‘Micronauts #1’ Comic Review

written by Cullen Bunn; art by David Baldeon, Fico Ossio, Max Dunbar, Jack Lawrence, David Garcia Cruz, Joana Lafuente, Thomas Deer and John-Paul Bove


They don’t make action figures like they used to.

Debuting in 1976, toy manufacturer Mego released their very popular Micronauts toy line. Any fan of action figures from the 70’s and 80’s will most likely remember this line of unique novelties. Micronaut figures are described by many toy historians as being ahead of their time. Some of the reasons collectors consider them to be so special are the figures’ multiple points of articulation including wrist, ankle, and hip joints. Micronauts also had interchangeable pieces; you could remove a Jet pack from Acroyear and fashion it to a wrist harnesses on Time Traveler. This adaptability was exciting for any young brain aiming to craft his or her own story. But despite the malleability of these special toys, Micronauts #1 suffers a bit from a lack of ingenuity.

Micronauts-01-pg-3

Cullen Bunn is a Micronauts enthusiast. The writer has mentioned in interviews his memories of playing with the toys as a child. Upon hearing that IDW was releasing a Micronauts series he promptly commissioned a story pitch. It’s always a good thing when you have a writer who is very passionate about the source material; it increases the chances that the characters will be treated with care and the mythology honored. The original concept for the Micronauts is a little vague, being a toy line. Marvel and Image have had comic adaptations both in the 80’s and the 2000’s respectively. I haven’t had the opportunity to read either series, although I hear the Marvel run is quite good. Not knowing too much about the Micronauts, I approached this issue hoping to get a good sense of the mythology and the theme of the Universe.

Bunn thrusts us into the Microverse: a ravaged world that is being threatened by a sentient space cloud destroying entire planets and throwing the universe into political turmoil. It’s an interesting premise but not fleshed out very well. As far as space operas go, Micronauts lands somewhere between Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy thematically. Unfortunately, it isn’t unique enough to distance itself from these obvious comparisons. Our main protagonist is a scavenger named Oz who has a familiar “space rogue” personality. He comes across as a mix between Han Solo and Peter Quill. The other characters Acroyear and Phenolo are pretty standard companions oftentimes seen in these kinds of stories. The villain, Baron Karza, is especially generic, very reminiscent of another famous space dictator clad in black metal.

Micronauts-01-pg-4

Overall, the theme and setting of Micronauts is a bit underwhelming, but the plot redeems itself a bit. The story of a space heist gone wrong is a good place to start, the setting just needed to be fleshed out with more detail. The artwork on Micronauts is a little inconsistent. There are a total of eight artists and colorists who worked on this issue—that’s quite a few cooks in the kitchen. I think the art suffers slightly from the number of contributors although the bright primary colors are appreciated and are in line with a comic based on a line of toys.

If you’re a fan of the original toy line or simply a fan of flashy space operas in general, you might want to give Micronauts a try. If not, you could probably just dust off your old Acroyear action figure and have more fun that way.

BRAND PARTNERS
Recent Posts