Micronauts #2

Feb 1979 · Marvel · 0.35 USD

📊 ~12,803 copies sold its debut month

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Earth!”

★ 1st appearance — Steve Coffin

About this Issue

Micronauts #2 marks the first time the team crossed through the Spacewall and arrived on Earth, establishing the core conceit that would drive much of Bill Mantlo's run — that the subatomic Microverse exists within the very molecules of the world around us, making every subsequent Marvel Universe crossover feel grounded and genuinely strange. The issue also delivers the first appearance of Steve Coffin, the Florida teenager who becomes the team's primary human ally and whose father Ray would later become the original Captain Universe, anchoring a supporting cast that had no toy-line antecedent and was entirely Mantlo and Golden's invention. A backup character-profile feature on the Time Traveller — the Enigma Force's enigmatic avatar — began a tradition of worldbuilding supplements that ran through the first several issues in place of letters pages, deepening reader investment in a mythology that outlasted the Mego toy line by years. The issue's release in early 1979 cemented that the series intended to be far more than a promotional vehicle, blending space-opera stakes with the disorienting scale of an insect-eye view of suburban America.

writer Bill Mantlo · artist Michael Golden · inker Josef Rubinstein · colorist F. Mouly · letterer Costanza · cover Michael Golden, Joe Rubinstein

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $3

CGC 9.8 · 117 in census $76

CGC 9.6 · 53 in census $33

CGC 9.4 · 22 in census $26*

CGC 9.2 · 12 in census $20

CGC 9.0 · 6 in census $20*

CGC 8.5 · 6 in census $20*

Show all 12 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 7.5 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 6.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 6.0 · 1 in census $20

CGC 5.5 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

More listings for this title

VF · Newsstand $2.25 VF $4.7 NM $5 MINT $5 NM $9 NM $9 Newsstand $9.99 VF+ · Newsstand $14

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 17 total · seen 24 days ago

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

The series grew from a Christmas 1977 accident: Bill Mantlo's son Adam unwrapped a set of Mego Corporation Micronauts figures, and Mantlo — immediately inspired — persuaded editor-in-chief Jim Shooter to acquire the comics license. Mantlo was then hired to script the series, with Michael Golden brought on as penciler and storyteller; the two essentially created the Microverse's narrative from scratch, as the Japanese-import toy line carried almost no backstory of its own. By issue #2, with Al Milgrom serving as editor and Josef Rubinstein inking, the creative team was already expanding well beyond the toy catalog, inventing wholly original characters and locations that would eventually outlive Marvel's license. The issue carried a cover date of February 1979 and was released to newsstands in November 1978.

Trivia · 8 facts

Cover-dated February 1979 (released November 1978); written by Bill Mantlo, penciled by Michael Golden, inked by Josef Rubinstein, edited by Al Milgrom under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.
Lead story titled 'Earth!' — the Micronauts escape the Microverse through the Spacewall and arrive on Earth at the scale of action figures, establishing the series' defining visual and narrative hook.
First appearance of Steve Coffin, the Daytona Beach, Florida teenager who discovers the Micronauts in his backyard and becomes their first human ally on Earth (Marvel Earth-616).
First appearance of Steve's dog Muffin, whose puppy-sized body reads as a monstrous threat to the miniaturized heroes — an early example of Golden's celebrated use of scale.
Backup feature is a full-page character profile/pin-up of the Time Traveller (the avatar of the Enigma Force), written by Mantlo and drawn by Golden and Rubinstein; this ran in lieu of a letters page, a feature format used for the first few issues to build out the series' mythology.
Prince Shaitan pursues the team to Earth, continuing the Karza-faction threat established in issue #1 and setting up the multi-issue Earth arc that runs through approximately issue #8.
The issue was reprinted in black-and-white in Marvel UK's Future Tense anthology (#6, December 1980) and in color in Micronauts Special Edition #4 (March 1984), a five-issue prestige reprint series that collected issues #1–12.
The Steve Coffin family (Steve, father Ray, mother Elaine) are entirely original Marvel creations by Mantlo and Golden, not derived from any Mego toy — a distinction that allowed them to remain Marvel intellectual property after the Hasbro/Mego license lapsed.