Issue(s): Micronauts: The New Voyages #19, Micronauts: The New Voyages #20
Cover Date: Apr-May 86
Title: "Love devotion surrender" / "Worldhome!"
Credits:
Peter Gillis - Writer
Howard Bender / Kelley Jones - Penciler
Dan Bulanadi - Inker
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
Homeworld is coming apart. Scion arrives and after he and Solitaire fight a bit...

...we learn that they are both spawns of the egg laying cosmic creature we first heard about in Micronauts: The New Voyages #1, except that she was born ten million years earlier. The eggs of that creature were supposed to hatch and then dissipate into the basic lifestuff that allows planets to form life, but when she hatched, she refused to give up her form.

The Microverse, meanwhile, is still dying, and Scion's plan to fix it involves the Micronauts doing the same thing that Scion and Solitaire were supposed to do.

Commander Rann convinces the other Micronauts that they have to do it, and he leads them to Baron Karza's Prometheus Pit. Basically, Karza's Pit woke up the Worldmind of Homeworld and it's now destroying the universe.

Rann convinces the Micronauts, except for himself and Marionette but including Scion and Solitaire, to enter the Pit so their lifeforce can heal the universe. When they jump in, they realize it's not working...

...and Rann realizes he has to don the armor of Baron Karza in order to control things properly.

But as the story points out, Karza switched out his body parts so often that his soul really resided in the armor, and as the process continues he becomes more under Karza's control.

Meanwhile, the Micronauts that entered the Pit find themselves on various idyllic planets, including one that causes Bug to sneeze butterflies.

Then, after seeing an image of the Time Traveler...

...and the Microverse's Clown Celestials (sorry for the two images; this is one double page spread)...

...Marionette pushes Rann/Karza into the Pit as well and then... the book is over. Everybody lives happily ever after? I think?

I don't know, my brain kind of jumped out of my head and went out for a drink during these issues. And it's really not Peter Gillis' fault. There are some solid sci-fi ideas here, the scripting is fine, the characters are unique. As i've said before, part of the problem for me is that this is all only tangentially related to my project here and the story would definitely be better served if read in one chunk. Even allowing for all of that, though, i find something missing. Too much concept, not enough action. And that's worsened by Kelley Jones's art style (which Howard Bender mimics for his fill-in issue) which delivers big blocky characters and lots of splash panels. Mantlo's Micronauts, for better or worse, were more along the lines of Star Wars - epic space action. Gillis' Micronauts were more 2001: A Space Odyssey - heady concepts in space about the origins of life.

In any event despite... whatever happened here, we will see some of the Micronauts again, mainly Rann, Marionette, and the most popular Bug, who luckily wasn't based on a toy and so could continue to be used even after Marvel let the Micronauts license expire.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - end of the Micronauts series.

Chronological Placement Considerations: This begins soon after Homeworld began to come apart at the end of last issue. I chose to include Baron Karza as a Character Appearing here due to his seeming possession of Rann, but that may not be entirely accurate. Considering he's a licensed character this would be his last appearance.

References:

• Acroyear thought he destroyed Scion in Micronauts: The New Voyages #16, but he found out last issue that he didn't.
  
• Solitaire devolves while fighting Scion, which is something she did previously to save Bug in Micronauts: The New Voyages #15.
  
• The Micronauts first became aware of the original Prometheus Pit in the old Micronauts #5. Karza's version is a copy of that one.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A