Issue(s): X-Men and the Micronauts #1, X-Men and the Micronauts #2, X-Men and the Micronauts #3, X-Men and the Micronauts #4
Cover Date: Jan-Apr 84
Title: "First encounter" / "Into the abyss!" / "Mine eyes have seen the gory!" / "Doppelganger!"
Credits:
Chris Claremont & Bill Mantlo - Writer
Butch Guice - Penciler
Bob Wiacek / Bob Wiacek & Kelley Jones - Inker

Review/plot:
Thematically, the X-Men and the Micronauts don't have much to do with each other, but they were both popular books at the time so i guess a limited series team-up made sense.

Frankly, it's a thin plot that doesn't work very well stretched over four issues, although regular Micronauts artist Butch Guice's art isn't bad, if a little on the busy side.

The most interesting aspect is... the first (or second) appearance of Onslaught! Ok, not really, but the plot of this story is that the dark side of Professor Xavier manifests as an astral projection in the Microverse, destroying planets and killing millions.

It's unclear why he would project into the Microverse. And it also seems odd that Jim Shooter would decree that Phoenix had to die because she destroyed an inhabited planet but the same isn't true of Xavier.

Anyway, after a meandering plot around the Microverse, the X-Men getting shrunk, and some body-swapping between Kitty Pryde and Baron Karza, the evil Xavier entity is destroyed and the Micronauts are sent home.

There is a nice battle between the New Mutants and a tiny Baron Karza, which is pretty cool.

Bioship, who is a sort-of resurrected or rebuilt version of the original Micronaut Biotron, except now he's a gigantic spaceship (bigger than an Earth human!)...

...is killed in this series.

The evil Xavier is a bit of a perv. He puts the moves on Kitty Pryde...

...and also mentally dominates Dani Moonstar in a way that is clearly sexual.

It's worth remembering these are 13 year old girls.

With Kitty, at least, Baron Karza is actually in control of her body, and he reciprocates nicely.

Meanwhile, Kitty discovers that while in Baron Karza's body, she can become a rocket-powered centaur.

Frankly, if i had the ability to become a rocket-powered centaur, i might not want to go back to my real body.

Later, Karza finds himself an awesome "Evil Shadowcat" costume.

It's unclear how the writing credits were divided up. Typically you would expect the 'good' writer to handle the plot and the less popular writer to handle the script, but i swear there are scenes in this series where the X-Men sound just like Claremont is writing them, so maybe each writer scripted their own characters? But that would seem difficult to coordinate. And as i mentioned, the plot is nothing to brag about.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - death of Bioship

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this between Uncanny X-Men #179-180 and Micronauts #57-58. The New Mutants also appear in this series, and Magma is a member of the team, placing this after New Mutants #13.

References:

• Nightcrawler met the Micronauts previously in Micronauts #37.
  
• Confused by Kitty Pryde's cowardice (it's actually Baron Karza trying to get away), Storm references Kitty's recent bravery facing the Morlocks and Dark Phoenix. No footnotes, but Kitty faced the Morlocks most recently in Uncanny X-Men #178-179. As for Dark Phoenix, Kitty never met her, but Storm must be referring to Mastermind's illusions from Uncanny X-Men #175.
  
• Dark Xavier's astral projection is based on his samurai psychic armor look from Uncanny X-Men #117.
  
• The X-Men note a superficial similarity between the "living spaceship" concept of Bioship and the Acanti space whales from Uncanny X-Men #165.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Onslaught/Dark Xavier actually first appeared in X-Men # 106 in the fill-in story that continuity-wise took place between X-Men # 95 and #96(and was also written by Mantlo).

It seems better to have this mini (and Moon Knight 35) between Uncanny Xmen 176 and 177-179. UXM 180 includes many references to the previous Brotherhood/Morlocks story, the most being that Colossus is still visibly recovering from those near death injuries and making it seem quite recent. In Xmen/Micronauts and Moon Knight he seems in perfect health. The mention of Kitty's bravery involving the Morlock's could be referencing their first encounter.

Just a belated note that Mark M.'s comment here was answered by Michael on the New Mutants #13 entry. I came across this entry today and briefly wondered why i hadn't responded to Mark, so i wanted to leave this note as a reminder. Based on Michael's comments i kept the order as-is in line with the MCP.

Um excuse me but I believe Kitty Pryde is 13 and a half years old? Thank you.

What is this perv stuff? A Song of Ice and Fire now?

Poor Kitty! Sometimes it seems like all the pervs go after her. LOL

It may very well be mostly Mantlo's plot and Claremont's script. Claremont has done rather a lot of scripting other peoples' stories, even in Uncanny--think of that stray issue (228?) that DeFalco plotted and Claremont scripted.

Also, given the Marvel style of comic creation--plot, pencils, then script--it might make sense if the Micronaut writing/art team does their thing, then turns it over to Claremont to script. Presumably Claremont would have had plot input, too, but the basic plot-art could be handled by the Micronauts guys. If I were Marvel, I'd also rather pay for a Claremont script than a Mantlo one; that may indeed be why Claremont wound up doing so much script-only work at various times in his career. (Infamously, his resignation from Uncanny came after Harras told Claremont he only wanted him to script. That's evidently what editorial saw as Claremont'smain value to the company. That Harras would even propose such a thing suggests that in other circumstances Clatemont 'twas willing to accept that kind of deal.)

But teenage girls being sexually violated, the body swapping, etc.- all those elements seem more like Mantlo than Claremont.

I meant more like Claremont than Mantlo.

Yeah those are Claremont things, Mantlo is the one that can tell entertaining stories but has an issue with women and mental illness. Somehow the way he writes those two rubs me worse than other writers from even further back in the day.

As for Dark Phoenix, Kitty never met her, but Storm must be referring to Mastermind's illusions from Uncanny X-Men #175.

Wasn't the X-Men/Teen Titans crossover before this time...could that be the interaction?

Lots of body-swapping in Mantlo's Alpha Flight run. Also, a romance between 14-year old Purple Girl and grad student Whitman Knapp