Analyze this!

Now that I'm seeing this in color I feel like this sketch card fan art by Mark Propst it begs to be one of those "caption this" kinda images. I mean just imagine what ROM would be saying to this dire wraith he's confronting. Well Gary you wanted to see this in color so here ya go bro. I'm not with Instagram but if any of you are feel free to share this with Mark so far I've never run into any artist who had an issue with me colorizing their work.
Along with New Mutants 24 I also grabbed a copy of the August issue of IDW's Rogue Trooper as part of my 3 for $1 grab a couple of weeks ago in S.F. Earlier this week I was browsing through it when I came across an IDW supplemental/promotional page with a crossword puzzle that had at least one question I knew the answer to before I flipped the page to see the answers. I retyped the clue but other wise what you see below is a scan of the puzzle key. I'm not on farcebook or twitter so if you know Chris at either of those social media sites feel free to share this posting with him.

Ya know I was thinking Gary with all these random findings lately I also can't help but wonder how much more is out there and how can we ever hope to find them all? Maybe we need something like this Wraith finder?

Well that's it for August I'm fresh out of stuff to post for now. But as we saw this month things just kinda turn up sometimes when you least expect them although I have at least one thing I'm anticipating getting in the mail (no not the mighty mugg) in the near future I think you all would like. Plus I've had this idea for a while now for doing some fan art that pays homage to issue 22 which was the first Rom issue I ever owned so ya never know.

New fan art and a mention in SciFiNow magazine

A big thanks to Gary for finding the following on Instagram. When it comes to fan art for any characters we don't get to see much in the way of water colors unfortunately. This one comes to us from artist Vince Sunico nice job bro I especially dig how you did with Rom's eyes.

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Here's a nice sketch card by artist Mark Propst (a color version featured here later this week) that may have been inspired by the iconic 80s HULK rage face close up Bob Larkin. Mark has at least one other sketch card of Rom that could be something of a follow up to this one in terms of it's theme
http://iconosquare.com/p/757602894134377649_1018888070

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Hey Gary seems I've been doing some incidental curating as of late. This past weekend I happened to be up in Petaluma and while browsing at this book store I took a look at a July copy of a U.K. magazine called SciFiNow. I noticed an article in it called Cosmic Marvel from A-Z in which every letter of the alphabet headlined a short editorial of major characters ("J" for Rick Jones) and events in cosmic Marvel story lines in recent years. It's nice to find these Rom references in old school publications from the 80s and 90s but it's also nice to find them in recent stuff as well, as seen last year in GEEK magazine and with IDW's splash page.


Update: And speaking of IDW only hours after publishing this posting I came across yet another albeit rather unique ROM reference in the recent issue of Rogue Trooper but I'm saving that one for the next posting : )

TOYS

Although I've never been much of a Dr. Who fan nor did I like the Mars Attacks movie primarily because it was directed by tim burton who's movies I always hate I never the less thought this staged scene was pretty cool.

Rather you like it or hate it one thing that can't be denied is that the ROM mighty mugg is making waves. I can't help but be surprised with how much it has been coming up in my weekly internet searches for cool new or older undiscovered ROM related tid bits. There's at least a dozen different web sites that have some sort of feature article about about it and at least two youtube videos so far. And if you're looking to buy it on ebay I assure you there are no shortage of sellers there to pick from. Hopefully Hasbro will take notice of all this fan fare and also take a chance on producing something more along the lines of what I would like to have such as a full blown articulate action figure. Even as some sort of limited edition item that costs a pretty penny I'd have my credit card ready faster then a quick draw at the Ok Corral shoot out in Tombstone. If you haven't done it already let Hasbro know you want to see more ROM merchandise  CustomerService@HasbroToyShop.com

There's this dude from the Philippines who's just killing it when it comes to making spaceknight customs with just about every spaceknight from A - Z. It seems this guy left no stone unturned with customs I never thought I'd see like for Daystar and Mentus. Recently a ROM custom from this guy sold on ebay for nearly $400 bucks! You can see more of his stuff at the link below.
http://www.ebay.com/usr/nani72080?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

The company known as RedBubble has come out with yet another ROM t-shirt. Don't get me wrong it's not like I don't think that's cool I just don't know how they can keep producing this apparel for commercial purposes with out getting into legal problems with Hasbro since I'm fairly certain they don't have a current licensing deal with them. However, it turns out they happen to have an office in San Francisco (633 Howard St. San Francisco, CA 94105) very close to an area I frequent on a weekly basis so I think I'll swing by next week  http://blog.redbubble.com/2014/01/redbubble-san-francisco-office-window-display/

Those "critters" from X-Men 187-188

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Alright it's back to the wonderful 80s today! And this time I'm hoping I found a Rom related reference that even Gary Martin Jr. or Lee Sietz don't know about yet. So this morning I found an issue of New Mutants #24 in a 3 for $1 box while I was in S.F. when I noticed these panels that make an obvious reference to the Dire Wraiths. If you recall Uncanny X-Men 187-188 was part of the story arc involving an attempted assassination of Forge by the dire wraiths which was in part prevented by the timely arrival of The X-Men and Magik (Illyana Rasputin).
The pages of the X-Men wasn't the only time Magik would find herself battling those sorceress "critters". In Rom Annual #3 she helped Rom fend off some dire wraiths and escape from Limbo after having been sent there by Hybrid. After their return from Limbo they fought Hybrid together and along with the assistance of Brandy Clark defeated Hybrid's ugly ass  . . .
http://siskoid.blogspot.com/2009/07/spaceknight-saturdays-many-happy.html

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So here's some fan art (unknown artist) I've appropriated from Gary's stash for this posting. To me this is an example of some art work that was so close to being great. I like the setting the artist put Rom in it certainly plays with your imagination. I like the detail on the armor and I also like the off center slightly over head point of view that's harder to pull off well then you think trust me on that. But there's a couple details when it comes to figure composition that don't quite settle with me. Rom's forehead is a bit too high and his arms are overly robust and long. So what do you think?

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8/19 Update: So I got an email earlier today from Gary Martin Jr. "A Rom curator" with some photos he took of some Guardians of The Galaxy HeroClix play sets he ordered online in order to obtain the Rom related figurines. So here we have the Ikon spaceknight figurine and of course you've seen the Dire Wraith one already. Just so you know there's a Dire Wraith Queen Volx figurine which is just a green colored version of the Dire Wraith sculpt and there's also 2 spaceknight warrior figurines that are gold colored and basically a version of the Ikon sculpt. You may have noticed in the bottom left hand corner of the information card a ROM #1 appearance mention for Ikon I assure you that's either some sort of misprint or somebody's idea of what would sound cool for gaming purposes or what not. I'm trying to keep this posting from getting any more long winded then it kinda is already and I don't think there's anyone here who plays HeroClix any ways so if you have any more questions I'm sure Gary will be happy to answer any questions you might have in the comments section.

Seattle Center Sci-Fi Hall of Fame Museum

Just a heads up I'm flying to Seattle tomorrow for a few days and there's no telling what my internet availability will be during that time so if you don't hear from me don't take it personally. I lived in Seattle for a while when I was a little punk back in the early 80s and I have some of my best childhood memories there when it comes to all things comics and sci-fi.

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Over the years since moving to California I've flown and driven back to Seattle for visits and extended stays about half a dozen times but for some reason the last time I was there I didn't check out the then newly finished Seattle Center's Sci-Fi Hall of Fame for reasons I can't remember off hand. This time I'll be sure to hit it my first day there.

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This was among some of the clip art that was emailed to me from Gary Martin Jr. yesterday it came with the following information . . . .
Managed a few minutes this morning to check out the new "Thanos: The Infinity Revelation" Original Graphic Novel that has an Ikon appearance.  I haven't read all the dialogue, but it seems like the point of the book is only to reinvigorate Thanos & bring an Adam Warlock back alive into the 616 Universe, the gist of the story being Thanos & Warlock tracking down a Celestial artifact that accomplishes those two things through a trippy mind-meld experience.  Other characters are observers or ineffectual obstacles in the quest; the Annihilators are easily brushed aside one by one in a 15-or-so-page sequence (the book has about 90 pages of story).  Dialogue includes the words Galador & Spaceknight(s), but there is no follow-up whatsoever on the fate of Galador or any other Spaceknights, nor is there any character development of Ikon...how she survived The Builders, what she's done since her last appearance fighting on Centauri IV besides reuniting with the Annihilators team, her pursuit of Quasar, nothing.  We do see the front side of Ikon's head after Warlock drains her armor's power & removes her faceplate, and the bit of her hair that is shown gives some hope to a theory I have, but that will remain for some future "revelation", unfortunately.

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Thanks for sharing Gary, the art work looks good and maybe even the story is too but as a ROM fan I once again find myself disappointed with what marvel has come up with. The first panel with Ikon where she says "So orders Ikon of Galador" might as well have included a foot note that reads something like this . . . Dear readers we here at marvel don't care about continuity or listening to the readers who are our bread and butter so just shut up and give us your money.