It's the Bill Mantlo power hour, when Marvel gives one of their best TWO toys to write about. Last week we had the facsimile for Rom #1 released. Mantlo is able to backstory a standalone action figure into a complex mythology that would bring him to Earth, seemingly a villain, secretly a hero, as enemies hidden among us are vaporized in front of terrified crowds.

I could say Micronauts is more complex. They came out of a line of toys, meaning more backstory was necessary. When I tell you they have a reluctant hero who doesn't know he's the hero, a princess, two robots- one squat, one bipedal, a witty rogue and his incredibly powerful companion, a wise figure that exists to help move our hero along even if he exists out of time and space, and a villain, large and powerful, clad in black armor, well, things may not be that complex after all.

Luckily, Mantlo was paired with two big names for these titles. For Rom, Sal Buscema, John's brother, was brought in. For Micronauts, Michael Golden, PEAK Michael Golden, reputation making Michael Golden, was there for the first year. The Buscemas were known for their figures in motion. Golden was known for his enhanced realism and detailed line work. The heck of it is, both had the wrong inkers for their starts. Sal inked himself. He's too tight and too incomplete at the same time. Golden is inked by Joe Rubenstein, an artist known for his brush work. He loosens up what are meant to be tight pencils, followed accurately for full effect instead of smoothed over. Imagine Kelley Jones inked by anyone but himself and you'll get the idea. If Rubenstein had inked Rom, it would have been a magical combination. If Golden had inked himself, he might have stayed around longer. The storytelling is there for both, but there are missed opportunities.


Sure, you can say that they weren't published at the same time (true) and that Golden got the Micronauts gig because of his amazing Rom covers (also true), but that would just muddy up the point I want to make that now has you looking at both Rom and Micronauts, so we won't even mention it.