Writer – Bill Mantlo
Artist – Pat Broderick
Inker – Dan Bulandi
Colours – Roger Slifer
Letters – Joe Rosen

S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Micronauts are under attack on two fronts from two forces and both of them under the command of the newly resurrected Baron Karza. Commander Rann has been incapacitated, Hydra continues to press in and now Karza’s armies from the Microverse have arrived to increase the pressure upon those heroes who are left and the worry that they will lose this battle is becoming a reality with every passing second. Bill Mantlo and Pat Broderick pull no punches in presenting this tale as they up the action, the suspense and fill it with nail-biting tension. Karza is confident, perhaps more so than he has ever been. He has been planning this for some time and now that he has the Enigma Force, there is nothing that he cannot accomplish, nobody that he cannot defeat. That being said, Prince Acroyear cannot just stand idly by and allow all of this to happen and so he engages Karza in battle. While he does this, his brother Shaitan is causing trouble of his own, betraying Karza by letting the Micronaut forces in through the wormhole so that they might aid in the destruction of those his master commands. Of course, Karza knows none of this at the moment, the man being preoccupied with Acroyear who presses his attacks forward. Mantlo and Broderick lay down the drama and it is absolutely riveting, each panel drawing the reader into what can only be called a truly epic story. It only continues to get better as the fight between Acroyear and Karza intensifies and as it does, Shaitan decides to do what is his by birthright, to call upon the Worldmind of Spartak and wield its awesome power while at the same time, dooming the people still there to destruction by calling away the planet’s life force. Things do not go well for Shaitan though as the Worldmind can only inhabit a living body and Shaitan being just a reanimated corpse crumbles underneath its power. So it is that Acroyear calls it forth, it being too late for his people now, but not too late for the men and women around him. With each blow he hammers into Karza, it also hurts Commander Rann, but he does not let up and with a little aid from the Queen of Kaliklak, Acroyear strikes Karza down, something nobody thought possible at this point and as he does, so too does it seem like he strikes down his friend Rann. Borderick and Mantlo leave the book off on a bit of a cliff-hanger at this point, the fate of Commander Rann unknown, Hydra and the rest of their enemies still surrounding them and the body of Prince Argon lying among them, Karza seemingly defeated. Exciting and thrilling are simply not enough to describe what happened during this issue, but it was magnificent and the best the series has probably seen thus far.

5 out of 5