1981 COMICS FEATURE magazine year in review of ROM spaceknight from Marvel Comics

I want all you people to know I actually bought this on Ebay based on what the cover eluded to after having had it brought to my attention by a fellow ROM fan who lives in West Virgina of all places (thanks Frank!). I knew something like this was not gonna be well known even among our little silver spaceknight cult so I knew this would make for a great blog posting. I tell ya, the things I do for you people. This blog is the gift that keeps on giving.
The article was 2 full pages but I scanned it in 4 quarters so that it could be much more easily read when magnified. You'll see at first it opens up with a basic introduction of licensed comics.

In this portion of the article it talks mostly about Bill Mantlo's approach to ROM as a character and how it would contrast to his work on The Micronauts which was another licensed comic as you all know. It also, talks about Sal Buscema's pencils on the book.

Here we see comparisons between ROM and the Silver Surfer and Mantlo also catches a little bit of criticism on how he has characterized the Dire Wraiths.
The last portion of the article talks mostly about ROM's integration into the Marvel Universe and the Dire Wraith infestation of Earth. In general the article was pretty good and the author wrapped it up on a pretty positive note.

ROM #32 re-covered by French Illustrator. 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY for this blog in just three days!

Last year I made a posting about a re-cover sketch of ROM 32. Little did I know that there was a more finished version of that art work out there or that it was done by a guy in Franch ( Laurent Sieurac). Here, let me jog your memory http://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/2011/10/rom-32-cover-art-re-imagined.html So anyways, I'm so glad that I found this because this is really a privilege to feature here. This is just all around great art work with everything from the scene composition to the details on Rogue (left click on image) and Sieurac's artistic interpretation of Hybrid. Check out the rest of his work it's really impressive: http://laurentsieurac.blogspot.com


Here's a little something I threw into this posting I recently found from Chris Samnee. It's a totally different style as you can see but it's also pretty damn sweet.

Rare Bill Mantlo interview from 1981 uncovered. Also, a new version of the ROM toy commercial now on Youtube.

This article I found recently online from an old issue of COMICS FEATURE magazine won't tell any fans of Bill Mantlo much of anything they didn't know already. But you never know, because I certainly learned a new thing or two about the man and his career. I was surprised to find out that Mantlo was a struggling photographer before he started working for Marvel. Also unknown to me was that his first job at Marvel was doing paste up and mechanicals which he got through an old college friend named Annette Kawecki (thanks Annette!). He hated that job but obviously he found something better later on at Marvel that was more suited for his talents. He described paste up and mechanicals as being very boring and had much to do with precise measuring. It sounds to me like the difference between that and being a writer in the publishing industry is similar to graphic design verses pre-press. I've done both in publishing and where as graphic design is creative and fun pre-press can drive you to an early grave from stress. Anyways, Mantlo would eventually be teamed up with "The Fast & Furious" Sal Buscema for ROM greatest of the spaceknights. Which of course is this blog's reason for existing but the work Mantlo did with Michael Golden on The Micronauts is most certainly also note worthy.
I can't help but wonder sometimes if Marvel had known back then about ROM's enduring comic book fan base if they would have tried to secure the rights for the character from Parker Brothers sometime after the series ended. But I suppose back then how could they have known. They probably thought that they were wrapping up a space saga that had a pretty good run considering it was based on a toy that was basically a commercial failure. Although ironically it too enjoys a certain amount of popularity seeing as it's become a fairly sought after vintage toy collectible for the last two and a half decades or so.

This new version of the ROM doll commercial is different then the one that's been on Youtube since 2006 so check out it you may not have seen it yet. But even if you have I bet it hasn't been for years now so click on the link below and take a trip down memory lane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILIaPluH4pc

ROM, Herald of Galactus by Scott Reed. Plus, Micronauts #8 just imagine if. . .

According to Reed this is a combination of digital and traditional tools. Penciled in Illustrator, and inked with a Windsor-Newton series 7 brush. This is now the fourth ROM/Galactus themed fan art I've now come across in the last year or so. I think it's really cool how ROM # 26 & 27 have still managed to stay in people's imaginations all these years. But I still wonder why nobody thus far has done a ROM/Silver Surfer piece?

Oh I was just messing around with photoshop and this Micronauts cover art and wondered what it would look like if I replaced Captain Universe with a certain silver spaceknight. The nice thing is when you know how to use photoshop you don't have to wonder you can just make it happen visually speaking. This sort of ROM "saves the day" scenario that sets up a confrontation between the tyrant of the Microverse and the Greatest of the Spaceknights would have been epic indeed!

First thing next week we take a look at a recently found 1981 interview with Bill Mantlo

Rare Marvel Team Up 1980s promo poster with one silver spaceknight

I bet most of you haven't seen this before huh? Rest assured this is no photoshop trickery on my part this time this is the real deal. And there's a cool back story behind this Marvel Team Up poster with the ROM appearance but you wont be able to read it here. Follow this link http://sanctumsanctorumcomix.blogspot.com/
Newly discovered kick ass ROM fan art will be featured in my next posting soon so stay tuned!

March 14th update: Check this out! http://ilovecomiccovers.blogspot.com/2012/03/recreation-rom-11.html

New fan art by Miguel Martinez & ROM covers in Espanol vs. the original English versions

A big thanks to Miguel (from Spain) for sharing this fine work of art which apparently was inspired after having discovered this blog. Aside from paying homage to Bill Mantlo and his toy inspired silver spaceknight the other purpose I had in mind with this blog was to inspire people out there to get back in touch with their inner artist and share it here.
Along with Miguel's fan art I thought it might be nice to feature and compare some of the Spanish versions of ROM cover art to the originals. There are some covers that are virtually identical to the originals. But I wanted to focus on some of the ones that had differences ranging from subtle to more noticeable and some cases where the cover art concept was based on the back story instead of the primary one. Left click to magnify.

To see more Spanish ROM covers:
http://www.universomarvel.com/fichas/esp/rommun1.html#
http://www.universomarvel.com/fichas/esp/roms01.html#

Postcards from Galador

These postcards started showing up all over Clairton West Virginia recently. Other individuals who received similar greeting cards outside of Clairton included Rick Jones, Ben Grimm, Steven Strange, Nick Fury, Forge, General Locklin and Cindy Adams.