The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1101: Micronauts v.1 #16, April 1980

This comic brought back a very interesting memory. It relates to the toys that this series was ostensibly tied to. Much like the later G.I. Joe series (which I have just learned was actually a pitch for a covert strike force commanded by Nick Fury!), the writers had to walk a fine line between storytelling and advertising. By and large, I think, the Marvel scribes of the early 80s who did this did it very well. The early Transfomers, the afore-mentioned G.I. Joe, Starriors, Sectaurs, Star's Masters of the Universe, all were well-executed stories that just happened, occasionally to feature a character or vehicle that, lo and behold, was on toy store shelves around the same time.

The thing with Micronauts is that I never really had any of them. I remember seeing them as a young kid, and being vaguely aware of them, and of actually having a few, I think, but they were a very North America toy, I think, and I was arriving on these shores just as they were in decline. Or maybe I was just too preoccupied with Star Wars toys that I just ignored everything else.

Though I did like the He-Man figures. They were pretty cool.

Anyway, the memory was of a particular figure that I did have from the toy line, the Repto, a creature that appears as the greatest fear of Bug and his friend Jasmine. I had completely forgotten this toy until reading this comics, and then it leapt back into my mind. I have absolutely no idea what happened to it, or actually where it came from. But then there it was, bright as four-coloured day on page 7. Neat.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 323: Star*Reach #1, April 1974

Okay, first things first, I want to be quite clear that I did not put this comic up here today solely because it has pictures of naked green women on the cover.

Though I'd be lying if I said that that didn't have something to do with it. Ahhh, 70s science fiction.

Star*Reach and its ancillary publications, and those that followed it in the later 70s, are a nice example of what they themselves term "ground-level" comics. This is in response to the Undergrounds, which were a lot more political, a lot more crass, and a lot less serious. The science fiction and fantasy titles that came out of the independent market at this time were trying to tell serious, interesting stories while still remaining outside of the strictures of the mainstream press. And, by and large, they were successful.

This issue's highlights are definitely Jim Starlin's Death and God stories. I feel like there's the seeds of a series happening here, something almost along the lines of the Sandman series, where the titular characters are a common background for other stories. Of course, his art is quite spectacular, and demonstrates to me yet again that I've not given the 70s writers and artists nearly the attention I ought to have. There really were many of them attempting to push their genres, and the medium as a whole, into very interesting, and literary, realms.

I even enjoyed the Howard Chaykin "Cody Starbuck" story, though I've historically not been a fan of Chaykin's work. He's definitely got an distinctive and kind of awesome art style, but the characters he creates or applies himself to have spoken to me very little.

It was nice to find this comic in a quarter bin. It's a 4th printing, and the center pages have come loose from the staples, but it's still complete and, center aside, in really nice condition. And, as always the most important part, it's got fantastic stories inside.

And green, naked women.

More tomorrow!