who had suffered similar fates, making the Homeworlders particularly diverse as a culture encompassing multiple species.

Led by someone known as Prince Wayfinder, the Homeworlders eventually settled on the then-prehistoric Earth.The Earth was depicted as still being inhabited by dinosaurs at the time of their arrival. Earth was also plagued by demons who fed on the dinosaurs and were hostile to the new arrivals in their territory.

Wayfinder and his leading warriors Agni, Kali, Mara/Maya, and Yama fought valiantly to defend their newly-established colony but were eventually outnumbered. The power of Wayfinder's star sword (as well as the three Mystic Keys) relocated them to the unoccupied Homeworld molecule of the Microverse. The various races of the colonists populated the other local planets. Thus Wayfinder and the other prominent leaders of his people became the first Micronauts, and Wayfinder the original Time Traveller.

The capital Atom of Homeworld is called First Zone; this is the former home of the Royal Family. Now it is the Power Base of Baron Karza and the location of his body banks. Other regions include Seazone (home of Micronaut allies Aquon and Coral), Aegyptia (home of friends Prince Pharoid and Margrace), Polaria, and Dead Zone which contains the tomb of Wayfinder, Yama, Agni, Kali, and the rest of Homeworld's original Micronauts, although there is some question about whether Wayfinder is truly dead. Homeworld's sector contains not only the Homeworld Molecule Planet complex, but the planets Spartak (home of the Acroyears), Kalikak (home of the Insectivorids and Bug) and Tropica (home of Devil).

On Earth, Wayfinder and his people most likely settled in what is now India. Artifacts of Wayfinder's people were found in India, most notably a monolith describing the three Mystic Keys. Due to some of the names and the similarity between Micronese (the Microversian written language) and Sanskrit, there is reason to believe artifacts left behind by Wayfinder and his people may have given rise to some of the Hindu legends. (As a note of trivia, in Micronese, there is no character that represents "z". Baron Karza was in fact pronounced Baron Kartha.)

The Karza War

During the interludes between Karza's defeats, the Micronauts embarked on a number of subquests, most notably, the search for the Mystic Keys of Wayfinder. This took them from Homeworld's Dead Zone, to Seazone, and even Icy Polaria.

For an extended period, the Micronauts were marooned on Earth (having breached the spacewall ) and were involved in many situations typical of finding oneself in a land of Giants. They met a handful of Marvel heroes such as the Avengers, Doctor Strange (who also journeyed to the Microverse), Fantastic Four (who are more familiar with a different region the Microverse), Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the X-Men, who aided the Micronauts and a temporarily allied Karza against The Entity who threatened to destroy the Microverse. The Entity proved to be a dark aspect of the personality of Professor X who had got loose once before.

The Micronauts would also battle villains including the Man-Thing, Molecule Man, Psycho Man, a miniaturized Doctor Doom and HYDRA. But mostly, they would battle ordinary Earth objects and animals that were deadly at the Micronauts' size. On several occasions, the servants of Baron Karza would follow the Micronauts to Earth and continue the battle there. It was here that an agent of Baron Karza killed Biotron.

For a time, it seemed that Prince Argon (aka Force Commander) turned against his former friends and allies to set himself up as a dictator over the Microverse following Karza's first defeat. It was finally discovered that Argon was an unwilling host of a soon to be reborn Karza. Sadly, as soon as this was discovered, Karza returned and broke free of Argon's body killing Argon in the process.

Other notable Micronauts include Devil, Fireflyte, Pharoid, Slug, Margrace, Solitaire, and later replicas of Biotron and Microtron. Devil and Fireflyte, members of a species with a complex life-cycle, were stages of each other. Devil was killed by a Soul Survivor. Pharoid, Slug, and Margrace were killed in the Micronauts major defeat by Baron Karza. Solitaire and the two roboid replicas served aboard Endeavor II during their new voyages after the final defeat of Baron Karza.

The Micronauts comic lasted up until issue #59, #58 being Mantlo's final script. The final defeat of Baron Karza was costly in that it took place only after Karza had already destroyed almost all life on Homeworld.

The New Voyages

Weary of war, the Micronauts decided to make a pilgrimage of exploration and discovery away from the ruined Homeworld. This is the basis for the series that immediately followed Micronauts #59, called simply Micronauts: The New Voyages lasted twenty issues and was written by Peter B. Gillis and mostly drawn by Kelley Jones.

They discovered a starfaring race known as the Children of the Confluence of Stars and one of their representatives, Solitaire became a member of the Micronauts. Together, they attempted to piece together a cosmic puzzle that pointed to the Makers, the godlike entities of the Microverse. They discovered that the Enigma Force was now an unstable force that threatened to destroy the fabric of the Microverse.

The Micronauts, under the partial guidance of Scion, a self described child of the Makers, discovered that the berserk manifestation of Enigma Force was the injured Worldmind of Homeworld. Using Baron Karza's technology, the Micronauts healed Homeworld by using the cells of their own bodies to initiate a Genesis effect. They sacrificed their lives so that their primal matter would serve to seed Homeworld and eventually give rise to new life.

The Microns

In the late 1990s, following the Onslaught Saga, Cable and several others journeyed to the Microverse to find Arcturus Rann, Mari, and Bug alive and apparently fighting a war against Psycho-Man. The Micronauts (now known as The Microns due to licensing purposes), have made brief cameo appearances in several other comics (Alpha Flight and Earth X) but their appearance has never been adequately explained since the last issue of Micronauts: The New Voyages effectively brought closure to the story of the Micronauts. Several reasons have been postulated:

Although noted for excellent writing and extremely thought provoking stories, Micronauts: The New Voyages divided Micronaut fans down the middle. Many Micronaut readers preferred the Star Wars-like nature of the majority of the first series over the cerebral Space Odyssey-like mood of New Voyages. This sentiment was also greatly felt toward the last ten issues of the earlier Micronauts series where many readers reportedly didn't care much for the heavy metaphysics themes that were injected into the story and would serve as the basis for New Voyages. It is possible that the writers of these 1990s stories are either unfamiliar with or ignoring the events in Micronauts:The New Voyages.

The Silver Surfer's speed has the ability to enter the Microverse.

The Marvel Universe post Onslaught was generally subject to liberal and frequent retconning based on the whims of various writers and this may be one of them. The Bug one shot special mentions that the Micronauts are fighting a war. For licensing reasons, Baron Karza is not mentioned but since he was their only major enemy, he is somehow implied. With respect to the original stories, Commander Rann and Mari talked and acted in ways that were out of character for them. In their 1990s Captain Marvel appearance, both characters seemed more jovial in their speech patterns. Interestingly enough, for Mari, this was inconsistent with her appearance in Cable where she, in addition to sporting a masculine appearance, was taciturn and humorless. Bug is now mostly over the top and appears somewhat insane. In the brief Alpha Flight cameo appearance, it is clear that the unnamed Micronaut character shown was originally intended to be Acroyear as there is noticeable evidence that the character had to be redrawn at the last minute due to licensing restrictions.

Given that the excellent writing of the earlier stories (especially the ending of New Voyages) is weakened by the inexplicable reappearance of the Micronauts as the Microns, many old head fans prefer to take a Krypto-revisionism approach and treat the 1990s appearances of the Microns as an alternate version. This is probably easy to do since there is very little information given in those brief appearances to explain a logical connection to the original works of Mantlo and Gillis. Or, it might be that, given the fact that the Marvel Universe is constantly spawning alternate realities (which share the same past with the main Marvel reality until splitting off at some point, and travel between these realities is possible, the Microns might not be the same people as the original Micronauts. By that same token, the events of The New Voyages could have taken place in another reality, and the original Micronauts might still be alive.

During the mid to late 1990s, at least one animation company expressed an interest in developing a Micronauts animated series based around the comics characters. Character design artwork was produced and formerly available on the internet. It included character designs for Rann, Mari, Bug, Acroyear, Karza, and also Ray and Steve Coffin who were supporting characters during the Micronauts early voyages on Earth. The design for Rann borrowed from Disney's Buzz Lightyear instead of the Marvel Comic. The other characters are mostly similar to their original designs.

The only exception was that Acroyear, underneath his helmet, reportedly would have caucasian instead of ebon skin. Other than character designs and rough profiles, very little was known as to how closely the animated series would have followed the comic. Failing to find a sponsor, this project was declared dead as of 1999.

It appears that in light of Devil's Due Micronauts comic which totally re-imagines the Micronaut characters (without the benefit of characters and situations created by Mantlo and Gillis, though there are homages), that Marvel has no further plans for the characters they retain.

Trivia

During the early 1980s, Marvel experimented with the then-new comic book specialty outlets by turning three of their monthly comic titles into "direct distribution only" titles. These comics were printed on harder paper stock than the newsprint commonly used for comics at the time, were removed from under the aegis of the Comics Code Authority, and were written and drawn with more mature, adult themes. They were only available via subscription or from a direct distribution comics specialty store. Micronauts was one of the three titles to receive this treatment. (The other two were Moon Knight and Ka-Zar.). For Micronauts, this treatment lasted from Issue #38 to Issue #59 (final issue of the first series).

The Micronauts met the X-Men in an early four-issue miniseries from Marvel.

In the language of Homeworld, there is no letter corresponding to "z". Thus Karza was pronounced "Kartha".

In a pre-launch interview with a comic industry publication, Bill Mantlo (original comic series author for the Micronauts) said that the character representing the Mego toy, "Galactic Warrior" would be called "Ja'an." Ultimately, he was renamed "Bug."

The Mego figure "Baron Karza" was introduced at a comic convention in New York in 1976, a year before George Lucas introduced the world to Darth Vader

In Micronauts Issue #1, the profile of "Acroyear" - who bears the name of his own race, states that "his name is unpronouncable." We never learn his true name, but it appears the unexpected twin birth of him and his albino brother, Shaitan (a form of the word 'satan' and a character based on the toy, "Acroyear II") left his parents struggling for names.

Microverses were once frequently believed to exist within atoms. The more recent theories postulate them as dimensions to which the entry points are only accessible by shrinking size. Thus, Wayfinder and his people (originally inhabitants of the Macroverse) were shrunk by the Sword in the Star so that they could gain access to the Microverse.

Palisades Toys Reproductions

Palisades made 12 of reproductions of the classic toys. With a few extra surprises, these new and updated reproductions well received by fans.

They remade four of the Megos: first batch Barron Karza, Force commander in limited runs, for the second batch Red Falcon and Emperor also in limited runs.

They also remade eight of the smaller main charters: Time Traveler, Space Glider, Acroyer, Membros, for the first batch; then for the second batch: Centaurus, Galactic Defender, Repto, and Pharoid.

Another run called 1.5 included Membros, Acroyear, Space Glider, and Time Traveler Medic.

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