Sunday, October 9, 2011

A BIG thanks to all the commentators & what sets ROM apart from other toy based comic book titles


Thank you everybody who left a comment of support in the previous posting in regards to my ROM out of Limbo initiative. We can only hope that Marvel is paying attention because certainly they are aware of the cult following by now for this character. The Floating World fund raiser auctions for Bill Mantlo's medical care (all ROM fan art), the first Annihilators series, the continued presence of Ikon on the team and even Jonathan Hickman's nod to the ROM legacy in FF#9 which only came out a couple weeks ago is clear evidence of that. And the Dire Wraiths who are synonymous with ROM have been a pretty regular menace in the Marvel Universe for over 30 years now.
I know just as there are ROM fans out there, there are also those who don't understand all the bruhaha over him. All I can say is that for those of us who grew up with him he was the Optimus Prime/Robocop of his time. Like Optimus he was a powerful and noble figure with obvious leadership qualities but as a cyborg he also was in constant torment like Robocop always yearning for his former life as a man. As a kid you could look up to him but also relate to him as a stranger in a strange land who was often uncomfortable in his own "skin".
Also consider this when thinking about comic book titles that are based on toy lines which basically fall into two groups. On one hand you had comic book titles that had the benefit of toy lines that enjoyed some success on the market first. In the case of The Transformers and G.I.Joe we're talking about wildly successful toy lines. In other cases like The Micronauts and Shogun Warriors it was toy lines that enjoyed at least some success for a period of time. But there's more titles then I can remember that were based on toy lines that were virtually D.O.A when they hit the market for which the comic titles they inspired soon followed usually cancelled within 4 to 9 issues. The Inhumanoids, Visionaries, Sectaurs and Air Raiders are among the many who are good examples of that. Don't feel bad if you don't remember or otherwise have never heard of these titles you obviously didn't miss much.
But not ROM Spaceknight! Despite being based on a single electronic doll that was poorly marketed and fell flat with the public his series never the less spanned 75 monthly issues and 4 annuals. And that was over 25 years ago and as you've read already in this posting ROM still has plenty of staying power despite this licensing bullshit that's dogged the mythology. All we can do at this point is hope that my correspondence with Dan Abnett will be the first step to something great happening in the near future as opposed to just going nowhere. Any new information that comes my way on the matter I'll be sure to post it here right away.
Another good reason why Marvel needs to bring ROM back is because he's bad ass rather a spaceknight or human. At one point during the series ROM makes a deal with Quasimodo The Living Computer to exchange his armor in return for being cloned from the living cells contained within the armor. The deal goes bad when ROM realizes that his new body is faulty and starts to decay. Despite this however when ROM crosses paths with Dr. Dredd (a wraith warlock) who he instinctively recognizes as a Dire Wraith he attacks him unarmed with out hesitation. Despite Dredd's shape shifting abilities and ROM's dying body ROM manages to strangle Dredd to death with his bare hands! In or out of Galadorian armor ROM is bad ass and that's why Marvel needs to man the f__k up and get him out of legal limbo and back into the mainstream Marvel Universe again!

Barring anything Earth shattering ROM related falling into my lap I'm probably gonna be on something of a hiatus for a while but I'll still be checking and responding to comments.

9 comments:

  1. Hate to see a brief hiatus but I understand. I have really enjoyed the often obscure things you've been able to dig up on ROM and for providing a venue where his loyal fans can contribute ideas and discuss what is one of the best written characters ever. I applaud those like DnA who have made efforts to at least give a nod from the industry side of it with hopes that they can create inroads to "The Return".

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  2. thanks but don't worry i haven't gone anywhere. this is one of 3 blogs that i have and all together it makes for a lot of time consuming work. i'm still in the loop i assure you and i'm also still checking my emails on a daily basis. it's just that i'm most likely gonna take a break from making any new posts. as for Abnett and Marvel there just isn't much more i can do that i haven't done already so we'll just wait and see if anything comes of it.

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  3. Shows how much I know, I thought the comic came first! I wasn't crazy about the action figure because of how stiff it looked! I did collect the comic Sectaurs I liked the style. The toy wasn't half bad looked more like the comic but as we know both short lived!

    An as for that issue with Rom becoming human only to be betrayed when his body started to decay, that was one Hellafied issue Wow very deep and tragic Twist for our hero but he didn't go out like a Punk Yea Boy Ha!

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  4. Hey Zhaanman welcome to the party we could use some fresh blood i'm glad you could finally make it. so how did you get around your IT problem that was keeping you from leaving comments on blogs?

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  5. Well if it will let me post again I just used another account it worked this once let's see if I can do it again

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  6. Hey! You forgot Crystar, Crystal Warrior! That was my personal favorite. I still own all the issues. It was the first comic I ever bought. Not sure if the toy or the comic came first there, though.

    Although I can understand why it was forgettable, except for the few crossover issues it had.

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  7. i actually had two of the action figures and two of the issues at one point back in the day. but i have a news flash for you! the comic and it's characters came out first and were owned by Marvel. the toys (by Remco) are based on the comic not vice versa. check out the Wiki page on Crystar don't worry it's a short read:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saga_of_Crystar

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  8. Visionaries was actually very good indeed, with and it being cancelled halfway through a story arc (Which actually corrected an annoying oversight in the TV series by giving the female warriors spells of their own, and art from a young Mark Bagley) was one of the more annoying things Marvel did with one of their toy licence.

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