Mikros - Titan Microcosmique!

Mikros

Created by Marcel Navarro (as Malcolm Naughton) and Jean-Yves Mitton (as John Milton)
Appears in Mustang Nos.54-70 and Titans No.35-87 (1980-1986)

You may never have read a single issue featuring the so-called “Microcosmic Titan,” but everything about Mikros is familiar -- and it’s meant to be!

Mikros and friends, encountering a mirror for the first time since they got their costumes.

Mikros and his two equally superheroic allies are frequently found dashing across the Manhattan skyline in their brightly colored costumes, rubbing shoulders with Marvel superheroes (more or less), and even saving the world from destruction -- at least twice! 

The bold palette and broad melodrama of the strip meshed perfectly with the bombastic superhero storytelling of Marvel Comics, and the international settings lent the series an unusually sophisticated gravitas. 

There was soap opera, cosmic threat, international intrigue, evil societies, and supervillains aplenty! There are tragic sacrifices and soul-searching storylines over almost 80 appearances -- Bronze Age storytelling at its finest!

So, why might you not recognize Mikros and his super-powered pals? Well, for one reason -- they’re very small. For another, Mikros was never a comic which popped up in the American mainstream. It was one of a long lineage of original features created for French publishing house Editions Lug.

Crazy space shit (German translation, Bastei)

At the time, the Lyon-based publisher was responsible for reprinting some of Marvel’s titles in French for the European market. These spanned the gamut of Marvel’s stock, from its major and minor superhero properties (Les Fantastiques and L’Araignee, whose provenance you may be able to suss out regardless of fluency) to popular licenses like Conan, Rom and La Guerre des Etoiles.

(What If--?, the five-hour energy drink of the continuity nerd, was also reprinted in French via Editions Lug, although retitled the somehow more peevish-seeming Et si--? Imagine those words being hissed by a reedy man waving a cigarette around. “Et si--? Et si--? So what if L’Araignee joins Le Fantastiques! Who cares! Et si--?”)

Editions Lug had published original characters prior to their acquisition of the Marvel license, but Mikros represented their first effort to create contemporary super-heroes on a scale to compete with -- or at least seamlessly appear alongside -- the Marvel Universe as represented by the stories within Lug’s purview. 

The action sequences scream “American super-hero comics,” the cosmic scale is evidence of a creative team that has gotten the memo, and the heroes are awash in soap opera dynamics and concerns. Co-creator Jean-Yves Mitton and Edition Lug publisher Marcel Navarro went so far as to take on Americanized pen names for the sake of kayfabe.

“C’est moi — Crabb!” (original French publication, Editions Lug)

While neither Mikros nor any of Edition Lug’s other original heroes were officially part of the Marvel universe, sly “cross-overs” took place in the form of familiar merch popping up in-continuity within Mikros’ stories. Early adventures weren’t above having armored superhero Crabb sport a “Spidey” t-shirt in his downtime, or show the team trying to find cover in a costume shop with a pretty specific stock of familiar costumes on display…

Little touches which a reader might identify as being peculiar to European comics will occasionally appear, nonetheless, to dizzying effect. Cosmic and other supernatural effects often seem to have dropped out of Metal Hurlant by way of Kirby and Ditko. 

Leaving behind a spaceship headquarters on the peak of the Empire State Building, the trio eventually relocates their operations to Europe, where the more intimate depth of detail in the subsequent settings is palpable.

Who are Mikros and His Amazing Friends?

The villainous, insectoid Svizz descend from deep space to conquer Earth! Their plan involves creating super-powered insect warriors by messing with the DNA of kidnapped humans! The process is interrupted while working on the first three subjects -- Harvard entomologists all, as well as Olympic champions -- giving them each amazing powers to use against the evil insectoid aliens!!

Chief of the three, there’s Mike Ross -- the eponymous MIKROS. A former decathlon champ (and entomologist!), Mike displays tremendous speed and endurance as the superheroic and eponymous Mikros. Also, it was probably pretty easy to come up with a name. 

Besides his physical assets, Mike can also change size, fly, use hypnosis rays, shoot or absorb or manipulate energy as needed, and tune his antennae into the existential frequencies of the cosmos, the last part of which sounds fucking radical. Pardon my French.

This seems very French (original French publication, Editions Lug)

Second is Priscilla Conway, aka Saltarella. A former gymnastics champion (and entomologist!), Priscilla walks away from her metamorphosis with powers of flight, super-strength, ray-beams -- the usual good stuff. 

Additionally, an important role portrayed by Priscilla throughout the series was that of the kidnapped bride. There’s hardly a foe that doesn’t want to rush into wedlock with the lady in the Party City “Sexy Grasshopper” costume.

You sign up for shots like this when you got shrinking superheroes. (original French publication, Editions Lug)

For that matter, their final teammate also has it bad for Saltarella, and that’s Bobby Crabb -- the patriotic combination crab/football superhero which America didn’t even know it needed, the ever-loving blue-shell Crabb! 

A former championship boxer (and entomologist!), Bobby cuts the finest figure in a team of secondary palettes. With a crabshell body and claw-like right hand painted in the stars-and-stripes of the good ol’ red-white-and-blue, no superhero in existence looks more like he’d been purchased at a gift shop in Florida.

YAAAHOOOOOU!  (original French publication, Editions Lug)

Crabb has the same flight and size-changing powers as his compatriots, and probably some additional strength and toughness owing to the armor, but he loses out on ray-beams or tripping out on cosmic radio waves or getting the girl.

(The love triangle may scream “Fantastic Four” to some, but those with refined tastes might compare it to something like Charlton Comics’ The Sentinels -- A romance between a dynamic woman, a movie star superhero, and an emotional wreck of a roughneck who doesn’t stand a chance.)

Crabb feels a kinship to the monkey astronaut on an American rocket (original French publication, Editions Lug)

Over their nearly-eighty issue run, Mikros and pals went on to face a passel of fancy French-speaking foes from all over the continent and beyond. The secret society PSI becomes a recurring menace — even so far as to reappear in a later “sequel” to Mikros, titled Epsilon. Originally under the control of the now-deceased Raoul de Roquemaure, Count of Monsegur, leadership of PSI passes to his widow the Countess, whose scarred features make for many melodramatic reveals. 

Lesser foes include the leering Cogliostro, a self-proclaimed master of magic, and the fully armored and virus-laden gunman Microbios. Voudou is an African villain who sports a spear, an afro and a leopard-print costume that includes booties, shorts and a cape, just to warn you in advance.

Ever the third wheel, Crabb is entranced by an outer-space diva named Bandora, under whose influence he helps demolish Sacramento. He eventually gets over it.

Prominent members of the secret society called PSI — all the usual culprits for the era… (original French publication, Editions Lug)

Mikros and his creator Jean-Yves Mitton have enjoyed several revivals over the last few years, including some lovely reprint editions and a successful overseas Kickstarter which resulted in a very desirable hardcover compendium titled The Official Handbook of the Mitton Universe.

By contrast, precious little information seems available in English on the web and there has not been, to my knowledge, any translations which have been made for the English-language market (Everything assembled for this article came from poring over what I could find of the original French versions and later German translations). This means that English-language readers are really missing out on one of the most unique and curious superhero comics in recent decades.

As a so-called American-style comic assembled by canny French creators, Mikros is fascinating for providing a European perspective on a pervasive pop culture phenomenon through a new lens. As rare as copies are in English, much of the series can only really be experienced by readers through other foreign-language, non-english reprint volumes.

Cool French Comics was an invaluable resource for this article.