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I loved the 1970's-80's Marvel comic book series as a kid. While I haven't re-read it in a few years, from memory: (1) yes, the comic book did show both Baron Karza and Force Commander turning into centaurs, (2) in the comic book, the Micronauts lived in their own universe called the Microverse, but, if they traveled to the edge of space they could pierce the boundary between their universe and ours and emerge as 3 3/4 " size creatures in our world (which actually turned into the Marvel Universe over time), (2) Baron Karza was the evil ruler of their homeworld, which was controlled by a set of elites who forced select members of the teeming underclass of society to go into 'body banks' where they would be destroyed and their life force transferred to Baron Karza and other elites to keep them perpetually young, (3) at the start of the series, the Space Glider toy was adapted into Commander Rann, who, with BioTron as his 'C3PO,' was just returning from a long deep space mission, but he returns to a world where the benevolent king who originally sent him on the mission has been overthrown by the despotic, Darth Vader-like Baron Karza, (4) continuing the Star Wars influence, the comic book included a Force-like mystical force concept, (5) in the comics, Time Traveller was this cosmic, god-like entity that, somewhat analogous to dead Obi Wan Kenobi, would appear to Commander Rann from time-to-time and give him some mystical, vague guidance, and (6) in the comics, the Micronatus hero team eventually comes together, including Acroyear, which eventually also include a couple notable, original Marvel creations Bug and the Princess (again, like Star Wars), as well as Microtron (as the R2D2 indeed) and they take off in Commander Rann's spaceship again, fleeing Baron Karza's tyranny and vowing to overthrow him, including fleeing to Earth (with Baron Karza's forces in pursuit), which they do by issue # 12/13.
As an epilogue, very sadly in real life, the writer-creator of the series, Bill Mantlo, had left comic books by the early 1990s to pursue a career in the law (as a public defender in NYC, if memory serves), and one day 30+ years ago, he was rollerblading and was hit by a car and has been in a vegetative state in hospice care ever since.
The Micronauts comic book was created by writer Bill Mantlo, again from memory, when, at Christmas 1977, he saw his young stepson enthusiastically playing with a bunch of new Micronauts toys. He then went to Marvel's EIC, Jim Shooter, and pitched him to get the Micronauts license. I've always thought this timing explains the extreme Star Wars influence on the comic book's initial characters and concepts and meta-plot, as Star Wars had been the blockbuster hit movie of summer 1977, and was also, simultaneously, a huge-selling, company-saving Marvel comic book series.
As an epilogue, very sadly in real life, the writer-creator of the series, Bill Mantlo, had left comic books by the early 1990s to pursue a career in the law (as a public defender in NYC, if memory serves), and one day 30+ years ago, he was rollerblading and was hit by a car and has been in a vegetative state in hospice care ever since.
The Micronauts comic book was created by writer Bill Mantlo, again from memory, when, at Christmas 1977, he saw his young stepson enthusiastically playing with a bunch of new Micronauts toys. He then went to Marvel's EIC, Jim Shooter, and pitched him to get the Micronauts license. I've always thought this timing explains the extreme Star Wars influence on the comic book's initial characters and concepts and meta-plot, as Star Wars had been the blockbuster hit movie of summer 1977, and was also, simultaneously, a huge-selling, company-saving Marvel comic book series.
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