Michael Golden's Micronauts 1: Cartoonist Kayfabe DIVIDED!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ส.ค. 2024
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Finally the Jim Rugg heel turn we've been waiting for!
Micronauts was my little kid comic that got me hooked. After 12 issues when the penciler changed I was bummed out for a year. Golden did far too few comics for me shortly after that. Later when I asked him what he got up to when he disappeared from illustration he told me he was drawing refrigerators and shit getting paid more. Smdh
Michael Golden rules.
I followed him intensely. He did a single issue Star Wars that read so many times--that the spine disintegrated. He also did and opening and closing segment of a Starlord comic (way before he was reconfigured to what he is now), the rest of book was drawn by John Byrne. But you're right--he strangely didn't seem to work a lot.
I've always adored Golden's Micronauts.
I'm with Tom on this one. Micronauts 1-12 are one of my favorite Marvel comics. Some of the panels in these issues still influence me today - especially how Golden is just using light and shadow with no holding lines.
I love Rubenstein's ink man old school brush style, it was star wars in a new form! also a fan of the toys so... and yes 1-12 the best!
Completely agree. 1-12 was a phenomenal run even though it was essentially a Star Wars clone. I didn't care. Loved it nevertheless. Golden's artwork was absolutely beautiful and reminded me of early Bernie Wrightson. It's really shocking how quickly this title went downhill, both artwork and storytelling, within the next couple of years after Golden left.
So many great comics memories were from the mind of Bill Mantlo.
I love this comic! And completely agree with Tom. Of course, I'm old enough to have owned the toys.
So was I! I loved them!
Micronauts was great, a mash up of Star Wars and Logan's Run.
Tom’s “it’s hard for a beautiful comic to be a great comic” line is such a good point. I’d replace ‘good’ with ‘easy to read’. I think comics like this one, where you can see the artist putting things together and figuring things out before becoming more refined, are harder for people to accept than something where the storytelling just churns along. Under appreciated mode of comic making.
I love Tom's Micronauts by way of Adaptation idea!
Micronauts were my favorite toy growing up in the 70s and was buying the comic when it came out. I loved seeing Baron Karza visualized in comic form as he was my favorite Micronaut character.
THE MICRONAUTS is the great lost futuristic saga. I'm still waiting for the feature film and cartoon series of this epic story.
Ever since y’all started covering Michael Golden,I’ve been waiting to see if Micronauts got under the microscope!
Great to hear Tom again more regularly on the channel. You mentioned Nausicaa Ed, I'd love to see you guys give that the once over.
I love this whole series, even the New Voyages with Kelly Jones artwork. The final two issues are epic as well, all of the Micronauts have to sacrifice themselves to save their world. It’s killer.
Absolutely the dope toys influenced a generation of comics readers. I had a grip of Micronauts and 4 Shogun Warriors toys and that made these books must have off of the spinner racks.
The toys were my entry into comics. I can only imagine the loss I would have had if some other artist was doing the book. I have to imagine the same was true of a lot of other artists as they were growing up, too. Right people, right product at the right time.
Man I used to dream of having a Shogun Warrior!
I've been coming across the Special Edition reprints from 1983 in the dollar bins at 2nd and Charles and Books a Million. They held up pretty well thanks to the acid-free Baxter paper.
Right on Tom!! I was 9 when the Micronauts came out after a couple of years of loving the toys. These books really capture the feel of the time. The art was so unique and the whole concept was much deeper than other comics of the day. Micronauts and the original Moon Knight run were my go to's when I was a kid. I got to meet Golden along with Bill Sienkiewicz at the Dallas Comic Con in 1981. Both guys were incredibly kind and supportive to an 11 year old aspiring comic book artist.
I think I had this whole series 1 - 12. Loved Michael Golden's artwork (though I would've preferred someone like Terry Austin as an inker), and I think conceptually, the story was pretty decent.
i'll second Ed here, this was an excellent episode guys. Open discussion and disagreement leads to some of the better insights yet, thanks!
My first issue of Micronauts was #7 with Man-Thing on the cover. Loved the concept of this odd Sci-Fi toy line.
It was brilliant and had brilliant distinctive art. Thank you for this presentation.
1) #TeamScioli on this one. Golden’s art and design is still really good even with a bad fit as inker.
2) Bill Mantlo is underrated. Rom is really his masterpiece. He, like Star Wars’ Dave Filoni, is good at efficient space opera and world building. He, along with Larry Hama and perhaps Doug Moench, were in the forefront of adapting toys into narrative properties. Here Mantlo is blending Star Wars - as expected - with elements of Coma, Logan’s Run and other topical sci fi and space pulp. Rann is a bland protagonist but the supporting cast is enjoyable.
3) Golden is the star of the show (especially the first six books, before Golden was too busy to give the work his attention to detail. One thing Golden brought that Star Wars didn’t is sex appeal. The body hugging outfits were borrowing more of 70’s aesthetic. Baron Karza is like a heavy metal god of darkness or a secret member of KISS. There have been many Darth Vader imitators but none were than Golden’s Karza and the way his armor was molded around his bodybuilder frame was unique and strong in its own right.
Micronauts is one of the greatest comics of all time, including The New Voyages. The greatest issue, however, was the showdown between Acroyear and Karza. That was maybe the greatest comic ever, in my book. I actually read it before I worked out one time to psyche myself up.
Loved hearing Tom talk about the stuff he likes. Even when you fellas aren't on screen, your passions come across and I always appreciate it.
22:35 - Ha! I remember that ad on the inside back cover for posters of folks like Chery Ladd, Cheryl Tiegs, Farrah Fawcett and...Grizzly Adams? (But it was usually printed on the interior on normal newsprint so you really could barely tell what the posters looked like.)
There's a chase sequence at a skate park in a later issue that I really love. There's a strong sense of motion.
The worst inker I've seen on Golden is easily Jack Able on Mister Miracle. He obviously just left out all of Golden's usual detail. One of his more interesting inkers is Russ Heath. Also on Mister Miracle. There's a good bit of Heath in the inking. But you really don't mind.
Golden liked Russ Heath, he felt he learned alot from his inking. Golden wasn't a fan of Rubinstein or Terry Austin.
This was my favorite comic as a kid. It was a huge factor into making me a life long comic fan. I had the toys and loved this comic. As I got older I was able to really appreciate Golden’s art. I’m totally with Tom on this one.
Loved the back and forth with Tom; very cool to keep bringing his point of view to the conversation occasionally, the dynamic really changes hahaha.
Now that Tom is back will you finish the akira series? Love from Chile
Picked up the X-Men vs micronauts miniseries again after like 25 years and had to read all 4.
Compelling.
I am looking forward to a comic being thrown across the room in a future episode. I also would love “Kayfabe car ride diaries”. This was fun.
I particularly enjoyed the conversation in this episode. I love to hear Tom's excitement as he talks about this. I'm a generally pretty closed-mouth, quiet guy, but when the conversation goes toward things I'm passionate, I have a lot to say, and I have the same enthusiasm. I also appreciate seeing these differences of opinions, because I also occasionally feel like I'm not on the same page as the guys. Regarding Tom's explanation of not quite being able to explain definitively why he loves the things he love, I actually have the same feeling about not being able to explain why I'm just not that into Star Wars. If someone were just giving me a basic description of what Star Wars is, I would be completely on board, but for reasons I can't explain, I just always felt indifferent to Star Wars. I'll definitely have to take a look at these issues and see where I fall on this.
This is my favourite single issue video you guys have done. All of us have been Tom in this discussion and we've all ben Jim/Ed as well. Just fantastic to listen to professional have the same conversations I've had multiple times lol
Does anyone remember that weird X-Men/Micronauts limited series. Strangely that was the first X book I ever bought. First fastball special I ever saw.
Wow, that's a weird series to have as your first exposure to X-Men!
@@marcmcfinn7470 It really was. I didn't have any where in my hometown to get any comics but Archie. One of my older brother's friends had the first 12 Micronauts comics and let me borrow them. The first time I found a spinner with Marvel and DC comics I gtabbed that book because I recognized the Micronauts. Needless to say after reading it the X-Men became top priority.
Tom, this was the comic series that I read as a kid ( age 9) that made me know I wanted to do this for a living. I have gone on to work with Michael Golden on occasions and have had a busy life drawing comics and it all started with this series. Thanks for bringing it up here.
Definitely one of the best videos you’ve done!
Cheers guys. Nice episode and discussion. For the record I love this book!
The irregular dialog bubble indicates an irregular sound: as in machine-like, supernatural or monstrous. In the same way Darth Vader' sound bubble could be depicted differently. its not called a balloon but a bubble.
Lordy, I know you guys are WAAAAY younger than I--so the level of "memberries" isn't there. But when you opened that first issue (which I had) a flood of memories came back. I remember the day I picked it up, the corner store, What my mom was cooking in kitchen, etc. My daughter is leaning over me watching laughing at me now because I'm giggling like an idiot watching your vid--LMAO! I loved Prince Acoyear and his people (he kept his helmet on for long time--but when revealed which I loved was they were all POC!! I really appreciated that), also Baron Karza, Microtron and Biotron, and the way they all were able to develop into deeper and enriching characters as the series continued. During its mid run, when the Micronauts entered the Marvel Universe, they later became allies to SHIELD, The FF and the Avengers; fighting many established Marvel villains like Molecule Man, HYDRA, Doc Doom, etc.
OMG...fellas. One of my all time favorite marvel Comic that came from a toy-line! Thank you for making this vid. It astounds me how many comic fans (old sckool and millennials) either forgotten or are unaware of this great series. I'm old enough to have had the original toy line that came out in the mid 70's. And when marvel decided to do a comic book version (with a slight revisionist twist) that was just a bigger gift for me. The series also introduced an artist I really enjoyed--primarily for his attention to detail, fleshly artwork and panels that appeared to have mobility (like Kirby) but resembling an even "anime" sort of quality...and that's Micheal Golden!
I LOVED the MIcronauts. The first twelve issues are great. And Goldens covers that he inked himself are beautiful. The one with Psycho-Man is so good. I've spoken to Michael Golden at cons.... He is NOT a fan of Rubinstein and that's putting it as nicely as possible.
Great episode!!
This Micronauts mini-run of issues 1-12 was one of favorites of the era of Marvel short run titles. Another mini-run you might want to consider is John Carter 1-10 with Marv Wolfman/Gil Kane. A run that started out extremely strong, but quickly went downhill after Kane left.
This comic is where Liefeld got the idea for Seahawk's (Brigade) mask....
Kayfabe throwdown! Brutality! I am down for a Scioli Micronauts comic, that sounds amazing
Loved this discussion! Maybe you should start recording those car conversations.
To this day Micronauts issues #1 - 12 remain perhaps my favorite comic series ever. As well these, for me, are Michael Goldens best work ( His work on Batman Fam/ the Demon and Marvel Fanfare #1 &2 , be close). ED you’re wrong on this one….lol. LONG LIVE KAYFABE!!
“Running on fumes...” after the Golden run...I don’t like to hear it, but has the sting of truth...still, I love the Micronauts.
Tell ‘em Tom-Dave!
Scioli is right
Growing up I was all about Claremont's X-Men, Miller's Daredevil, and Mantlo's Micronauts. Michael Golden's run looked weird to me when I first encountered it ( I was about 8 or 9 then).
I went back to re-read the series when I was around 11 or 12 and it blew me away! Mantlo's Rom was also dope as fuck! Golden did some fantastic covers for that book.
this might actually the best episode. The most beautiful comic isnt necessarily the best comic is such great insight
Bought this issue brand new at the age of 3 haha. Still remember it. Read it over and over and over again.
I thought they were gonna start hitting each other with folding chairs for a minute HAHA.
realm rhymes with elm as in elm tree. or helm, or overwhelm. interesting video, thanks again, guys.
Ok, this was cool. I was a kid in 77 when this came out or thereabouts and like Tom, I loved this series. I had the toys and comics and would spend hours on end playing adventures in the Microverse and when inside on a rainy day...the comics were there to relive this classic series. As for what people like, hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Comic fans always love to agree to disagree....that's life as a comic fan.
So when is the Michael Golden interview droppin ?
I think some non comic books fans are gaining some knowledge they came for playboy and got some comic history. But us old comics fans enjoy all the videos. So I am putting it out there for a golden and Roger stern interview 😁
I had that energized Spiderman!
This is that series that made me want to be a comic book artist. These first 12 are the best!
This looks like something I'd be interested in. hopefully they will eventually reprint a trade soon
I was at the age where I picked issue #1 brand new on the racks and fell in love with it. I loved that art style, it hit me as something completely new and an extension to me of John Byrne and Alpha Flight. I still have these issues and recognize the panels in the video. At that time this was a striking change for a pure Marvel fanboy.
That Scioli adaptation comic pitch sounds amazing
I was totally against this toy commercial tie-in as a kid until I saw issue 5 on the rack, and I was hooked. Golden’s art showed such passion, and it was clear Mantlo was drawing from many sources besides Star Wars, in a tour-de-force epic story. I later picked up issue 1 (still in the 80s 😄) because I felt this was a groundbreaking series. The first 12 issues are such a great story. Someday it will get its due…
"It's hard for a beautiful comic to be a great comic." I haven't disagreed more with a comment on CK. :D
@18:32 ... I thought that bubble was Tik dialog, thus the bubble was thicker. Which you can see @9:37, right page. He goes "tik", when he speaks. Because, insect. The antennae give it away.
I don't know Micronauts from a bar of soap, and Michael Golden isn't a creator I've really seen anything from that grabs me, but there were a bunch of panels in this comic that I thought looked amazing as you flipped through. And the way Tom talked about the story made it sound pretty good to me, so I'm on Team Tom on this one, speaking from a place of ignorance.
Absolutely love the Micronauts and I just love Golden and Rubenstein...didn't like the art as much when Rubenstein was swapped out.
Jim makes a good point about the timing of when you find this stuff. Quite a few artists at the time were captivated; there were things happening technically that were exciting, but have been since absorbed into the toolbox. I remember Art Adams commenting about how much of an impact Micronauts # 1 had on him, but looking back he doesn't quite get why. It's comparable to the earliest Bernie Wrightson comics: fandom loved early stuff like Nightmaster because the potential was realized in their imaginations. Like Golden, he just got better and better, and the crudity of the early work dominates our vision of it.
I think there was something exotic about the look of this book. The figures and faces remind me a little bit of Mike Ploog or Bernie Wrightson. It's American cartooning, but it's closer to an underground look for that time. But then the vehicles, buildings and backgrounds look more like what you'd see in French science fiction or manga.
@@marcmcfinn7470 That's a good take. I find some of the use of lighting and screentones almost painterly, especially in the stuff he inked, like that Marvel Classics story.
I liked the process talk parts of the vid
I loved the Micronauts I still have my original comics off the rack, the art the story it was all great for what it was a crazy action adventure romp (Star Wars, Logan’s Run, Buck Rogers and the Land of the Giants all rolled in too one, I’ve always said that books with the best art aren’t always the best or most popular books,for example Hulk 180,181 has some of the most Horrendous art (Herb Trimpe) to ever grace a comic book and there are a lot’s of books out there like that
Just PRE-ORDERED Red Room #3 using my LCS 'Reward Program' points, so got this and the Ultimate Fallout #4 Facsimile for free! You can only use points for pre-orders, and the only other new book I'm interested in is Last Ronin #5, which is probably still a while off for pre-orders considering #4 pre-orders just closed..
Love to see you cover Rom Spaceknight 1979-Dec 1985 early 1986. Also Nova the Human Rocket/A man called Nova 1976-78. Rom was like several different comic characters/50's SF classic movies. ROM was sort of a combination of Klauttu & Gort the robot from the (1951) The Day the Earth Stood Still. The Dire Wraiths sort of like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The female versions from ROM #50-#79 were like Alien from the Alien movies. Nova's origin was a bit like Hal Jordan/GL. Richard Rider was like the mid 70's version of Peter Parker. But more like a modern take on Rocketman/Commander Cody. Nova was created by writers Len Wein & Marv Wolfman as teenagers. Originally called Black Nova. Later in 76 was redesigned a bit by Marvel comics artist/inker/art director John Romita SR. He changed the 5 starbursts to three. Also that three sunburst/starburst were tied into the storyline too. ROM also appeared in Powerman/Iron Fist #73, Hulk #296, and Marvel Two in One #99. The Dire Wraiths also made appearances in the Hulk, Avengers, FF, and X-Men.
First! Love this comic, thanks so much!!!
first 12 issues are some of my all time favorite comics. Top Notch stuff!!!
@@Berliozboy totally agree!
Looking at it now, though I can see why Golden doesn't like the inks.
Micronauts blends together with GI Joe, Star Wars, Krull, Shogun Warriors, Battle of the Planets and OG TMNT in my childhood memories. I loved it all and it was important to me; the mash up off all those influences is why I became an artist. But if I was to come to some of those things as an adult, having never seen them, I have no idea what my reaction would be, TBH. Not something you could deduce logically, but I can say I'm highly critical of what I like and don't like now.
Honestly, I'm surprised this schism between your opinions of a work took this long to come out. It was bound to happen.
Have to agree with the guys a bit on this one. I loved the Micronauts toys and Golden's artwork, but always found the book a dull read. Once he compared it to "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars" I understood why I don't really care for it. Once i see elves and hairy feet I'm out.
5:11 cool story
Team Tom here! You guys are waaaay off :)
It's hard for me not to see Micronauts without the rose tint of nostalgia but I can see a lot of what Jim is talking about in the art. It really lacks the some of the best things Golden does.
The Micronauts define the break between what Marvel and comics were and what they were to become. Look at the difference between Micronauts 1-12 and (Golden) and Micronauts Annual 1 (Ditko). No better can you see the tectonic shift defined by these two artist and which eras they define. In particular, I find the differences between the ships and robots to be the most recognizable difference. There have been draftsman in all eras, there have been cartoonist and exaggerations in all eras, the same could be said of those with more fine arts vs industrial and architectural backgrounds, but the mix and ratios, the balance shifts here, I think better than most any other example. I say this in agreement with this not being the best Golden work. I'm not a fan of his "Big Eyes" humans... but this hit at a time when it seemed every household in America had some big eyed kid art in their bathrooms, so I can be a little forgiving... ha. Seriously, have a re-look at the Micronauts and check the First Annual and and consider how much more impactful this is to comics as a whole. The world of comics was never going to be the same after this point.
Not real familiar with Micronauts. It's a little odd hearing them talk negatively about "fantasy" when they love Bone so much. Tho I totally understand being less into stuff in the trad Tolkien vein.
You guys dont bring up anything about the history of the Micronauts toy line itself. They aren't some random "toy line". They came from Japan's Micro Man toy line from the early 70's. As a kid growing up during that time when Star Wars was still a new "thing", and movies and TV series were coming out to push Sci Fi, the Micronauts fed kids of that time period with a new way to have their own adventures. When Marvel released those comics kids ate it up. It was the next big thing. It sort of filled the gap between what had been, and what was yet to come.
It was a very fun and creative time to be a kid before technology evolved that would strip us away from being able to imagine and envision something on our own without AI taking all the fun out of it.
I remember being too young to play with, but old enough to be aware of Micronauts. I remember them giving me the willies, but in a good way. Then Star Wars came out and they became Micro-whats?