A Rom DC Comics cross over I'd like to see

For those of you who know Adam Strange also know how freaking awesome this team up could have been. Strange is to cosmic DC heroes what Batman is to street level heroes when it comes to DC although Batman has had his fair share of cosmic adventures but you get the idea. Plus, it wouldn't be the first time ROM has teamed up with a superhero by the name of Strange. Adam Strange art by Robert Atkins

Thank you all for your support, here's some new fan art and an eye test

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Here's something new from Dann Phillips who's been on something of a roll with Rom fan art as of late. If there's one thing I would change with this one is for Rom to be banishing jonathan hickman to Limbo instead of that wraith. I also just wanted to say thank you to every body who has been contributing to this blog in the past couple of months as far as all the internet traffic and commentary for the postings lately.
Rom fans have had their highs and lows over the years and in many ways hickman delivered the worst of the lows recently but it's been really cool to hear from so many people about it. As such there's been an unprecedented amount of exchange of information, ideas and opinions here lately it's absolutely everything I had hoped it would be when I started this blog.

Art by Scott Reed

Ok here's you eye test. And by "eye test" this little exercise has more to do with your ability to scrutinize detail then it does to determine if you have 20/20 vision. Now if this commission piece looks familiar to you it's because it's been around for a while now but what you're looking at right here has been altered a bit. Over all I like the original but it always had this one thing about it that drove me nuts so I finally decided to "fix" it. See if you can spot what's different from the originalhttp://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=729976&GSub=81477

One last thing, I just found page#1 for that Rom spaceknight first issue reproduction project for Bill Mantlo:

http://instagram.com/p/cdU4XpD89R/#

So that makes a total of 4 pages that I've found from this project I'll keep posting them as I find them.

It should be noted that this isn't the first time the first page of issue #1 was reproduced this version was done early last year:  http://johndouglasart.blogspot.com/2012/03/rom-spaceknight-1-page-recreation.html

Some cool customs and a special message for mr. hickman

I found this production image of the Helder M. statue. Now you've all seen the statue before but I bet you never saw it quite like this. And by this I'm not talking about the pre-paint job version I'm talking about this angle it's shot from. It's about a foot tall but here it looks like it's more like 15 ft tall. It's got the creative wheels in my head turning I kind picture it as just one part of some bigger epic battle scene illustration. I'm not making any promises at this point folks I'm just sayin.

And now for some other Bill "Micronaut" Mantlo inspired coolness we have a new one from our resident custom figure guy Chris! Ya know I often compare Rom to Optimus Prime but really Rom and Acroyer have a lot in common as well. They both have that stoic noble warrior king mojo going on.

And just in case you happen to be one of the few people who didn't see this Cloak custom in Chris's gallery yet.

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And just so you all know I did read that CBR article with jonathan hickman and his reasoning for destroying Galador. What a crock of shit! Oh what, am I supposed to get excited now because maybe three or four months from now when Infinity ends there's gonna be a panel of some refugees from Galador who swear they're gonna find a new home and re-establish the spaceknight order someday? Yeah let's have a Rom fanboy circle jerk over that epic moment, fuck you hickman you fucken suck! Ya couldn't have even thrown Ikon a bone before you killed her off she and Quasar never did get a chance to hook up.

As for why I'm posting this here, I just like it . . . a lot.

Infinity# 1 - Oh Marvel, what have you done with Mantlo & Buscema's ROM series this time?

Well by now I'm guessing most of you have either picked up this issue or know about what happened in it. Yes it seems Galador and all the spaceknights were obliterated just as sure as Alderaan was by the fucken Death Star in STAR WARS. Well obviously I'm not happy about that and I'm clueless what Hickman's thought process was in regards to doing away with Galador, the recently resurrected classic spaceknights and Marvel's premier spaceknight Ikon. Was that the sacrificial lamb for drama's sake for this latest cosmic cataclysm story line? Is that all that Rom's legacy is worth to Marvel? And for that matter, was bringing back some of the classic spaceknights for a "New York minute" and then utterly destroying them just some cheap marketing stunt? Or is there going to be some sort of time space rectal continuum explanation later in this mini-series or perhaps in a later series that will some how magically restore what happened to Galador?
It's a shame actually cause all that aside this was a pretty good read. But I don't see myself being able to really enjoy this mini-series with all these questions about Galador and it's spaceknights. Ya know I said a couple of postings back that Marvel never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity to get me on board as a regular reader of their stuff as far as going out to buy something every month. There are those who might say to be patient, don't have a panic attack over the first issue and keep reading the series and see what happens. That's a good point but damn, we've been waiting for over 12 years to get some real satisfaction when it comes to Marvel continuing ROM's legacy and this time it felt like it was so very close starting with Avengers #16 Prelude to Infinity. But at the end of the day I came away disappointed yet again with what Marvel is doing. It seems like no matter how much of today's writers at Marvel are fans of Mantlo's work on Rom spaceknight they just can't seem to deliver a satisfying product that will work for current story lines along with the old school fans. As if Sabra getting shot in the back by a fucken nazi wasn't bad enough (more on that later). For now I'll keep following Infinity on the internet cuz Marvel ain't getting any more of my money for this shit.

Let's see if I can end this posting on some what of a high note. It appears Sabra may not be dead after all. Follow the link and scroll down to the clip art for X-Men#31 which comes right after the panel with that douche bag Crossbones. The New Warriors and Fantastic Four clip art is also worth checking out if you have time: http://arousinggrammar.com/2013/07/02/superheroes-and-judaism-pt-3/
And in other news of The Empire today . . .

Infinity #1, Bill Mantlo, Rom & Me, New fan art, Nuff said . . .

 Well folks as you can see here Infinity #1 does have your spaceknights and Galador. Seven pages worth to be specific although rather you are happy or not with what happens in those seven pages is another matter. But since I know almost all of you will not have had a chance to pick this up until later today or this weekend I'll refrain from posting any more clip art or talking any more about what happens especially since I probably won't get a chance to give this double sized issue a thorough read until tomorrow or Friday. At that point I may post again with my thoughts on it and so on but we'll see.

 Here's something new I recently found from Dann Phillips. I like the unique nature of the scene my first thought that it's some kind of space vessel that's been talking over by Dire Wraiths that maybe was able to send a distress signal before the Wraiths got to em. Or maybe it's a Wraith warship that ROM is boarding right after he got done giving it a beating in battle. Dire Wraiths can with stand the vacuum of space as far as I know but hey, I'm just nit picking now.
Also, here's some other stuff worth looking at. It's a homage to X-Factor #1 that features a number of characters from several publishers including two from Marvel with one happening to be one silver spaceknight: http://dashmartin.deviantart.com/art/Multiverse-II-161977028
GLORIOLE! http://nikoskap.deviantart.com/art/Gloriole-392214802

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Moving right along I wanted to leave a message for Ceoria from the ROM and Me web site. So by now many of us know about your bad experience from before. But if the title of this blog is any indication that sort of bullshit won't happen here. This blog site was created to be a community of Rom fans as well as others who like comics and sci-fi to share news, art and ideas. So if you're out there I'm extending an invitation to join us here it's all good, the past is the past.

 Here's a nice photo of Bill Mantlo from last weekend with his sister in law in which she was able to get him outside of his hospital room which sadly doesn't happen very often.

Viva La Terminator!

Well I can tell this is some sort of bust sculpture as opposed to a part of a fully body costume (DAMN!) based on the information provided but if you have any more questions about this I'm afraid I don't have any answers. If you happen to know French better then I do you're welcome to help the rest of us out on this one: http://www.universmarvel.com/forum/index.php?topic=3518.0

Obviously here we have an index page to an issue of Strange Magazine that includes a reprinted ROM story but as far as I can tell that index page features some original art and it's pretty damn sweet I wish I knew who the artist was. This is pretty refreshing since usually the Strange art that was featured was always some kind of inferior derivative of original art from the ROM series: http://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/2012/04/rom-and-his-international-appeal.html A Spanish publication did something similar but they generally ended up with better results: http://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-fan-art-by-miguel-martinez-rom.html

Same goes for this Terminator fan art which I also found on some other site full of nothing but French writing. Normally I don't like fan art that's mostly made from referenced clip art but this is an exception it's a well composed montage piece it has nice balance to it. So with that I say Viva La Terminator!

Now here's something cool that has nothing to do with the French. Some body shared this with me from the Bedrock City Comic Co. face book page along with the following information: So we decided one year to buy a booth at a convention and sell nothing but Rom the Space Knight comics and stuff. It amused us so we just went with it! We had 13 long boxes of Rom, Rom original art, Rom action figures, CGC Rom comics, Rom T-shirts and more. Here's some pics from our show as "Just Rom Comics"

Well that's it for the moment, next up well see if a trip to my LCS (local comic shop) isn't in vain like it was last Wed. was as we find out if Infinity #1 is worth picking up or more bullshit.

Avengers Infinity #17 and custom action figure video promo

Well Marvel does it again. How many ways do I hate Marvel? Let me count the ways, 17. As in Avengers Infinity 17 which doesn't have shit as far as Galador or the spaceknights. After that awesome teaser panel in issue 16 I had to wait 3 fucken weeks to find out that #17 didn't have shit (cmon Hickman really!?). Needless to say I did not buy it and I would recommend you don't either it's like rewarding Marvel for bad behavior.

If you absolutely have to know what's going on in the issue you can read some of the pages in online previews and I can guarantee in just a few days Youtube reviews on the issue will appear. So save your hard earned money, you have better things to do with it then blow $4 bucks on something you'll burn through in 15 minutes or less.

Alas, all I have to offer this week is this custom figure video for your spaceknight fix.

If you're wondering why you didn't see this yesterday it's because I just found it last night and even though it appears that ROM's neutralizer has an ammo clip I still thought this was kinda cool. But because I was feeling like such a "Grumpy Cat" about Marvel and considering the idealistic theme of this art work I wasn't planning on posting it here. But then I saw a comment left here later last night by a certain Rick Hansen and it made me feel better, thanks Rick I needed that.

One last thing folks, I just came across what has got to be the worst Rom tribute video of all time. It doesn't take long to figure out in this 20 +  minutes long video what makes it so painful to listen too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m8VpGp6RBU

Bill Mantlo, more custom figures, more new fan art, just more all around cool shit

I found this photo of the Rom doll and it's Marvel house ad and it really reminded me of my days working as a  graphic designer in advertising because it looked like he was proof reading his ad. So I came up with what I thought was a funny dialogue bubble to go with the image. And don't forget Avengers Prelude to Infinity #17 comes out this up coming Wednesday let's hope we'll get to see what happens next with Galador and it's spaceknight guardians. You can bet I'll be talking about it here.

And as you can see we've got a new custom figure to show off, a dreaded Dark Nebula Hellhound. As for that Starshine II spaceknight (Brandy Clark) custom figure I've featured it here before but from a different angle. Light beams compliments of some of my handy dandy photoshop magic of course. By the way here's the best Rom custom I've ever seen I would love to get my hands on one of em: http://www.toyark.com/spaceknight-galador-4322/

Literally only minutes before I was about to publish this posting I came across another page for that Bill Mantlo benefit Rom spaceknight #1 re-creation project. Of the three pages I've found now, this one by far is the best yet not only can this guy draw like a pro but I personally really dig his style. Go ahead and check out the rest of the page here: http://www.deviantart.com/art/ROM-Spaceknight-389369223

I want to make a very good point about what made the original Micronauts series (especially the "Golden era") so awesome and why the idea of it's legacy getting turned into some kind of  "happy meal" cartoon (see previous post) makes my skin crawl. If you haven't read issue #5 of The Micronauts please take a moment to read this page it's a real eye opener . . .

Just think, this was written in 1979 and look what it was dealing with. You have some socially significant commentary being made here about everything from people living under fascistic governments to religion and even class warfare. Just look at what's going on right now in countries like North Korea and Egypt or even right here in America with our own social and economic ills. For those who might continue the Micronaut legacy either do it right or don't fucken do it at all there's already enough Ben 10 bullshit kind of cartoons out there to "dumbify" today's kids. And now, for the lighter side of life . . . .

In part 4 of The King of Thessaly's Flea Market finds we get to find out more then we ever wanted to know about what goes on under Cloak's cloak http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykZiyx7N4Kk

Classic spaceknight fandom & thank The Enigma Force this never was!

We've got a lot to get through here so let's go. This is Unam "The unseen" from Galador's spaceknight Squadron. I decided to leave the shadow in the final panel given that Unam's invisibility comes as a result of his armor projecting a holographic mapping image of his surroundings. Which means that his "invisibility" is the result of a sophisticated form of camouflage not unlike The Predator. Being truly invisible would make you transparent in which light would pass through you which would result in no shadow being cast: http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/4016200.html

I just found this Firefall CG video clip on Youtube. Ok it's not top of the line stuff but it's still fun to watch and something different as far as Rom related fanfare https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnYyk1zmJrg

Here's something interesting. This isn't just some nice fan art this is actually a panel from a re-creation of a page from ROM #1 illustrated by artist Claire Connelly. It's part of a Sal Buscema & Bill Mantlo homage project to reprint the first issue in which each page is done by an individual artist.
You can see the rest of Claire's page at this link http://thinkillustration.tumblr.com/ (scroll about half way down)   Here's another page I found done by a different artist:  http://plasticfarm.com/?p=2159 

Now I realize I may ruffle some feathers with this last part of my posting but I gotta speak my mind on this. I am so glad this cartoon never came to be! I can already tell based on the animation style that this would have been exactly what I don't want to see a sophisticated 80s comic book series get turned into. That being a rather silly looking cartoon loosely based on a comic book title and written for a mostly pre-teen audience.
Be sure to magnify the art. What's up with the conjoined twins Bug variant? If he has a head on both ends how the fuck is he supposed to take a dump? Why the ridiculously small legs on Acroyer and was it necessary to make Boitron look like Frankenstein's monster? And any toy line based on this series would have been just as dreadful. It would have been nothing like the Mego line from back in the day, but instead figurines with bizarre proportions and utterly inarticulate. Some people may have seen this as being some sort of homage to Bill's legacy but I see it more as a pathetic knock off on the amazing world that Bill Mantlo gave us with The Micronauts. This would be cartoon series is right where it belongs, on the proverbial drawing board.