THEY'RE BACK FROM INNER SPACE:

Of Micronauts and Men: The coolest toys of the 1970s return to our universe (Peter S. Scholtes, City Pages)

Choice meant cool in 1977, at least among my fellow eight-year-olds in Madison, Wisconsin. Anything really cool was "choi."

Micronauts were choi: three-and-a-quarter-inch action figures so detailed and stylized, they could have held their own as stop-motion background extras in Star Wars--whose toy franchise eventually buried them. Ornately molded in translucent plastic or die-cast metal, Micronauts were shiny, shogun chic, and overloaded with mechanisms that fired little missiles (no manufacturer would make such eye hazards now). Every figure had movable knees, feet, wrists, and elbows. Time Traveler had a silver head that looked like the early Elvis; Space Glider was more David Cassidy. Even kids who lived and breathed Star Wars had to admit that Micronauts were more choi than the plastic Luke, Obi-Wan, et al., which couldn't even bend their arms. [...]

[T]he toy became one of the few to spawn a sci-fi myth, not vice versa: a classic Marvel Comics series that ran from 1979 to 1986. Early issues were written with surprising depth by Bill Mantlo, and sensuously penciled by Michael Golden. WhenMarvel's contract with Mego went poof, the tyrannical Baron Karza disappeared, never to be mentioned again.

Until now, that is. This year Devil's Due Publishing and Image Comics struck up a deal with Palisades, whose freshly molded Micronauts reached shelves last month. Now in its third issue, Micronauts launched this summer, dispensing with Marvel-created heroes but reviving the trademarkedBaron Karza and others.

Never had any of the toys, but the comic book was fabulous. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 24, 2002 12:27 PM