Although we live in the age of reprints, trade paperbacks, digital comics and old material being collected in fancy formats, there are certain comics from the past that, for one reason or another, we’ll probably never see collected or show up on sites like comiXology. Case in point, comics like Micronauts and Rom, which were licensed books published by Marvel that were integrated into the Marvel Universe — and thus featured guest appearances by the X-Men, Spider-Man and other Marvel characters on occasion. They also featured the debuts of original characters to the mythos, like various spaceknights in Rom and Bug in Micronauts, who are actually owned by Marvel.
While this made for a fun time in comics, those licenses eventually expired or transferred over to someone else — case in point, both Rom and Micronauts are published by IDW these days. That means we might see Bug show up occasionally in Guardians of the Galaxy, but he’s no longer a Micronaut, and it’s unlikely his buddy Acroyear is going to show up. Marvel owns Bug, Hasbro owns Acroyear, and all those great comics published back in the day end up in limbo in our reprint-driven era.
So all this is to say that besides the back-issue market, the upcoming Michael Golden’s Micronauts Artist’s Edition coming from IDW may be some fans’ only chance to own some of Bill Mantlo and Golden’s classic Micronauts comics.
“A Micronauts Artist’s Edition has been a holy grail for many comic art fans since the AE program was launched,” says Editor Scott Dunbier. “We are delighted that we can bring this book to fruition.”
The collection will include six issues of Micronauts (#3, #7-9, and #11-12), alongside a gallery section of more than a dozen covers, art rarities and additional pages “that represent some of Michael Golden’s very best from the Micronauts series.” Like the other Artist’s Editions, the hardcover measures 12” x 17” — the same size as the original art used to create the original comics.
IDW says they will donate a portion of profits to the long-term medical care of Mantlo, who has received treatment for cognitive and memory impairment since a 1992 hit-and-run accident.
Check out a few more pages from it below, and look for it in June: