Micronauts [2016] #8 - IDW Publishing

MICRONAUTS No. 8, December 2016

There’s a palpable sense of fun to Cullen Bunn’s narrative for Issue Eight of “Micronauts” which clearly shows just how much of “a dream come true” this book must have been for the three-time Bram Stoker Award-nominee to pen. Indeed, this twenty-page periodical’s storyline, packed full of headlong car chases and bullet-laden helicopter assaults, validates just how sincere the American author was in his desire “to do everything in my power to make sure readers have the time of their lives reading this series!”

For starters, having previously “been rendered unconscious” and “sent off to be subjected to some ghastly experimentation”, this comic’s opening ably demonstrates just how difficult it is going to be for Oziron Rael’s team to escape their captors, even with the help of a sympathetic laboratory scientist. This sense-shattering sequence, which depicts the Heliopolis’ crew being literally thrown around a speeding vehicle whilst Acroyear and Space Glider attack their military pursuers, is tremendously well-paced and genuinely provides a few ‘laugh out loud’ moments as the pair of rebels ‘banter’ as to how many of “those giant vehicles” each took out.

Bullen’s aforementioned “love” for the Micronauts is equally as plain to see in the next stage of the heroes’ frantically-paced pursuit, with Microtron and his “ungrateful captain” taking to the skies in their toy-sized spaceship in order to take down two rotarcraft which in their astonished eyes are “larger than the Avon Federation Space Port.” Oz’s sarcastic first mate proves particularly amusing during these panels, criticising his team-mate’s lack of gratitude for all the robot's speedy, last-minute repairs despite the imminent danger they’re all in; “Biotron and I did a wonderful job of repairing her. Seems like the kind of thing one should be thanked for. Right, Captain?”

Of course, none of this enthusiasm would be quite so infectious for this publication’s 5,590 readers if it wasn’t for Max Dunbar’s dynamic artwork. In fact, a lot of this comic’s exhilarating entertainment is due to the Canadian’s ability to imbue his well-pencilled figures with a humorous look here or a straight faced rebuke there, such as when Orbital Defender slyly points out to Phenolo-Phi that the Pharoid is still vainly speaking to their would-be rescuer despite having just said that “the giants lacked intelligence because they kept talking even though we couldn’t understand”.

Written by: Cullen Bunn, Art by: Max Dunbar, and Colors by: Ander Zarate