For the ISB: 30 Second Recap!

I should hedge my bet and not say anything, because some of the competition is already looking tough, but Chris Sims at the Invincible Super Blog is coming up on his fourth Awesomeversary, and the 2008 30 Second Recap Contest is underway!

You can check over there for rules and to enter, which I heartily encourage; and Chris also gave an example, that "you can even go after a 22 year-old classic of comics literature if you want!" Well, taking that to mind, I took a stab at another classic, twenty-seven years old this month! Here's the 30 Second Recap, of Micronauts #37, "There's a Reason They Call It...the Danger Room!" As usual, click to enlarge, or shrink yourself until you can easily read it:

Original written by Bill Mantlo, with art by Keith Giffen, Greg Laroque, and Danny Bulanadi.

#37 was the Micronauts' last newsstand issue, at least until the ill-fated New Voyages a few years later. Micronauts, Moon Knight, and Ka-Zar were Marvel's first test books for direct sales only. I can't speak to how well they did as a yardstick, but the switch didn't seem to do them any favors. A couple years later, Micronauts was relaunched as New Voyages (which lasted 20 issues) and Moon Knight as Fist of Khonshu (which only made six), and I think Ka-Zar just drifted off.

Nightcrawler mentions it in passing in X-Men/Micronauts #1, but doesn't go off the handle. I do kind of figure he got like two solid years of KP or latrine duty or some horrible X-related chore.

EDIT: Of course, I forgot to mention that Huntarr would eventually switch sides, breaking Force Commander's hold on him and becoming I think the last addition to the Micronauts, at least until New Voyages. (I read New Voyages as a kid, but have since lost those issues, and the last half-year of the book gets dragged into Secret Wars II and has a terrible ending.) And I love Huntarr's very Micronaut-esque big boots. Now, he doesn't show up anymore, and I don't know why: Commander Rann, Marionette, and of course Bug were Marvel creations and still made appearances after the license for the others had expired. Maybe Mantlo based Huntarr on a Micronauts toy, at least in part.

I was hoping to get a chance to "draw" Force Commander, but he was in his new, non-toy armor here, and only briefly. The old, white FC would be about as easy to draw as, say, ROM's face.

And I didn't draw her for this, but Marionette=the hotness. Just saying.