Issue(s): Micronauts #14, Micronauts #15, Micronauts #16, Micronauts #17
Cover Date: Feb-May 80
Title: "A hot time on the old world!" / "The inside job!" / "Rendezvous in Sub-Atomica!" / "...The harder they fall!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Howard Chaykin - Penciler
Al Milgrom - Inker

Review/plot:
Michael Golden is gone but Howard Chaykin is here. Still, Golden was the real draw of the first twelve issues of the Micronauts.

After some post-Karza War reunions...

...the Micronauts stumble into the Psycho-Man's section of the Microverse.

Luckily SHIELD has requested that the Fantastic Four investigate the Microverse, so the two teams bump into each other and are able to defeat Psycho-Man. Mr. Fantastic, the Thing, and Invisible Girl enter via Reed's Reducta-Craft, so they are the same size relative to the Micronauts...

...but the Human Torch enters through the Prometheus Pit, so he's a giant.

Which is less of a benefit than you'd think, since a giant flaming man tends to burn up all your breathable oxygen relatively quickly. That was a nice touch from Mantlo.

Otherwise, this is pretty straightforward and kind of dull. And i'm not a big fan of Chaykin's art, although he's a natural fit here after having been the popular artist on Star Wars. And i always love a "villain plays a death-organ" scene.

Reed Richards uncharacteristically refuses to fully comply with SHIELD's requests for information about the Microverse. Surprising from Mr. "We don't buck the government".

The arc uses two new Micronauts creatures, Antron and Repto, that are part of a new wave of Micronauts toys that are advertised in books of this period.

Bug's girlfriend Jasmine - only introduced in issue #13 - dies in issue #17 during the Psycho-Man fight.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this between Fantastic Four #217-218.

References:

• Issue #14 has a big ol' mess of reference to Micronauts #1-11. That should pretty much cover us for Micronauts references.
  
• As for FF references, we've got the Reducta-Craft, which brought the FF to the Microverse for the first time in Fantastic Four #75.
  
• And Psycho-Man first appeared in Fantastic Four annual #5.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The 3rd Micronaut monster, Membros, never showed up in the series.

This is Howard Chaykin? Wow, I'm not seeing him in here at all."