Micronauts [2016] #5 - IDW Publishing

MICRONAUTS No. 5, August 2016

Filled full of close-combat confrontations as Oziron Rael and his team-mates battle the chief interrogator for the Ministry of Science, Membros, and then immediately afterwards “a specialized strike team” lead by Commander Raith, Cullen Bunn’s chronicle for Issue Five of “Micronauts” probably provided the publication’s 7,667 strong audience with a pleasing, pulse-pounding read in August 2016. Indeed, almost as soon as Baron Hraal Karza ‘enerchanges’ his “gadget-laden suit of shape-shifting armour” into his centauroid battle form in order to lead his army against Daegon’s forces, this twenty-page periodical simply doesn’t stop depicting violent altercations, with even the pacifist Pharoid slugging his torturer; “If I wasn’t a pacifist, I would have used the sword.”

Fortunately, such sense-shattering sequences aren’t seemingly scripted simply to pad out an ailing narrative either, and genuinely help push the plot along, whilst supplying the utterly bizarre-looking Membros with a far more detailed (and disturbing) backstory than the “Mego” red action figure “with an exposed glow-in-the-dark brain” ever had as a toy in 1979. It’s certainly hard not to draw a comparison with the bright pink, sadistic-speaking interrogator whose “body [is] a testament to the dangers of careless Enerchanging”, with that of someone willingly working for Heinrich Himmler’s paramilitary during the Second World War.

In addition, these scintillating scenes also provide the Micronauts with plenty of opportunity to demonstrate why they’ve become such a thorn in the Ministry of Defence’s side, and just how formidable a fighter the team’s “genetically engineered super-warrior” Acroyear can be, even when he’s facing a corridor crammed full of “more advanced models” than himself. Albeit, even the unparalleled combatant’s extraordinary ability to summon “a powerful sword from subspace” doesn’t manage to create the slack-jawed surprise Bunn creates in this comic’s cliff-hanger when Raith’s weapon manages to cleanly cut through Biotron’s shield and cleave the crew’s startled captain asunder…

Such terrific penmanship however, would not have had half the impact if it wasn’t for this comic’s wonderful artwork by Max Dunbar, whose sketches of a centauroid-shaped Kazar impressively rearing up upon his hind legs, or Membros lashing the air with a vicious vibro-whip, are simply stunning. In fact, the Canadian’s pencilling appears so dynamically alive that it appears to have been snatched from the celluloid of an animated cartoon series, and both imbues the characters with emotionally-charged facial features, as well as tonnes of ‘oomph’ behind their body-blows.

The regular cover art of "MICRONAUTS" No. 5 by Max Dunbar