ROM Jedi spaceknight. The Force is strong with this one! Yeah I just saw Star Wars

Fan art by J.K. Woodward

Perfect art work to go with this posting topic don't you think? In the back of my head I know I remember seeing some ROM wielding lightsaber fan art at one point and thankfully I was able to find it after doing a little digging. This concept isn't that crazy after all Jedi knights and spaceknights do have a lot in common.

But let's get on with what I really wanted to talk about . . . STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS! Let me start off by saying thank god is wasn't The Farce Reawakens as in another prequel quality film. I don't know if it was that The Force was with Abrams or that it was George Lucas having nothing to do with the production. Or perhaps it was some kind of combination there of but either way we finally got a pretty good Star Wars movie even though it took 32 fucken years. It wasn't sufficient to simply get something that was better then the prequels that would have been too easy of a project. It didn't have to be as epic as the original trilogy it just had to a solid sequel to the original trilogy and have at least a little bit of that old school SW magic. And ofcourse, no major fucks ups although it having some little things to nit pick at was pretty much unavoidable.
Well I'd say this movie pulled it off for the most part. At this point we can regard the prequels as nothing more then George Lucas's private project of his interpretation of the back story to the original trilogy. I mean many of the basics such as events like The Clones Wars is established history ofcourse but specific shit like jar jar binks might as well just be some obscure character that briefly appeared in one of the countless comic book spin offs over the years. And speaking of comics, it's the same as I've been saying about all the ROM related shit marvel has pumped out in the last 5 years it just never happened as far as I'm concerned. Same goes for the 2001 Spaceknight mini-series. So, who else out there The Force Awakens? Likes, dislikes or general opinions about the movie I'd like to hear from you.

Quickie sketch by yours truly

So the other matter I'd like to discuss here is the latest ROM related rumors swirling around the internet. In particular about a possible movie project for which I've received links to by several people already. Keep in mind ROM movie rumors have been around for many years now and they've proven to be as substantive as the rumors about ROM's return to marvel which we've had no shortage of over the years as well. And even when the director of The Guardians of The Galaxy talks about how he would like to include ROM in a future movie it doesn't make it any less fan boy wishful thinking then when some anonymous person says the same in an article. I mean is it possible it might happen someday as it did for The Transformers or G.I.Joe? Sure, but it could just as easily not ever happen and I'm not gonna get all sprung on something so very speculative at this time. The ROM Zero Issue in May next year and the series to follow are all coming that's for sure the rumors are long over so that's where the focus of my excitement is. Aside from that there's also talk about how ROM, The Transformers, G.I.Joe, M.A.S.K and perhaps even The Micronauts may inhabit the same IDW Universe. That's probably more plausible to me then a future ROM movie. If that is the case the cross over story line potential would be huge and would need to be handled by some very talented writers in order to do the characters justice. But even that stuff is probably a ways off if it happens, right now I just want to see a good ROM comic book series and hopefully the same for The Microanuts.

P.S. Venom spaceknight has nothing to do with actual spaceknights or ROM himself. It's just a title marvel added to Venom now that he's gone cosmic. So stop getting all worked up it's more of much to do about nothing from the assholes who are running marvel comics these days.

By Dann Phillips

Dec. 22 Update
It seems I'm not the only one who's been recently inspired to do some fan art with the IDW version of ROM.

The Inside Scoop

Previews Comic Shop catalog January 2016 issue 328 

Something interesting I came across last night. No time for a fancy posting just a quick copy and paste . . .

Rom the Space Knight #0 will feature an introductory 10-page story of Rom’s arrival on Earth, an incident that sets up an ongoing Rom series launching in July 2016.
“Many people have only heard of Rom but that’s it,” continued Ryall. “And those that do know of his past iteration might have some preconceived notion of what this series will be. And while we can promise that the DNA of the character as established with the original toy remains intact, there will be surprises galore as people experience a new universe built entirely around Rom and company.”
As an added bonus, the issue will contain additional content including character sketches, creator interviews and a glimpse of things to come. This debut represents a major launch for IDW and Hasbro next year, and this special first story will be free throughout the universe next May!

The only thing missing from the ROM 2016 zero issue cover

There are so many different things that would have been great to insert into those dialogue bubbles it almost boggles the human mind (examples: Always bet on silver! Wassup bitches!? or just simply wwwassssssup! and so on). Big thanks to Gary Martin Jr. for bringing to my attention a very cool article (Dec.10) by Trent Hunsaker about what will hopefully be a triumphant return for ROM next year. And I'm not just saying that because Trent made it clear in his article that he's something of a fan of this blog (which makes you a ROM fan who's most certainly not a dick) but he does offer some insight as to what we might expect and reasons to be optimistic about the new series. I would especially recommend this article for those of you who are feeling a little more on the pessimistic side about ROM's non marvel return.
I just want to correct you on a couple little things Trent the IDW announcement for the new series (along with a new Micronauts series) came out back in July. And also, thus far "Venom spaceknight" has shown no indication of having any sort of ROM related continuity to it. The expression "what's in a name" totally applies here the spaceknight title seems to pertain to venom as a cosmic adventurer as opposed to Galadorian spaceknights. So now that we got all that out of the way let's get to the article . . .
http://www.bigshinyrobot.com/59400/rom-returns/

Also, this is why I love people who leave comments on this blog like nikoskap in the previous posting. The cover artist has this art work (uncolored) on deviant art and he actually responds to comments so here's your chance to let him know what you think about it  . . .
http://spacefriend-krunk.deviantart.com/art/Rom-0-Cover-for-FCBD-577222062

By artist Andrea Shock left click to enlarge

Dec. 13th Update: Look what Gary found just in time for me to post while Hanukkah is still going on. How many of you out there remember that mid to late 80s TV show Small Wonder about the android girl care taker known as V.I.C.I?

Cover homage or coincidence?

It recently occurred to me that there was a stained glass themed cover in the original ROM series as well although I have no idea if that served as any sort of inspiration for the Onyx 3 variant. Not much new going on but I do have something cool to share I've been sitting on for a while for reasons which I can't quite remember. This ones comes to us from the letters page of New Warriors 65 (thanks Gary).

Left click to enlarge

My collaborator Gary Martin Jr. wanted me to include the following information in this posting. Apparently it's possible we might see some sort of sneak peak of the new ROM series as early as later this month. But don't quote me on that because here's the following from Gary and I quote . . .
"Chris Ryall had mentioned on twitter recently that he has sent the cover art & issue info of ROM The Space Knight #0 to Diamond Distributors, who would then reveal all to the public sometime in December. Diamond's Previews catalog that came out last week says that next month's issue, Previews #328 due to be released 12/23/15, will have extensive information about all of 2016's Free Comic Book Day comics, of which ROM #0 is our most anticipated participant. Depending on whether or not Onyx #4 would have an unexpected sneak-peek or, more surprisingly, would come out ahead of Diamond's reveal...PREVIEWS #328 should be the first printed appearance of IDW's new ROM!"

December 2nd Update: Big thanks to Joseph for giving me a heads up on this from farcebook! Looks like Gary was onto something obviously but I dare say even he didn't see this coming this soon. Its' gonna take a bit of getting used to with ROM having fingers and all but so far this is looking good. For ROM fans seeing this cover is the equivalent of fans of STAR WARS seeing that scene from the trailer where Han Solo says "Chewie, we're home". Really looking forward to that to it better not suck like those shitty pre-quels!

Thanks again Joseph for bringing this to my attention. As a mutual Transformers fan you might like my latest sketch card. To see it in full . . .
http://csuhsux.deviantart.com/art/Optimus-Prime-Bluestreak-fan-art-sketch-card-575875140

Damn, both my letter and fan art made it into Onyx

Onyx #3 November 2015 left click to enlarge

I seem to be on a roll lately with discovering my letters turning up here and there. First it was Avengers Academy 27 from 2012, then earlier this year it was BACK ISSUE Magazine 76 and this week it's with Onyx 3. The funny thing is I never wrote a single letter back in the late 80s when I was at my comic book collecting peak. You can get a better look at the art work here . . .
http://csuhsux.deviantart.com/art/Rom-spaceknight-and-Onyx-team-up-sketch-art-550782374

Happy Birthday Bill Mantlo

Damn, is it November already!? Where did 2015 go? It's not to say that it hasn't been a pretty good year and that there's certainly things to look forward to in 2016 but really it just feels like the years go by so fast in the last half decade or so. Anyways, you'll no doubt recognize the clip art here from the calendar back side cover of Marvel Age magazine.

Left click to enlarge

Here's an editorial cartoon from Skull Slayer #5 I bet many Bill Mantlo fans haven't seen yet. Turns out that was another title Bill wrote for a while not to mention one where he and Sal worked on together. I assume that's Sal at the drafting table but I'm not 100% certain for more information for Bill and Sal on that series go to http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/03/if-you-blinked-you-missed-skull-slayer.html

Fantastic fan art by Gary Martin Jr. left click to enlarge

On an interesting side note today also happens to be the birthday of the daughter of my biggest contributor to this blog. Here's to a very happy birthday for both Emily and Bill. As for  the rest of us, it's Monday I guess it's time to get on with the work week.

Nov. 10th Update:
In response to some complaint emails I sent to IDW about the excessive lag time between Onyx issues and my concerns about the new ROM and Micronauts series next year possibly suffering the same problem I got this today . . .
"Correct—Rom #0 is already under way and will launch on Free Comic Book Day, the main series in July. We’re going to have multiple issues done before launch and ship every issue on time. We have two art teams, too, so no worries there. Gabriel on Onyx is just a unique situation."

IDW Letters

letters@idwpublishing.com

So? Thoughts or opinions on this? Cmon folks when I don't hear any feed back for a while it makes me feel like I'm just talking to myself with these blog postings. Except talking to myself is much less work and less time consuming.

Welcome to Clairton West Virginia

Ya know I was thinking the other day if I keep making these sketch cards I might eventually have a enough for a deck. Kinda like those collectible of trading cards in the late 70s and 80s that used to come wrapped in that waxed paper with a strip of bubble gum inside.
In case anyone is wondering I do know about the ROM doll appearance in the recent Comic Book Men episode. It would have been nice however if they hadn't been whining so much about their conflicted adolescent feelings back in the day and maybe kept the focus more on ROM. Perhaps even share their thoughts about the new series next year? Just sayin.
So moving on, this weekend I'll be flying down to LA with my wife for a race she wants to participate in she likes running more then Forest Gump. We'll be staying in the down town area and thanks to a Google search yesterday I discovered about 3 to 4 comic shops within a five mile radius. And since we'll have a rental car and a few hours to kill I'll try to check at least a couple of them out. If I find anything new and cool that's ROM related I'll be sure to update this posting accordingly. One of the near by comic shops is called Mega City One how cool is that!?

Left click to enlarge

Left click to enlarge

Oct. 25th Update: Well it just goes to show you as the old adage says "What's in a name?". Mega City One was much to do about nothing as far as good comic shops go. However, Golden Apple Comics was a pretty damn cool comic shop however, among other things they had a pretty large stash of discount back issue boxes so I had plenty to read at the airport and on the plane even though LA to Oakland is a pretty short flight. Unfortunately I didn't find anything there cool that was ROM related I didn't already have. But on a high note in regards to my visit there my ROM t-shirt which I was wearing was very warmly received by some of the staff and customers alike. All the chatter about what made the series cool and the high hopes for the 2016 re-launch was the next best thing to finding something like my letter in that Back Issue magazine earlier this month.

Rom Annual 2 cosplay cover variant courtesy of Gary Martin Jr.

Halloween weekend update: Well I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween. Halloween is still fun but it's not quite what it used to be back in the 1980s. An all around better decade where we had a new issue of ROM to look forward to every month, Marvel didn't suck and it was safe for kids to go trick or treating with out adult supervision.

My Spacenotes and Micromail in BACK ISSUE Magazine 82

Left click to enlarge

So yesterday I was in downtown Berkeley with some friends and I needed a mental break from all the gibberish they were talking so I slipped into a near by comic shop I like to frequent when I happen to be in the area. By chance I thumbed through a copy of BACK ISSUE Magazine #82 (Aug. issue) just for the heck of it and decided to buy it because it had some articles about the original Secret Wars I and Secret Wars II (with plenty of ROM & Micronauts references) series that looked pretty interesting. Plus I wanted something to read it didn't look like there was gonna be shit on TV last night.
Well imagine my surprise when I got to the letters page toward the end of the evening and found my letter there although I don't remember entitling it "Mantlo Booster" I think that's something they added. Plus it seems like they also may have tweaked my letter a bit to. In fact I had totally forgotten about the letter altogether seeing as I wrote and sent it back in December 2014 in response to a Micronauts article for BACK ISSUE Magazine #76 published October 2014. As far as published letters go this is the second one I've discovered this year back in May I learned about a 2012 Avengers Academy issue that printed my letter as well. Ironically I was giving them shit about some Avengers Academy issues which were written by Christos Gage who is slated to co-write the 2016 ROM series.

BACK ISSUE Magazine #82

Rather big or small BACK ISSUE Magazine once again showing they don't give a shit about copy rights issues when it comes to printing ROM. As many of you know there have been a number of reprinted material over the years in which Marvel removed ROM's likeness including in a color version of this poster art.

All the ROM and Micronauts stuff aside there were some pretty interesting topics in those articles being discussed. Apparently there was some kind of "disconnect" in the deal between Mattel's Secret Wars toy line and Marvel Comics. Ever wonder why Mattel came out with accessory toys like The Doom Roller or Captain America's Turbo Cycle which were never in the series? Or better yet why did they never make any figures of any female characters like She-Hulk or Enchantress? Or why would they make a figure for Kang who was "killed" off by issue #4 but never a HULK figure who was pivotal through out the series? Not to mention the figures that Mattel made like Daredevil, Iceman or The Constrictor who were never in the series in the first place. It's funny according to the Secret Wars article the comic book series was a huge hit which I certainly remember being the case back in the day but apparently the toys line was some what of a marketing failure much like the Parker Brothers ROM spaceknight doll. That certainly wasn't my impression at the time I had a few of the figures and they seemed to be fairly popular at the time although not quite as much as Masters of The Universe, G.I.Joe or The Transformers. However, just like the ROM doll the Secret Wars action figure line have become highly sought after collector's items especially the ones still in their original packaging.

ROM & Wonder Man team up sketch card

So in recent weeks I've been able to make it to a couple of comic shops not too far from me that have a pretty extensive collection of back issue discount boxes. A couple issues really stood out to me let's start with Wonder Man 1 (1986). Aside from the Kerry Gammill pencils and the Bill Seinkiewicz cover art what also made this issue cool was that it showed a very every day people side to the Wonder Man (aka Simon Williams) character we can all relate to. Struggling to manage his not so successful career as an actor with being a full time Avenger he finds even a cab ride is a luxury he can hardly afford. No Uber back in the 80s, too bad.

As I was reading this issue it occurred to me that Wonder Man was one of the many Marvel superheroes who appeared in ROM 65 sporting his signature leisure suite style costume. So all that combined with a nice and relaxing weekend made me feel like doing some art work and I thought it might be nice to do a sketch card for a change.

Avengers 226 letter column

I also picked up Avengers 226. Truth be told I haven't read the issue yet but based on some browsing I've done in it already it doesn't look like it has much going for it story wise. But the issue's letter column is another matter as you can see here. And check out the name of the dude who wrote this letter!

Avengers 221  Left click to enlarge

The giant sized Micronauts ROM cross over annual that never was

A big thanks to Gary for giving me a heads up about this commission piece by Brian Douglas Ahern for what I would assume is for a big time ROM and Micronauts fan. Most long time ROM fans will recognize the guy who's menacing the Micronauts as marvel's first evil spaceknight, Mentus. I like the creative aspect of this as a concept (taken from Micronauts 8) although I do have one little bit of criticism as far as the art work goes. I think the inking on ROM and The Micronauts is a bit too lite they lack depth but this is other wise a solid piece. There's also an interior page to go with this cover concept to help give it a bit more context  . . .
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1258857&GSub=104286

Sept. 24th Update: Also just in from Gary who found this in the October issue of PREVIEWS comic book catalog magazine. Some of you may remember Christos Gage as the writer of the ill conceived 3 issue Hybrid return story arc from Avengers Academy a few years back. Well at least his heart was in the right place because he is something of a ROM fan. Plus we've seen this sort of thing before among marvel writers who like ROM like Abnett & Landing (The Annihilators) and Johnathan Hickman (Infinity).

Rom spaceknight 32

ROM sales pitch for DirectTV

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Marvel Age Magazine 34 Jan 1986

have you folks seen those NFL Direct TV commercials? I don't give a crap about football but those commercials are pretty funny none the less. I was talking to this dealer who looked like he was in the same age bracket as me about ROM and the last convention I went to a couple weekends ago. He was also telling me about how he hated the ditko art in ROM back when he was a kid but over the years learned to appreciate it or some shit like that. I told him fuck that it sucks now every bit as it did then. But this guy is another example of someone who hated ditko's work when he saw it at face value but later got caught up in ditko's legacy and now all of a sudden has a "new appreciation" for it, whatever. However there was one upside to ditko's work. It made the cancellation of ROM a lot easier to deal with I will say that even though at the time I thought it was being cancelled because readers were walking away from the series because of the shitty art.
I read Onyx#2 just before I went to work today it was pretty good. The story is definitely taking some interesting twists n' turns and you'll be happy to know Gary it does have some more ROM mentions in the back pages if you haven't discovered that already. I tell ya what would be cool if they inserted a ROM Easter egg some where in the story kinda like how they did in the first Predator movie with that one commando (Hawkings) reading a Sgt. Rock comic issue in a couple scenes.

September 13 Update: 
I just felt like adding something  to under score the point of this posting all humor aside. When you do a side by side comparison with an example of typical clip art from the pre-ditko era on ROM the contrast is almost shocking. So to all you "ditko mania" sycophants out there this is your wake up call.

Giant size Marvel Universe heroes and villlians fan art with something for ROM fans

Hey Gary a heads up on this sure would have been nice, I'm just sayin. All I can tell you folks is that this is done by artist Brian Douglass Ahern who is also a well known ROM fan. Not only does he have ROM and The Torpedo in his heroes collection he also made sure to include ROM arch enemy Hybrid and a couple of dire wraiths among the villains.

Can't believe no one else has ever noticed this 1983 easter egg yet

Left click to enlarge

This past weekend I went to a toy and comics collectibles show in San Jose where I grabbed a certain back issue from a $1 box. Not that it's all that hard to figure out what comic it was but for now I'll just not disclose that information. This is the first of a two page spread I was browsing through in which I was hoping to find Bill Mantlo or Sal Buscema in it. No luck there but on page one I did happen to catch something equally as blog worthy. I dunno if I'm the first ROM fan to ever catch this or if other fans out there never happened to mention it but there it is. Hopefully you've got a nice big monitor to look at this with.

1st issue art comparisons

Nothing new this month folks as far as any news, cool Rom related tid bits from the distant past or fan art to post. But I've been thinking of posting this side by side comparison of ROM and Onyx #1 so I figured this month was a good a time as any although I was hoping to have something else to share as well. Emailed a letter to IDW last month and got a response about how it might end up in issue 3's letter column but I'll believe that when I see it. And speaking of future Onyx issues what's up with issue 2 it doesn't appear to have come out yet.

Left click to enlarge

August 27 Update: If you've read the opening comment for this posting this is one of the things Gary was talking about. The Easter egg in this panel intimates at something that could have been cool but because we're talking about something ROM related that marvel would have to do we can be sure it'll never happen. Again, thanks for nothing marvel you stinking douche bags.

And also we have this from the letter column of Incredible Hulk 421 (Sept. 1994). This was one of two letters that contained words of praise for the appearance of ROM and Brandy at Rick Jones's wedding in Incredible Hulk 418. What I liked about this letter in particular was actually the reply it got from the editor. It shows that even after nearly ten years after the last issue of ROM it's obvious he was still on many people's radar. Of course that was now 20 year ago, damn. Gary, this was a great find, thanks.

Obviously the rise of the internet in the late 90s gave a new forum for enduring ROM fans to continue to rally for his return which eventually paid off. I'm glad to see that IDW had a bit more faith in ROM's marketability then marvel ever did which is what I think this all boils down to when it came to the licensing hang up all these years. Fuck marvel, and as for Hasbro don't keep us waiting too long for some new and better ROM related merchandise.

Onyx "The Arrival"

 I'm hastily throwing up this posting before I hit the sack tonight. For now just check out this very interesting article about the character known as Onyx. It'll be pretty obvious right away why ROM fans might want to take notice. Updates for this posting to come for sure especially if I decide to get a copy of #1 http://www.sidekickcast.com/is-onyx-more-than-just-a-rom-spaceknight-knockoff/

After doing a bit more online research I also found this 5 page promo that was running in several IDW titles leading up to the first issue of Onyx. So what do you folks think of Onyx so far based on this promo clip art along with the opening pages of issue #1 as seen in the link above? . . . .
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/05/02/onyx-0-a-5-page-preview-from-chris-ryall-and-gabriel-rodriguez-for-free-comic-book-day/

July 31st Update:
So I picked up a copy of Onyx #1 yesterday and I'll have all of you know it's the first time in about two years that I've bought a brand new comic book. The last time I bought a new comic I was excited about I saw Galador get destroyed within the first 7 pages (Infinity#1) and I was like "fuck this shit!". I'm not gonna do a review here because if you've read the pages that the links above go to then you pretty much have the story line in the issue save perhaps a little more action and character development.
But there are a couple other cool things I wanted to bring to your attention. Did you happen to notice the thank you message on the front inside cover that included among others Sal Buscema & Bill Mantlo along with information on how to help Mantlo with his ongoing medical care? And speaking of our Pal Sal one of the back pages features a gallery of all 9 cover variants for Onyx #1. One of which was done by Sal and it bears a strong resemblance to a certain cover done by Frank Miller in 1979 for another silver cyborg who had just made planet fall on Earth. Last but certainly not least in the back pages is an editorial page summarizing all the influential sources in the making of Onyx but none of them get as many mentions as ROM spaceknight. All that aside I thought the issue was a fairly good read on it's own merits as a sci-fi comic and thus far I intend on picking up issue #2 unless something drastically changes like steve ditko taking over the penciling duties or some shit like that.

ROM and Micronauts 2016 unofficial house ad

July 18th Update:
And from the artist (Ron Joseph) who gave us the ROM vs The Herculoids sketch pages here's his latest fan art. Spaceknights are awesome but after looking at this one from Ron I doubt I have the "right stuff" to become one even if genocidal monsters like the dire wraiths or ISIS (actually those jihadi fuckers are trying to) were looking to take over Earth . . .
http://ronjoseph-artist.deviantart.com/art/ROM-the-man-the-machine-547243354

July 21st Update:
Can't believe after all these years I've had this blog and with all The Micronauts stuff I've posted that I never bothered to feature this retro art work of mine. But I guess I might as well now with what's coming next year. This is an 11 X 17 water color painting I did back in the mid 90s of the Micronauts Aliens line of action figures. I'd love to see IDW make good use of them.

 

Left click to enlarge

July 24th Update:
Just happened to have come across this custom figure of Stardust. Talk about a custom figure that visually looks just like the way the character was drawn in the comic book issues they appeared in! If your memory is a bit hazy Stardust was a villain written for and first appearing in ROM Annual #1 (front story) with a brief and much later appearance in the pages of Quasar see link below for a quick recap . . .
http://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/2012/10/quasar-4-with-rom-spaceknight-tribute.html

ROM vs The Herculoids comic book page layouts that WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!!!

Seeing this right on the heals of the breaking news from IDW is starting to get me pretty stoked about 2016. Want to know who did this and why? Wanna see the other pages to this story line? Then follow the link bellow, nuff said!

http://www.penciljack.com/forum/showthread.php?129625-ROM-vs-THE-HERCULOIDS

July 16th Update: Check out this Vimeo video of the Hasbro IDW joint announcement about the ROM and The Micronauts 2016 projects at their Comic-Con panel last weekend . . .
https://www.idwpublishing.com/idw-publishing-announces-rom-and-micronauts-comics-to-launch-in-2016/

Easter eggs and the debunking of Marvel's latest retarded ROMless ventures

So here we have a panel containing some Easter eggs from the 1998 Fantastic Four X-Men crossover annual which I'd never heard of until Gary Martin Jr. "a Rom curator" (thanks Gary) sent this my way. Just to be clear the Easter eggs were placed in this panel just for shits n' giggles it makes no sense from a story stand point that ROM's neutralizer and anal-yzer would be in this store room on Earth years after the events of the ROM spaceknight comic book series.

Most of you have heard of this Venom spaceknight crap by now. Even if there's any sort of ROM related continuity to it which I doubt, I assure you it'll be as irrelevant as the brief Hybrid appearance or that "Disavowed of Galadoria" (renegade spaceknights from Nova 15 vol. 5) crap from last year. It's much to do about nothing as I'm sure will be the rumors about a new spaceknight mini-series (see previous posting). I hate to be Mr. Doom and Gloom here folks but the decision makers at both marvel and hasbro thus far have shown no real interest in ever resolving the insufferable rights issue which means cool fan art and some uncovered treasures from the past are mostly all we're ever going to have to look forward to. However . . .

Can you find the ROM Easter Egg on this cover?

On some what of a high note we do have something coming from a publisher that has not been one to shy away from printing ROM's image in the last year or so (legal issues be damned!). As if October wasn't a long enough wait as it is the release date for this has now been pushed back to December (sigh). Anyways, I would urge you all to take a few moments to read the synopsis of this book and why ROM fans and in general fans of Marvel Comics from the mid 70s to mid 80s should look forward to it.
http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=133&products_id=1195&zenid=df6urmb7iptt78l6qbbidkrq82

July 10th Update:
For those of you getting all excited about the alleged IDW Publishing advert for ROM & The Micronauts in 2016 you might want to take a cold shower for now. There's some things you need to consider first. See the opening remarks in the comments section.

July 13th Update:
Believe me folks the irony of this news from IDW coming on the heels of this posting about a gloomy forecast for ROM return prospects is not at all lost on me : ) But now that we know it's not a hoax I have 2 words for IDW . . "good luck" . . to be followed up with 3 words . . "don't fuck up". Although it appears I may have been a bit too harsh with Hasbro over the last year about they're efforts to facilitate his return in comics I still think their ROM heromugg doll blows. As for marvel, fuck you and your no ROM having supposed upcoming spaceknight mini-series no one gives a shit about that any more then they do about your lame ass Venom spaceNOT garbage. On this blog marvel is a Persian messenger and I'm the King of Sparta.

Wraith War tribute fan art with some "Vision"

What a difference a nice chill weekend makes when it comes to bringing out the best in you artistically. The 3 or 4 of you who took the time to read my last posting have some idea what inspired this piece. But aside from the Wraith War events and references in the pages of Avengers 243, 244, 245 and 251 we also see The Vision and other members of The Avengers among the large collection of Marvel Superheroes appearing in the final show down in ROM#65 and 66. If your memory on that is a bit hazy here's a splash page to clear things up even though it was unfortunately rendered by steve ditko who's work at the time was absolutely horrible http://www.itsadansworld.net/2010/03/moments-in-cool-cap-leads-heroes-of.html

You got the touch so left click to enlarge

June 24 Update: Just a little something I did as a thank you gift for someone who's also a big Transformers fan. I think that's gonna do it for June, nothing as of yet for July postings but let's see if anything turns up in the coming weeks.

4th of July Update: Well folks get ready for the next disastrous attempt by marvel comics to publish more ROM related continuity. Apparently there's another "ROMless" spaceknight series over the horizon. But now that marvel has also destroyed Galador (Infinity #1 2013) one wonders what kind of crap their gonna come up with this time to further sully ROM's legacy. . .  http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/06/29/marvel-to-publish-a-rom-less-space-knights-series/