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| Left click to enlarge |
Moving on to the right we've got the bad guys starting with a standard female dire wraith along with the dire wraith queen Volx. Notice how Volx is made of the exact same mold but done in green. Last up in the top right corner we've got the worst of the worst when it comes to ROM's enemies. Arguably the best sculpt of the bunch that there is Hybrid. Spawned of a dire wraith father and human mother Hybrid was a mutant of sorts possessed of vast powers both mental and physical.
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| 1989 Oakland CA Wonder Con convention program |
October 7 Update: First off I wanted to say I'm disappointed to not see some words of appreciation for that ROM legacy Heroclix diorama which no doubt was a real labor of love for Gary. Ok moving on, here's a little retrospective when it comes to the local convention scene. I just found this in an old 1989 Oakland Wonder Con convention program I still had. Ofcourse I've sung the praises of Akin & Garvey's work on ROM numerous times here over the years but I hadn't realized until today that they had also done inks on the Micronauts (Vol. 2) as well. I don't know about the first ever Wonder Con in 87 but I know they were also guests at the one in 88. Looking back I wish I had made a point to see them while I was there but unfortunately back in the late 80s I was in a different head space. The names behind the comics I loved to read and collect were not that big of a deal to me as hard as that me be to believe in the here and now.
Woah, I didn't know there was a Hybrid Heroclix! Nice job, Gary.
ReplyDeleteThank you sir. I didn't know about it either, until Dave showed me a small unlabeled photo he found online. At first I thought it might be a custom fan-made thing but quickly tracked back to 2015's Marvel Heroclix Avengers Assemble expansion. The card that the Hybrid figure comes with even has a small display of ROM v1 #32's cover! Turbo was in the same Avengers Assemble set and her card only mentions the name Torpedo.
DeleteI love your tribute to ROM, with the toys and art.
DeleteAkin and Garvy work was museum quality in rom. It gave it a classic novel feel. My favorite inlets.
ReplyDeletethere's a Sal Buscema appreciation fan page on farcebook that i used to go to sometimes back when i was on farcebook. this one time i posted the splash page of The Torpedo from ROM 50. the founder of the Buscema splash page commented about how he didn't like Akin & Garvey's inks over Sal's pencils he felt it took away from the more angular classic Buscema style look. although there's some truth to that i never the less found it irritating how any one could be so retarded as to feel anything negative about the beautiful and lush inks of Akin & Garvey. for me there's plenty of room to love Sal's work rather his pencils are inked by Joe Sinnot as seen in the earlier issues of ROM or later when Akin & Garvey stepped in. anyways, just one more good reason why the quality of my life has been so much better since not having a farcebook account anymore it's just that many less morons i have to deal with day in day out.
DeleteHey, cool diorama.
ReplyDeleteEven though you aren't interested in this new iteration of Rom, I'd recommend you check out the Rom: Revolution one-shot. It's got some nice Steve Bissette-like artwork and a cool villain. You don't really have to read anything else; it's just a cool fight between Rom and a Hybrid/Firefall-type enemby.
yeah you're talking about Axiom right? Gary sent me a link to an online version of the issue good for you for picking up on the Firefall character narrative. Gary saw my ROM in Seattle sketch card and gave me a heads up about the story in that issue. and i'm quite familiar with the artist (Ron Joseph)to he's a big ROM fan who's work i've featured on the blog before have a look at this deviant art page it's got some great ROM fan art from him
Deletehttp://ronjoseph-artist.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24 as for the writing it wasn't half bad like i said to you before i could probably get into this IDW reboot if they hadn't made ROM look like he stepped out of an 80s Japaneses anime cartoon. other artists like Ron seem to be able to draw the new ROM design in a way that's easier on my eyes but the artist who does the regular series i almost need to have an air sickness bag within arm's reach when i see his ROM in the interior art. i just can't stand it.
You should check out Revolution if you get the chance. It's interesting how they've managed to balance all these different franchises together. It's got an old-school crossover feel that I really like. M.A.S.K. is pretty ridiculous and the Micronauts reboot isn't doing it for me, but to see Optimus and Rom duking it out is worth the price of admission.
ReplyDeleteRom Revolution felt a lot like an old issue of Captain Britain to me. Liked it quite a bit.
Yeah I made the mistake of picking up Micronauts #1 and it wasn't doing it for me either and that's the last time IDW will get any of my money. It would be one gigantic fuck up for that not to have a bit of an 80s feel at least given all the 80s properties in the mix. I ain't buying it but I'll check it out as it continues to turn up online.
DeleteChecked out Ron's deviant art page. Surprised to find he's American. His art looks heavily influenced by Miracleman and Captain Britain.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking from a purely selfish point of view I would much prefer to see more 80s ROM related fan art from Ron like the ROM vs The Herculoids pieces on his deviant art page then any of this IDW stuff. Sadly, he just doesn't have the time these days for obvious reasons.
DeleteShit, I'm impressed myself at the amount of time and detail Mr.Martin clearly poured into this. I dig it.
ReplyDelete