Issue(s): Micronauts #23
Cover Date: Nov 80
Title: "Computrex!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Pat Broderick - Co-plotter
Pat Broderick - Penciler
Dan Bulanadi - Inker

Review/plot:
The Molecule Man's wand is found by a homeless man in a junkyard where the Micronauts are making repairs. The man is black, and he's given a fairly racist dialect ("All I wants to possess is my bottle o' Thunderbird Red...").

Once he becomes possessed he takes on standard super-villain high-talk, though.

There's some confusion about the Molecule Man, here. According to Marvel Two-In-One #1, the original Molecule Man died of old age in the alternate dimension the Watcher trapped him in. Before he died he passed his wand on to his son, who we saw fight the Thing and the Man-Thing in Two-In-One. His consciousness was then trapped in his wand, which subsequently possessed Reed Richards for a while. This issue implies that we're dealing with the original Molecule Man. I'm not sure if this is ever resolved. It's possible, i suppose, that the original actually possessed his son when he passed the wand to him and we just never heard about it.

Anyway, the Molecule Man isn't given much respect this issue. Biotron defeats him by himself while the other Micronauts are elsewhere.

In a back-up story labeled Tales of the Micronauts but actually occuring in the present, Slug discovers that Baron Karza's ally and Acroyear's brother Shaitan is actually still alive, his body having been regenerated in Karza's Body Banks.

This leads to further revelations that Karza himself may be alive.

Here's a schematic of the Micronaut's ship, the Endeavor.

And here's an awesome bird mount.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• There are references to Marvel Two-In-One #1 and Fantastic Four #188, the Molecule Man's last two appearances.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A