"The End" Week: Micronauts #11!

As I write this, over at the delightful Gone & Forgotten, Calamity Jon has been featuring Micronauts Monday; checking out a classic issue every week. So he'd still be at least a year away from today's book: from 2003, Micronauts #11, "Invasion, part 4" Story by Dan Jolley, pencils by Steve Kurth, inks by Barb Schulz.

This was a new version of the Micronauts, completely separate and distinct from the Marvel book; in fact, Hasbro/IDW has had another incarnation in recent years! Some elements are consistent, though: in some form or another, there will be Acroyear, Microtron, Biotron, and the big bad is always Baron Karza. Almost literally big bad this issue, since for his invasion of earth, Karza appears to be piloting a colossal mecha of himself. Sending lackey Red Falcon after the fleeing 'Nauts, Karza starts his "population reduction program" moving forward.

Token earthling and team leader Ryan Archer is normal-sized on earth, while his teammates are action-figure sized; but Ryan makes a better use of his home field advantage by laying a trap for Red Falcon in a chemical warehouse, where Microtron then gasses Falcon and his troops. (It looks pretty fatal, but maybe, maybe not.) Using Falcon's ship to get through Karza's defenses--and Falcon's body as a ventriloquist dummy--the Micronauts counter-attack, with a "collection rod" trap taking out Karza's mech. Before Archer can finish him, though; he's shot in the back by Karza's daughter Persephone. (She was on the outs with her dad, but couldn't let him die, either.) Later, after recovering in the Microverse, Acroyear tells Archer the team is his, since he came closer to destroying Karza than anyone else had so far.

This was the last issue of this series (and the third last Micronauts we've checked out!) but it would briefly continue with publisher Devil's Due for three issues. Also this issue: a house ad for upcoming series The Walking Dead, which only seems like a hundred years ago.