Cover: Bob Layton

Micronauts #36

Dec 1981 · Marvel · 0.50 USD

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“This Battlefield Earth!”

★ 1st appearance — Huntarr

About this Issue

Micronauts #36, titled 'This Battlefield Earth!', is most significant as the penultimate issue of the series available through newsstand distribution — just two issues before #38 launched as one of Marvel's first ongoing titles sold exclusively through the direct (comic shop) market, a distribution shift that reshaped the industry. The issue also represents Bill Mantlo's sustained creative ambition on the title: stranded on Earth at miniature scale, the Micronauts battle King Argon's Death Squad inside a school building, with oversized everyday objects standing in for weapons and terrain — a storytelling conceit that dramatized the team's unique physical perspective. As the arc heading into the pivotal direct-market era, #36 sits at a genuine inflection point in both the series' publication history and Marvel's broader commercial strategy of the early 1980s.

In "This Battlefield Earth!", Peter Parker and Lisa Skye share a quiet moment on a bridge—until a sudden ambush throws Peter off the edge. With a quick change into Spider-Man, he swings into action, using an unexpected weapon: Hostess Cup Cakes—to distract his pursuers. John Romita Jr.’s dynamic art, polished by Frank Giacoia’s inks and Irv Watanabe’s crisp lettering, brings the chaos to life, while Bob Layton’s cover captures the moment’s high-stakes tension.

writer Bill Mantlo · artist Keith Giffen · inker Danny Bulanadi · colorist Bob Sharen · letterer Jean Simek · cover Bob Layton

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More listings for this title

VG $1.31 FN · Newsstand $1.99 CGC $3 Newsstand $3.95 VG+ · Newsstand $4 FN $5 Newsstand $5.51 FN · Newsstand $6.39

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History

The issue was written by Bill Mantlo — the series' consistent driving creative force — and penciled by Keith Giffen, with inks by Danny Bulanadi, lettering by Jean Simek, colors by Bob Sharen, and editing by Tom DeFalco under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Mantlo had conceived the Micronauts series in 1977 after his son Adam received Mego's toy line as a Christmas gift, and he convinced Shooter to acquire the comics license; by issue #36, the book was deep into Mantlo's original mythology, well past any direct dependency on the toy line itself, which had already been discontinued by Mego in 1980.

Trivia · 8 facts

Story title: 'This Battlefield Earth!' — on sale September 1, 1981; cover-dated December 1981.
Written by Bill Mantlo; penciled by Keith Giffen; inked by Danny Bulanadi; edited by Tom DeFalco; editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.
The Micronauts — Rann, Marionette, Acroyear, Bug, Devil, Microtron, and Nanotron — battle King Argon's Death Squad inside an Earth elementary school, using the scale disparity between the miniature heroes and full-size objects as the issue's central dramatic device.
The Galactic Destroyer makes its last appearance in this issue, per the Marvel Database.
Issue #36 is one of the final Micronauts issues available through newsstand distribution; the very next issue (#37) carries an in-issue announcement that #38 would be direct-sales and subscription only — making #36 part of the last window of wide newsstand availability.
Beginning with issue #38 (cover date February 1982), Micronauts became one of Marvel's first ongoing series distributed exclusively through comic book specialty stores, alongside Moon Knight and Ka-Zar the Savage.
The issue exists in at least three simultaneous print editions: a direct-market edition, a newsstand edition, and a British (pence-priced) edition — the latter part of the final wave of Marvel UK price variants, as the December 1981 cover date marked the last month such variants were produced.
The issue has been reprinted twice: in Micronauts: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 2 (2024) and as the opening chapter of Micronauts Epic Collection Vol. 3 — The Original Marvel Years: This Battlefield Earth (2025), which collects issues #36–50.