Issue(s): Micronauts: The New Voyages #3, Micronauts: The New Voyages #4
Cover Date: Dec 84 - Jan 85
Title: "In the country of the blind!" / "Slow death on the proving ground!"
Credits:
Peter Gillis - Writer
Kelley Jones - Penciler
Bruce D. Patterson / Ian Akin, Brian Garvey, & Bruce D. Patterson - Inker
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
Issue #3 opens with a cute scene with Bug playing a computer game against a holographic Nightcrawler and Wolverine.

There's a little aside about the fact that the sector of space that the Micronauts are currently in doesn't look like their area of the Microverse. It looks more like "real" space. I don't know what it means yet; i just wanted to post a picture of Commander Rann's awesome beard.

Then Marionette smashes up their ship's sick bay, because she discovers that it is actually a mini-version of Baron Karza's body banks.

Moral issues aside, this is a problem because, unknown to everyone except the robots, all of the the organic Micronauts are dying of radiation poisoning due to the events of the previous arc.

It's funny how the concept of the body banks - which was really just introduced because the Micronauts toys could be taken apart and built up with different limbs, etc. - has become such a major plot point and ethical dilemma. I guess i have to credit Bill Mantlo for that.

Later, the Micronauts investigate a planet where everything is covered in a layer of mercury.

They realize a little too late that the metallic covering is a protection against the intense rays of the sun, just as dawn approaches. Luckily, the organic Micronauts are dumped into a crevice of the planet as it opens up to raise what look like solar panels as the sun arrives.

The robots, still on the Endeavor II, are in trouble, however, and wind up getting melted.

One thing i definitely like about this arc is the way the robots act. They are forced to obey Rann's orders, and therefore are unable to tell him about the radiation poisoning when he shuts them up prematurely. The new Biotron's programming is especially "unsophisticated", as Microtron puts it, but Microtron also can't bring it up because Biotron is the one who discovered it and it's therefore only hearsay to him.

Underneath the planet's surface, the rest of the Micronauts discover a living quarters, and while Rann and Marionette get stuck in a virtual dance simulation (nothing as exciting as Dance Dance Revolution)...

...the remainder of the group winds up fighting battle robots. Huntarr's newly mutated body exhibits a number of new abilities, including the ability to grow claws like Wolverine...

...and, er, magnetic tusks.

Eventually the facilities' groundskeepers show up to explain the whole thing was a mistake. The planet is actually a weapons testing ground, and they had no idea that living beings were on the planet and in danger.

The little guys say they've been created by the "Maker" that we've been hearing repeated references to in recent issues, but no further information is provided yet.

In general, Gillis is definitely making the characters more likeable and i'm starting to get into this series.

I do have one complaint about the cheesecake-y depictions of Marionette. Nothing compared to modern comics, but it's a bit obtrusive.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: There's a little bit of time between the end of issue #3 and the beginning of #4, but it reads better if we keep the two together.

References:

• The Micronauts met the X-Men in X-Men and the Micronauts #1-4.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Marionette must have a rubber spine in order to show off her booty and her knockers at the same time in that panel.