MICHAEL GOLDEN'S MICRONAUTS Artist Edition is the SECRET SAUCE of IMAGE COMICS.

[@ghrosenb]

When Micronauts was first being published I was a pre-teen at the peak of my comics collecting enthusiasm. This was one of the few titles -- along with X-Men and a couple of others -- I would run home from the comic shop with and read, re-read, and re-read whenever it came out. Or, it was for it's first 12 issues. I think it's one of the all-time great, classic comic book runs. Just now while watching your video, reading the little speech Captain Universe gives Karza about what he's fighting for still gives me goose bumps. The whole artifice of a middle aged dad suddenly getting powers to fight for his son, in front of his son, thrilled me as a kid for one reason and today thrills me as a middle aged man for a whole other reason. Brilliant.

[@eburonson]

Micronauts, Shogun Warriors, and Power Man and Iron Fist were all in my first haul from the Optimo spinner rack. My gateway into comics. That birthday/ Christmas I got 3 Shogun warriors and the big Micronauts ship...the following year it was Pocket size heroes and Mego...oh the 70's how the ghost of you clings!

[@imranhusain6087]

Optimo sounds like a forerunner to Optimus Prime!

[@andrewallen7962]

In regards to the questions on the color overlays (around the 15:00 mark onward): some of the original art still had the 'color hold' overlay art still included with their matching master page, but many were missing (not unusual for art of this vintage). The pages with surviving color holds had the overlay art included in the book in their original, intended colors. Two pages from issue 9 (both pointed out by our eagle-eyed hosts) were missing the overlay INKS but had been re-united with their overlay PENCILS, which had survived separately, if you can believe it. Enough detail was still visible from the pencils that it was decided to include them in place of their missing inked counterparts.

[@__Greg___]

FYI, Neal Adams inked that Man-Thing cover. If you guys haven't done a video on Golden's Demon story in Batman Family, it would definitely be worth it (along with the Ditko stories that followed). Coloring original pages seemed to have been a thing back in the 80s. A friend of mine bought a Byrne X-Men splash page and when Oliff saw it he really put the hard press on my friend to color the page (my friend resisted thankfully). I've also got a Buckler Fantastic Four page that someone colored in with markers.

[@richardbehrle1496]

At 29:00 I owned the right page shown. I purchased it at a Nyc comic con in the early 80s. I miss that piece. I still have the entire Golden run of Micronauts. The “Macronauts ad is from a issue of Cracked done after his run, while he was working on the Nam.

[@seanprice4260]

The Oliff coloured pages were originally done for a comic art collector who wanted pages of his comic art collection coloured. I have a page of another artist which has been coloured. It looks interesting but is intrusive. You see other pages from other series from time to time. This was also done at a time when comic art was relatively cheap.

[@frankstrysik1558]

More than one collector. I saw Oliff airbrushing original art people bought at conventions. Byrne, Miller and Golden original art all ruined.

[@russworks2882]

@@frankstrysik1558 This makes my nerves itch.

[@hcanderson3787]

Micronauts (comics and toys) were huge for me. Golden is a genius. Thanks for this

[@KeithHarper]

I can definitely see that Golden was on influence on both Jeff Dee and Bill Willingham. They were TSR AD&D artists in the early 80's.

[@iamtheai2759]

I grew up reading this story. Still have all the toys. Thanks for posting.

[@mattkent7270]

Golden's detail, accuracy of the toys, scale when they're on Earth was sooo impressive being a kid with alot of the Mego toys. At the time the toys combined Star Wars & Lego - which was very exciting.

[@stephenbifani7798]

I got to speak with the late great Neal Adams at a con a few years ago. He told me he was amazed at Golden's ability to just draw with no construction. Like just projecting the image onto the page from his mind and tracing it. Adams said he saw Golden draw a dead horse this way and it made a lasting impression. He was drawing a piece while he was telling me about this, and he said, "Look, I've gotta draw this Batman like this. (Sketches construction lines for the figure) Golden just draws it!" Very cool experience.

[@TOKYOTOYBANZAI]

Micronauts is such a great franchise. As big collector of the original Microman action figure line that kicked off not only Micronauts, but also Transformers, I am endlessly fascinated by all the stuff that came out of Takara's original idea to change up Hasbro's original 12" GI Joe action figures into cyborgs, then shrink them in size during the oil crisis of the 1970's. There was an original manga for Microman in the 1970's as well, with a completely different storyline from what became Micronauts.

[@joeanderson9045]

I got my copy of this signed by Golden and Jim Shooter at Pensacon in February. Paid $90 to my LCS for the book when it was first released and I guess they are OOP now b/c Golden was charging $800 for pre-signed copies at this table.

[@richtoonsTV]

I have this one! Michael Golden is my all time favorite comic book artist and was very influential on me in terms of how I now make my living!

[@ericburke9490]

I didn’t know this existed! I just finished collecting the first series and need this now.

[@stormcrow1970]

That back-lit image at the top of the right page at 27:12 ! Golden is a master.

[@randalwung8715]

Some of my favorite comics when they came out and the ones that introduced me to Golden. Joe Rubinstein, on the other hand, was never my favorite inker-didn’t hate his soft inks but didn't love them either-but he was a good fit for Mike's look at the start of the series that, yeah, was quite Wrightson-ish with the figures and shadowing; Steranko-ish, too, with the tech and use of negative space. That first Micronauts issue in particular still holds a nostalgic magic for me when I look at it. And it’s very true that Shooter would hand every artist, seasoned or newbie, a stack of Kirby comics and tell them "This is what I want." Golden, however, if I’m recalling correctly, wasn't your traditional geek who worshipped comics and comic artists; he was just an extremely talented dude who had comics mentioned to him as a job, looked at what was on the stands, and went "I can do that," lol. As such, he wasn't all that familiar with Kirby and, when Shooter steered him in that direction, he went full-throttle with it; which, I think, was what evolved him into the Michael Golden who influenced generations to come and remains-along with people like Rude and Simonson and Mignola-one of the best Kirbyesque artists around. Given that creative shift, Al Milgrom with his harder edge and thicker lines was a good choice to step in for Rubinstein. Anyway, just a great, fun series that really put Golden on the map and made me go, “Seriously…I’m reading a TOY comic?” lol.

[@joebalusikiii5811]

Thanks for the in-depth look guys. I own The Rocketeer Artist Edition.

[@tfustudios]

I always saw Golden as part of the Ploog school. Much tighter and concise line wise but same sort of dynamic ( especially that Micronauts #7 cover!)

[@africaandthecitiesofstone7341]

This was my favorite comic after old time Marvel Star Wars. I still have all the issues I bought back in the day- guess I'm gonna have to dig 'em out for a look... The third best was Marvel's Battlestar Galactica...

[@z_bill]

Tom is (still) my hero! haha isn't it about time we learn what he's been working on? Perhaps make it a Kayfabe exclusive?

[@davidalicea3203]

what a great toy line but expensive, especially the magnetic ones! I have Acroyer, Baron Karza, Space gliders, my Mom got me this book I was in 6th grade I read it that morning before class, and when I got home. The cover was very misleading J. Sinott did or Milgrom so i was hesistant, but when I opened it oh man! I loved Rubenstien's inks Those deep brush strokes, shadows, details, the Golden facial expressions all priceless!!!! I tried to grab this book but to no avail sadly....

[@russworks2882]

I came so close to getting this; I think the inks made me hesitate. But some of those pages are just magnificent. I've read there's more Golden coming in future Artist's Editions.

[@eagleal]

Great video guys, I still want this book. Hopefully IDW will also do a smaller softback artisan edition. Mantlo and Golden's Micronauts is one of the great comic runs and still a personal favourite. Here in the UK we first saw it in print in black and white like this book, in Star Wars Weekly. If only Marvel would buy up the bits of the property then don't own, so we could get a hardback remastered run of this. Certainly a lot of people want it.

[@carbunkel06]

I remember when the toys came out. They came out years after the large figures and big GI Joes and I was appalled at how small they were. I think I bought one or two. I loved the books though.

[@dwaynemuth8775]

Great 👍 job,guys! Bug was definitely a homage to Klik-Klak from Kamandi 13&14!

[@imranhusain6087]

The name of Bug's home planet, Kaliklak, definitely sounds like an homage to Klik-Klak!

[@rollocostadelagorillion2902]

I had this comic as a kid when it originally came out, well not the artist's edition, but the 1st (and probably at least a few followings) issue

[@rollocostadelagorillion2902]

Ah man, watching this vid is giving me an OD of unexpected nostalgia

[@pauldouglas9999]

Surprised they didn’t know Neal Adams inked the Man-Thing #7 cover.

[@bobbyhulll8737]

The Toy line was awesome and was imported from Japan and this line of Micronauts was never duplicated although they did have some decent runs after .. this is my favourite Golden run of all time , Bug was essentially Galactic Warrior , Galactic Defender does show up in an annual , Commander Rann was The toy Space Glider, Marionette was not a toy , they shrunk Microton down to a R2D2 size companion , Biotron they shrink down to be a sidekick companion of Rann, Baron Karza and Force Commander are also shrunk down to the size of the rest of the toy line . Way more articulation than any other toy in that size until GI Joe , think Mego superheroes or 12” GI Joe in 6 inch scale . This is what the quantum realm of the current MCU should have been but for Hasbro owning Micronauts ..

[@liquidj2956]

No Bug or Marionette in the toy line.

[@bobbyhulll8737]

Bug was referred to in the comic as a Galactic Warrior which was one of the toys however he didn’t look anything like Bug unless you got the green version

[@spcglider]

If you examine the figures closely and compare them to Golden's character designs, you'll find a lot of visual clues that Golden accidentally switched the die-cast figures when he was designing. The design elements present on Bug resemble much more closely the design elements on the Space Glider figure body. Right down to the insect-like frills and details on his calves and forearms. The Galactic Warrior figure came with a Time Traveler head and a Time Traveler tummy piece...and in the design of Commander Rann these are significant elements (the comic book Time Travelers are infinite replications of Rann's consciousness by the Enigma Force). So it's highly likely that somewhere along the line that Golden mistakenly swapped the two die-cast figures when he was referencing the crate full of toys he'd been given.

[@ivane5110]

Being very much a Silver Age art style fan (even though that does encompass a lot of styles), I didn't like his art in and of itself. But it was so interwoven with Micronauts that it added to the cool vibe of their stories, so anyone else just failed to draw me into their tales. Just like the artist of the original Marvel Exiles run. Not even close to being a favorite artist of mine outside of that series, but anyone else doing them and it just doesn't feel like its actually them.

[@khsuki1]

Always sad Golden never did a mainstream super hero book during that era.

[@jeffnicholas6342]

“Speedway. Skateboard. Circus.” The depth of field plus storytelling on this splash is cum-dumpster