With the use of Photoshop & Illustrator I dressed up some original art by Scott Rosema in order to create a cover concept for what might have been a zero issue. I'ts too bad Marvel never did something like this after the series finale before the Parker Bro's licensing was yanked. Some kind of issue back tracking to tie up some loose ends would have been nice.Especially explaining crap like that "snow globe" sphere thing that was salvaged from Termintor and magically turns ROM from a cyborg into human form. Or maybe something that explains how ROM and Brandy start to repopulate Galador from their . . . ahem limited gene pool shall we say? It seemed plausible to me that other Galadorians could have been hiding out in other parts of the planet. Kinda like in the Terminator films in which there were pockets of human resistance hiding through out the world.
In ROM #14 there is a cut away story about how ROM's girlfriend (Ray-na) was killed on the the planet Agricon during the Wraith invasion of the Golden Galaxy. So apparently Galadorians lived on off world colonies which makes sense. It's a common theme in science fiction concepts that deal with technologically advanced space faring civilizations. It would have stood to reason that many of those Galadorians would have wanted to return to Galador to help rebuild. Also maybe to help figure out those surviving spaceknights who's humanity got trashed might be able to become human again. Did these brilliant Galadorian scientists ever think about cloning perhaps!? I mean I know the process that Quasimodo used was some what less then perfect but cloning worked pretty good in that mediocre sci-fi flick with Arnold ( The Governator ) "The Sixth Day". Like I said before it would have been nice to have something wrap all that up in light of the rag tag ending I felt the series had. And by the Gods of Galador have any body else pencil it but Steve Dikto please!
Nice artwork again!
ReplyDeleteYeah I think DC had a sweet idea this year bringing back dead series for one more issue. While they used the extra pages to move the characters on it would be a great way for creators who were cut short to get a little space to finish up.
for what it's worth someone just left a comment on a Aug. 22 posting of mine in which he defends Steve Dikto. for the record i always welcome comments even when people disagree with me. it's like the Jerry Springer show, it just would be what it is with out people speaking up who have a difference of opinion. this guy has a blog site in which he has his own take on things as far as how the ROM series concluded. it's worth a look for all ROM fans out there who aren't dicks.
ReplyDeletehttp://blogintomystery.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/an-ode-to-a-licensed-character-part-8-of-8-rom-75/
by the way Dan, i left a comment for this guy and a link to your ROM#65 Dikto splash page blog posting. i hope he'll have something to say.
I love what you did with the Rosema artwork. It is truly amazing to see. I think Marvel would be well served to make the Galadorians into another space-faring empire, similar in size to maybe the Badoon, not really huge but significant.
ReplyDeleteAs for the repopulation of Galador, I'm sure cloning and genetic engineering was employed. After all, they probably had LOTS of genetic samples left over the Galadorian worlds, and that would be cool. Speaking of the genetically pure, I'd like to see more of the Angel Elite. That was a really cool idea they had there that could really be fleshed out.
Thanks Tony, I'd also like to know what Scott thinks about what i did with his art work. i agree with you what you said about how Marvel should handle the Galadorian legacy. but if they bring the Angel Elite back they need to make em more bad ass like the Hawkmen of Thanagar from D.C. comics.
ReplyDeleteNice idea.
ReplyDeleteHell... I applaud ANY idea that gets more ROM out there.
And, while I absolutely LOVE Steve Ditko for his work on DR STRANGE, Spider-Man, the Creeper, 1950's horror stuff and some other assorted goodies... ROM was most definitely NOT the proper use for his skills.
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ReplyDeleteThe last sentence in your comment for this post and in your comment for my earlier post about Dikto's work on ROM just sums it up perfectly for me. thanks for your input. and beleive it or not i completely understand your appreciation for his work during it's day.
a little late but-AT THE TIME i would have agreed with you on the ditko issue.when "you" are into the latest and greatest version of something,or newest,most improved method of doing something,[comics,tv/movies,music] THATS the thing you hold highest.and you imagine the even greater improvments that are surely coming down the road.which is fine,but you tend to end up considering the earlier stages and previous advances as something in the past,to be left behind,dated.which is also fine but...
ReplyDeletean unintended side-effect of years and years of doing things in ever more "latest and geatest" techniques is that the earlier things that get left in the past become infused with,charm is the only word for it.they have a charm that the latest and greatest,by it's own virtue,just cant have.
i remember my personal heyday of getting into comics and all the flashy new storytelling methods and concepts that i thought were just unbeatable,and reading about all kinds of older comics guys doing the usual "all these new kid comic artists just cant compare to the good ol' days of yore in the sixties when comics were done RIGHT!".and i'd just think "ahh,they only feel so strongly about all that old goofy stuff because it's THEIR seminal stuff,it doesnt compare to my newest favourite thing here".
and while there is something to that,after a while i unintentionally began to recognise the charm that is inherant in an older style or method;i was there for the original run of the transformers tv show and was front row center over the years as it became the CGI spectactle it is today.love,LOVE the CGI transformers series',but i dont see the original version as a lesser thing.yes,it was imperfect and it's been drastically improved on over time,but the original just has a "something" to it none of the others have.
again i might just look at the transformers that way because the original version was MY original version,but it's happened with comic books too,with artists whose heyday was decades before my time.who werent "my" artists.
after being consistently dazzled by ever bigger and badder covers,cover enhancments,two-page splashes,multiple page FOLD-OUT splashes,all the stuff that started happening with computer color seps,all the advancements,i read reprints of those early action comics/superman books,or the detective/batman books,and "see the charm" they have.earlier stuff that may not be "your" stuff really has it's own merits and value if you can let it stand on it's own,just take what IT is offerring without trying to compare it with anything else.
i look at it like this-sal did a tremendous thing with the rom series,i dont think anybody in their right mind could fault him for deciding to move on from it,but after such a thing [being young and spending year after year living with and loving sal's rom] could there EVER be a "right" replacement?you know the answer is no.nobody else could do/could have done what he did there.
so i "swallowed" ditko being on rom in the sense of "ok it's time for a new regular artist for the rom series".but,like many kids of the time,ditko certainly wasnt one of "my" artists and it was a sharp left.it was "hey,why are you giving MY latest and greatest thing here to someone who was a latest and greatest thing many years ago"?
whats happened over time is that those ditko issues have shown their charm to me.love that stuff.i now look at the tail end of rom as the best part.not just because of the ditko art but more because EVERYTHING about the series was different.the most upsetting thing for me wasnt the loss of the sal/aiken&garvey team,it was the book ending!but at least we got that "directionless" bit from the story for a while,i dont think the industry as it is today would "allow" you to publish books like that[ditko era rom].