Micronauts (1979) 18

Playday is an annual United Kingdom event held the first Wednesday in August designed to keep fun activity alive and well for children.

Mick Conway, Paul Bonel and Kim Holdaway began their campaign in 1986 for a day of play to be recognized. The first events were held in 1987. Those grew to more than a dozen in London by 1989. It became a national event in 1991 and is currently the largest celebration of its kind in Europe.

Playday fare include street parties, festivals and community events of all kinds.

Representing the day is Micronauts issue 18.

Micronauts (1979) 18

The Micronauts return from a two-issue mission guest-starring the Fantastic Four, crash landing in a backyard. They find themselves under the thumb of a child wishing to make up new adventures for the action figures.

Her fun is ended when the mother tears the child away from her play and near destruction of the titular heroes.

The Micronauts began as a Mego toy line in 1976 in the United States, but were put to rest by Kenner’s licensed Star Wars franchise by 1980.

To bolster sales, Marvel began a series of the same title in 1979. It would continue through 1986 with 59 issues printed. Two annuals were also included in the run.

It would become exclusive to comic book shops with issue 38. Other titles going the direct route included Moon Knight and Kazar the Savage.

Overseas, in the UK, Micronauts appeared as a second feature in Star Wars Weekly. It was then moved into the first nine issues of Star Heroes Pocketbook with Battlestar Galactica. Later it was relegated to Future Tense, a reprint anthology.

Marvel dredged a few more dollars from the original material with a five-issue Micronauts Special Edition reprinting issues 1-12.

In 1984, the book was retitled The New Voyages and continued for another 20 issues into 1986.

Image Comics procured the license in 2002 for 11 issues. Devil’s Due Publishing attempted to relaunch the franchise in 2004. It ran three issues.

IDW is the present license holder having published the first issue in 2016.

For those who remember the line of toys from the Me Decade, these might be worth digging out for a nostalgic trip.

If you don’t have the figures or don’t remember, there are many other activities available to recognize the day set aside for play.