Art: Ted Boonthanakit
Review: Will Dubbeld
In fact it was an obscure indie comic helped steer my decision, in part because I'm always looking to expand my base of comic knowhow, but also because I've a huge soft spot for these oddball books.
MICRA dropped in 1987, during a boom of indie publishers that were producing some great little books. The backdrop of the series takes place in a dystopian future and essentially is a story of the haves and have-nots. The fortunate live inside utopian some cities while the less so live in the nuclear wasteland outside. The main protagonist is a young quadriplegic lady named Angela, who is given the chance to experience life fully through a MICRA, an android body controlled autonomously through a computer while the user is in an induced trance.
Although the MICRA allows Angela to function normally in society, sinister machinations are afoot. It seems the android has combat applications and our heroine is serving as a field test for the military, much to her chagrin. It seems the MICRA's offensive capabilities are reflexive, activating when under attack, and they deploy during an assault from a group of freedom fighters. Some deaths are involved and Angela begins to second-guess her involvement with the MICRA.
Interspersed is a love angle with Angela's boyfriend, the underhandedness of the military industrial complex, the plans of the aforementioned freedom fighters/terrorist group, and an overall theme of class warfare. MICRA was touted as a 12-part series but I believe only 7 issues saw print.
I'd like to find the remaining six issues, because there was some pretty solid art and storytelling in MICRA. Many of the obscure oddities from '80s and '90s indie comics scene are well worth seeking out and this book is no exception.
Highly recommended and certainly worth the search.
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