Stan's Soapbox as seen in ROM spaceknight 3 February 1980

I'm temporarily pulling this blog out of retirement for this very sad occasion and you all know what I'm talking about. For my own tribute to Stan Lee I wanted to post something unique and I think I just found the perfect thing. This little excerpt from a Stan's Soapbox column is unlike any of the other ones I've seen thus far on the internet. Those are some wise words from this man going back nearly 4 decades ago that America should really take to heart now during these very troubled times.
Beyond the mourning process let's also rejoice in a few things here. Unlike Prince, David Bowie and George Michael, Stan Lee did not die young. He had a wildly successful career and he lived long enough to eventually even see his some what more obscure characters like Black Panther become cinematic sensations and house hold names. And what a legacy he left behind I mean really that in and of it's self practically gives him a sense of immortality. Simply put, the man has already become a legend.

ROM spaceknight 27  (1982)

One last thing I wanted to add here speaking of Stan Lee's legacy. Here's a gorgeous bonus pin-up page of The Silver Surfer (created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) by Akin & Garvey from Marvel Fanfare 33 (1987). As far as I can tell it's the only bonus pin-up page from that issue that seems to be absent on the internet so here it is along with some cool corresponding clip art.

November 17th Update: Here's some other cool ROM related stuff that have recently turned up worth having a look at. That mural behind me is located in Hayward California. It's been there for years I can't believe it's only today that I came up with the idea to get a selfie in front of it with my ROM t-shirt. Even when it comes to characters like ROM and Wolverine that Stan didn't have a direct hand in creating none of it would have existed if not for Marvel Comics. Thank you Stan for all of this.

Check out what this mural used to look like many years ago...
http://www.itsadansworld.net/2010/09/united-by-style-marvel-takes-dc-to.html

https://www.deviantart.com/nikoskap/art/Above-the-skies-of-Galador-772207750
http://gramha.com/media/1913405531888880590
https://web.stagram.com/p/BfRYzb5ltXN
https://web.stagram.com/p/BfEzRFfFkkY
http://gramha.com/media/1916730832027300086

ROM spaceknight Annual 2 splash page re-panel

So I was looking to solicit some opinions of what you folks think of the re-panel verses the original splash page from ROM annual 2. The original ofcourse is penciled by Sal Buscema with inks by Akin & Garvey as opposed to the re-panel by Chris Batista and Brian Garvey. The original features a more dramatic pose for both ROM and his fellow spaceknights but at the same time I find the re-panel having a figure composition appeal I also really like.

Just gonna go off topic a bit here because I'm so stoked that they were finally able to post the most epic scene from Wonder Woman on youtube with out it getting yanked down by the studios.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIEwkn-Q2Oo

July 7th Update: And we're back with some new cool ROM stuff . Thanks for the heads up on this Victor (see comments).

Group hug everybody, let's enjoy some good art we can all agree on

So I think it's safe to say we've talked the Dikto controversy to death by now so I'd like to lay the matter to rest and get back to talking about something we all enjoy. I love this splash page from Rom 43. Just take a few seconds to look over the details of the scene. Just as Quasimodo marvels at how Rom's armor is a combination of living cells and circuitry so do we marvel at the combination of Sal Buscema's pencils with Akin & Garvey's inking embellishments.

Doesn't that splash page remind you a lot of this scene from an early issue of the Micronauts? Another great panel with lots of cool details both issues were written by Bill Mantlo but this came a few years before Rom 43. Damn, Karza looks bad ass here like Darkseid, Darth Vader and Doctor Doom all rolled into one. And no one ever rendered him better then Michael Golden although I must say Jackson Guice also did a pretty damn good job too. Hey, take a few seconds to check out who else does a good Karza  Phillips http://dannphillips.deviantart.com/art/Baron-Karza-197054493

Speaking of cool art having to do with all things Rom and The Micronauts I wanna give a shout out to Dann Phillips. It's very rare that any of the artists who's stuff I feature here ever come by and say hi much less actually join in on the conversations. Especially conversations as "lively" as the recent Dikto debate. For those of you out there who are smart enough to not be on farcebook don't worry you can always see Dann's latest work at his deviant art gallery. 

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And let us all rejoice that indeed there is something new to behold in Dann's gallery that was only uploaded a couple hours before I published this posting! Now there's also another piece of fan art in Dann's gallery which was added fairly recently and it features Black Bolt from the Inhumans fighting a collection of Marvel villains including The Abomination. In it there is something of a Rom related Easter Egg let's see if you can spot it. 

http://dannphillips.deviantart.com/gallery/

Drawing the Marvel Way

I think 288 (1983) was the first Incredible Hulk issue I ever had. My mother grabbed something for me from a gift shop to help pass the time at an airport. So when I saw it at my local comic shop a couple of days ago for a few bucks I bought it in order share some of the best panels in it. I remember being blown away by the art work it was so dynamic you could practically feel and hear the action in it. That kind of drawing style is a good example of what's known as "the Marvel way". Little did I know at the time that it was written and drawn by the same two guys who were working on ROM which I already had had a few issues of.

Now it so happens that Incredible Hulk 288 had a Bullpen Bulletin page which included a Mighty Marvel Checklist that had Rom #47 listed among the other titles out that month. That's ironic given that I had mentioned #47 in the previous posting in reference to Shang Chi The Master of Kung Fu.

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So that tells us at least some of what else Sal Buscema (and Mantlo of course) was working on at the time. But unlike The Hulk title Sal's penciling was complimented by the beautiful inks of the dynamic inking duo Akin & Garvey. Look at that line work in those Rom 47 panels, it's like the brush strokes of a master piece panting. That Mighty Marvel Checklist also included a small feature about the debut of the Cloak & Dagger mini-series so we see that Bill Mantlo had plenty of work on his hands at the time as well.

What's up with What If?

I remember a couple of years ago I had this friend and fellow comic book nerd from my high school days asked what could I possibly have to blog about every week given that the series ended back in 85? The fool :) I explained it as best as I could at the time to him.  But you guys who come here get to find out right away about most of the coolest shit out there rather it be Rom turning up in an article for a recent publication (Geek mag.), some undiscovered clip art from back in the day (New Warriors Annual #1), a cool Marvel rap video paying tribute to fans calling for the return of Rom or the latest art work that kicks ass. A big thanks to all of you who have contributed to these postings lately you guys have provided some awesome blogging material.
Speaking of which, here's my latest coloring job of a commission piece that was done by Ian Akin from the dynamic inking duo Akin & Garvey. There's only one thing that always bothered me about this other wise kick ass work of art. The right leg is too short, it never looked quite right to me so I made a cropped version which I colored. You can see the original here  http://www.akinandgarvey.com/commissions/index.htm#
just look for the thumb nail button on the left.
 
If you're noticing any difference in this posting today from the day before when I published it that's because Rom curator Gary Martin Jr. informed me of an over site. In other words I fucked up, indeed there was a not one but two cameo flash back panels in the Nova back story of What If #36 volume1 (1982). Oh and it gets better I actually used to have this issue but don't ask me how the fuck I managed to fucken forget about these fucken panels.

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And of course as I mentioned before the Dire Wraiths would show up as part of some parallel universe  story line years later in What If #39 volume 2.

And as i mentioned in the beginning of this posting how cool Rom related things are turning up on a weekly basis here's the latest. So I'm going to make yet another edit today with Chris's latest custom spaceknight figure, Javelin.

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