Issue(s): Micronauts #29
Cover Date: May 81
Title: "To sleep ... perchance to dream!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Pat Broderick - Penciler
Dan Bulanadi - Inker
Danny Fingeroth - Assistant Editor
Louise Simonson - Editor

Review/plot:
This issue opens with a funeral service in the aftermath of the big battle between the Micronauts/SHIELD and Baron Karza/Hydra.

(Just a periodic reminder that Nighthawk didn't join the Micronauts. That is Prince Pharoid of the Aegyptians.)

In addition to the high profile deaths of Biotron and Queen Esmera, we see that many additional soldiers were killed, and it's neat to see the tiny coffins of the Micronauts alongside those of the SHIELD soldiers.

Also among the casualties was the home planet of Acroyear, which was destroyed when he used the Worldmind to fight Baron Karza. The Worldmind was actually summoned by the traitor Shaitan, but Acroyear wielded it when Shaitan burned out. Acroyear's lover Cilicia calls Acroyear a traitor for destroying their world.

And another affected by the war was Arcturus Rann, who is now in a coma after the Enigma Force was ripped from his mind. Doc Samson is brought in to help him.

And his solution is to shrink down the Micronauts and send them into Rann's brain.

While they are in there, they find that Nightmare is as well. He is seeking the secret of the Enigma Force.

Nightmare sends nightmares after the Micronauts, but as they note, they are their own nightmares, not Rann's so they are able to figure out something is up. Acroyear in particular is feeling no guilt about what he did with the Worldmind, so he's unaffected when Nightmare uses that line of attack.

The Micronauts drive Nightmare off by reawakening Rann's consciousness, but before they leave his brain they find a message left behind by the Enigma Force.

The gist of it is that they have to find three keys; it's the quest for their next several issues.

With that, the Micronauts say goodbye to Samson and SHIELD and head back to the Microverse.

Normally i'm not a big Nightmare fan, but it's nice to have him and Samson and SHIELD here to ground me since these stories feature characters and concepts outside the mainstream Marvel universe. But these are fun adventure stories with nice art by Broderick.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Baron Karza is still secretly merged with Prince Argon/Force Commander which is why i have him listed as appearing. This issue should occur not too long after the big battle that ended last issue, but i don't have a problem with some characters (e.g. Nick Fury) appearing elsewhere in between. The Micronauts leave for the Microverse at the end of this issue and next issue shows them already settled in at Homeworld, so i am leaving space in between to let the book catch up to publication schedule.

References:

• Doc Samson says he's "actually had experience with submicroscopic races". He must be referring to meeting Jarella circa Hulk #203, and i wish that had been explored a little further. I'd like to have seen the relationship between Jarella's world and the Microverse more clearly defined.
  
• The Psychotron Cannon was used previously in Hulk #200 to send the Hulk into Glenn Talbot's brain when he was in a coma.
  
• Explaining the science behind what the Micronauts have to do inside Rann's brain, a footnote directs us to Julian Jaynes's The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. I haven't added that to my project yet.
  
• Among the nightmares that plague the Micronauts is Jasmine, Bug's lover who died in Micronauts #17.
  
• Nightmare says that while Rann is unconscious, there is no way to contact the Enigma Force or its earth counterpart, the Unipower. A footnote directs us to the Captain Universe stories Marvel Spotlight #9, Marvel Spotlight #10, and Marvel Spotlight #11.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A