Cosmic Marvel Dream Team

So this one here actually started off with a fairly recent Silver Surfer fan art piece by Greek artist Kapandais Nikoloas. I took into photoshop on a day where I had some spare time on my hands and played around with it and started added other characters from separate fan art pieces from his gallery. It took a little time to get them to all blend in so that the finished piece didn't have too much of a "patch work" look to it and I think I was fairly successful in that endeavor.

 

Also recently, I was reading through a bunch of back issues online of Marvel Age Magazine. I came across this letter in issue 19. I remember back in the day when I got my hands on that copy of that Marvel Universe Handbook (issue 15) and thinking the exact same thing. I dunno why I never wrote any letters to comic book publishers back in those days I really regret it now.

Sabra by Kapandais Nikoloas (2022)

 May 22th Update: I have to admit for years now every time a ROM fan would wish for a omnibus collection I used to snicker to myself because it seemed like such a pipe dream. Well, not any more so I guess the laugh is on me this time. This is definitely the coolest thing to happen for the ROM spaceknight character since that action with several points of articulation came out some 5 years ago. I don't know if this will open new doors for MARVEL and Hasbro when it comes to all things ROM but this certainly comes as welcomed news just the same. After more then 2 decades it's nice to see MARVEL finally show some degree of respect to the ROM fan base. Would be really interesting to see what went on behind the scenes between MARVEL & Hasbro to make this happen.

Well it certainly wasn't all good news today. Actor Ray Stevenson passed away at only 58! As I was going through his filmography I realized all these years I had him mistaken in the movie Book of Eli for Sex and The City actor Chris Noth. Ain't that some shit!? Not seeing much about his time on Dexter in his acting credits which is a shame because he was good in that to. Now I find out he's supposed to be this bad ass in the upcoming Ashoka series so now I'm looking even more forward to that. Rest In Peace Ray. 

May 24th Update: I don't know what the Hell is going on this week. But now we just lost the legendary Tina Turner who I think most would agree was a national treasure. Among other things, I've got so many great 80s memories from Turner especially when it came to her music videos on MTV. It's too bad she didn't do more acting work back in the day, she had great on screen presence in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. 

June 14th Update: Just heard the sad news about the passing of John Romita. I don't have much to say that hasn't already been talked about by the millions of fans out there on social media about his epic and legendary career. On an interesting side note, his son (John Romita Jr.) penciled the ROM sales pitch art as seen above and some years later penciled Uncanny X-Men issues 184,185,187 and 188 which were some of the most pivotal ROM spaceknight-wraith war tie-ins of the 80s.

It's been a while since I "book ended" one of my postings with recent photos of local public displays of solidarity with Ukraine. Here we are now well over a year into this shit. Fu#% russia, & the same goes for the regimes in iran and china to.

  

The Marvel Team Up issue you never saw coming

It's been a long time since any brand new ROM related fan art has come along that I thought was pretty good outside of the collaborative efforts of myself and my Greek friend  https://www.deviantart.com/nikoskap. This fan art piece by Lou Russo is essentially what the opening page might look like in some sort of Marvel Team-Up issue with ROM, Spider-Man and The Micronauts going up against the combined evil of Baron Karza and The Dire Wraiths. A really creative piece with some obvious Marvel 80s nostalgia. ROM could use a bit of tweaking from a figure composition stand point but still overall this is some nice fan art. Wish something like this would come along more often then just a couple times a year.

https://brainstomping.com/2017/03/08/rom-el-mas-grande-de-los-caballeros-del-espacio-y-bill-rayos-beta-separados-al-nacer/

 

                

June15th Update: Revisiting some random fan art of my own from over the years that I recently realized I hadn't never posted on this blog for reasons unknown. 

Galadorian Horror Story variant

 So hopefully you've also seen the original version of this fan art in the previous posting. This past weekend I decided to try out some other ROM related fan art source material from the same artist and photoshop it into the piece in the last posting. I think it turned out pretty good, we now have a version of the Galadorian Horror Story in which ROM is facing a more defined and familiar threat.

Well I supposed with Thanksgiving being a bit later this week I should make a mention of what I'm thankful for this year. There's the obvious stuff ofcourse such as having my health and gainful employment in the midst of this never ending pandemic. But I'm also thankful for BILL MANTLO who just turned 70 earlier this month. Without Mantlo, the 80s would have been a bit less awesome and his legacy makes it possible for us to still enjoy reading and re-reading his stuff today not to mention the inspiration for all this ROM related fan art that's still being put out in the here and now. 

 

 I'm gonna make another addition to this posting. Here's something I've been sitting on for a while now that I never got around to posting for whatever reason. It comes from New Warriors 35 (1993). I only came across this as a back issue a few years ago but when I read it I realized how much more abilities the torpedo armor gave it's user then we knew of when Brock Jones was using it in the ROM series. As the reader you can draw your own conclusions why that may have been but I'm guessing the writers of New Warriors came up with some of that for the sake of making Turbo a bit more interesting and or formidable.

Happy 2020: A year in review of 2019 fan art

https://www.deviantart.com/nikoskap

For all you Micronauts fans who have a soft spot for BUG we've got something else cool for you to check out right here . . .

https://www.deviantart.com/nikoskap/art/Bug-Galactic-Warrior-825215921

So, at the cost of sounding immodest I'd say the bulk of the good fan art that turned up in 2019 probably came from myself and my Greek friend. His solo work as well as our collaborative efforts have been featured quite heavily in the hand full of postings I've done this past year. Unfortunately, most of what I've seen other wise has been a mixed bag of disappointment ranging from . . .

 ...stuff that was just plain weird, obscure and borderline incomprehensible. Then you had pieces that were so amateurish from an illustration skill stand point to others that were utterly lacking in creativity or otherwise imagination. But there was...

 ...also some other work in which the artists did combine genuine illustration skills with some sense of creativity (the number of those pieces was a short list to be sure) to the point where their art work was more or less in the spirit of the Marvel series and evoked some sense of nostalgia. I would like to think that 2020 will have in store more of the kinda of fan art that reminds me of the good ol days as opposed to the dull and uninspiring crap I usually find but I doubt it.

February 23rd Update: Any fans out there of The Mandalorian? Great show, and the only good thing out there when it comes to live action Star Wars along with Rogue 1 in the past 19 years. I recently did some fan art on a greeting card for a buddy of mine.

Last year I did something similar for Okoye and Misty Knight who are some of my favorite ladies of color from Marvel Comics...

Farewell 007

Roger Suave

So I'm just doing this spur of the moment posting on what is now mostly an in active blog site. Only heard the sad news about an hour ago about Roger Moore passing away at 89 from cancer. Right on the heels of Sound Garden's front man Chris Cornell no less but in his case his death was in some ways even more tragic given that he was only in his 50s. I figured I better throw something on the internet especially with all this russia/trump investigation and terror attack in Manchester drowning out all other news stories including this one. Again, what seemed to be one of those timeless celebrity icons from my child hood has left us. There's really not much of anything I can say that you don't know or haven't heard already if you know anything about Roger Moore's career so let me pivot a bit to some of the 007 toys I used to have when I was a kid.

Ya know I still see the 007 submarine car (Corgi) from time to time at comic and toy conventions, usually going for a pretty hefty price tag. Especially for the ones that are in better condition part of that being if the 007 logo sticker is still present and not too tattered and faded.

I also used to have both the large scale and smaller Moon Raker shuttle craft toys (also from Corgi). Both featured retractable landing gears and cargo bay doors that open. But the bigger shuttle also had a removable satellite which had extending solar panels where as the smaller shuttle just had a fixed molded piece in it but I loved both em just the same. I see the smaller shuttle once in a while at a con but have yet to come across the bigger one. I wonder if all these 007 toys will bump up in value now?

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Here, I'll add this to the posting even though you no commenting ingrates don't really deserve to see any new fan art. Found this on deviant art a few weeks ago and played around with it in photoshop just for fun I never had any intention of posting it. If you have a keen eye for detail you may catch the differences from the original http://www.deviantart.com/art/Marvel-Cosmic-for-Blastoff-Comics-WIP-467835104

A blast from the past with a clip art re-panel

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Too bad that re-panel blog called it quits a while back I think this would have been a good entry. I realized over this past Memorial Day weekend that part of the art work in my last fan art piece might actually work pretty well as a re-panel for some clip art in issue 51 so I gave it a shot. I tell ya, when you do something like this you get a real appreciation for the talent and hard work that it takes to be a professional comic book artist. Even more so when you think of the best of the best like our pal Sal.

Nova & Turbo re-panel New Warriors 35

May 27th Update: This morning I felt like doing a quickie re-panel sketch with out the benefit of any pre-existing art work of mine as seen above. If you go back three postings you'll see a cool panel from New Warriors 35. Again it's a unique challenge to re-panel some clip art done by a pro. It's not likely you can do it better but if you can come up with something that's visually interesting then I think you've got something that you can proudly share.

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May 30th Update: Score! just found this Dire Wraith reference today in a copy of Avengers 251 that was in a discount back issue box for next to nothing. Finding this now is kinda ironic ever since having seen Avengers: Age of Ultron I've thought about doing a Vision ROM team up fan art piece.

The good ol days of letter columns in your comics

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Last weekend I grabbed a copy of New Warriors 35 (1993) in a $1 box because it had a bunch of action with the Torpedo armor. While browsing through the letter column I found a cool letter I thought I'd share with you all along with this nicely done panel with Turbo and Nova. It's funny back when I was in my early teens I never really cared much for the letter column section of my comics. It always seemed like the letters mostly consisted of fan boys asking stupid behind the scenes questions about who's working with who and why did that guy stop working on that title and how they would like to see this n' that and so on. Now of course I see these letter columns with a different perspective  . . . at least some times hence this posting.

Art work by Bob Layton

April 9 update: What a nice surprise to come my way just when I thought I had scraped the bottom of the barrel for all the good ROM related fan art out there. Originally done by Bob Layton and later colored by Ian Sokoliwski this one has actually been around for about a year and a half but as far as I can tell has remained largely undiscovered.

April 11 update: Looks like I lucked out again last night I came across what as far as I know is the only Torpedo (Brock Jones) sketch card out there. Also, we'll have to wait till October but it looks like Twomorrows Publishing will have something in print for not just ROM fans but also for fans of late 70s and early 80s comics. Aside from the synopsis see if you can spot ROM on the cover
http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1195

The emperor's new clothes

Let's open up this posting with a big happy 78th birthday to Sal Buscema! Can't say enough good things about this guy's work other then that it is timeless it would look as impressive in today's comics as it did 20 or 30 years ago as seen here in this clip art from ROM 24 and his ROM/Mars Attacks bonus pin up page from IDW last year. Blasting away with his neutrilizer while simultaneously bitch slapping skrulls and chocking the shit out of Martians now that's just bad ass all the way.

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Speaking of artists from Marvel Comics in the 1980s . . . .

When it comes to Steve Dikto's work in the 80s and 90s it's like the Emperor's new clothes. That is to say that no matter how lame the emperor's new clothes are because it's the emperor the people around him will always say he looks great. Now at least I got you all to admit (albeit begrudgingly) that Dikto's run on Rom was far inferior to Buscema's but there's always a bullshit caveat that comes with that admission like "but I'm still glad he worked on the book" or "but I still liked it".

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Ya know what I say about that? That's fucken BULLSHIT because if that same art work was attached to any other name other then Steve Dikto and you were taking it at face value none of you would have any problem saying straight up this sucks and we both know it.
But hey, why should I have all the fun here? One of my favorite videos from The King of Thessaly (K.o.T) actually has a review of a Speedball issue (at 6:50 into the video) written and drawn by Steve Dikto. May the Gods of Galador smile upon you bro for this one I miss your vids. Aside from that how can you not love a guy who stores his _____ in a tin adorned with anti-drug super heroes like Cloak & Dagger?

MARVEL, the good ol days and the latest bullshit

So I'm going to open up this posting with something from the past when Marvel was actually cool. I want everybody to give it up for The King of Thessaly (K.o.T) for sending me this clip art from New Warriors Annual #1 (1991). Can't believe I didn't know about this already! As you can see this Rom cameo flash back is making a reference to Rom #24, however the editorial seems to be a bit off there were no spaceknights in that issue it was only Rom himself fighting along with the Champions of Xandar against a Skrull invasion.  Hey K.o.T, was this issue one of your flea market or dirt mall questing finds?

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Moving right along, let's talk about the present, which is a not so good time for Rom fans when it comes to Marvel. I told you all a while back when Infinity #1 came out that jonathan hickman would do this. This panel which came from the recent Avengers Infinity #21 (thanks for the heads up Gary Martin Jr.) is some of the table scraps that I told you all hickman would throw to Rom fans to try and keep us on the hook.
This doesn't even make any sense. The character intro at the beginning of the issue shows a head shot of Starshine as the armor was in it's original incarnation (more or less) that we saw in Infinity#1. So why are we seeing the Starshine 2 armor (but with a pony tail) here? I don't have to tell long time Rom readers why that doesn't make any sense. And as you can see Ikon is there too which also makes no sense since they were both on Galador when it was destroyed. Is hickman gonna come up with some "creative writing" or is this just some inconsistency they didn't think anybody would catch? Whatever, hickman you're still a douche so you don't get my money on this one either.

LAST CALL! Look, speaking of douche bags don't be one and let Bill Mantlo's birthday come and go this year with out showing this great man a sense of gratitude in a way that's the next best thing to telling him in person. Even if you live on the East Coast if you can get off your ass and get a card into the mail addressed to me in the next 2 - 3 days that should still leave enough time for it to arrive before I send the whole thing to his brother.

Alright so let's end this posting on a fun note as with the latest video from The King as he shows us his extensive action figure collection along with some other things like published clip art from Marvel and DC that was so disturbing it'll have you saying to yourself "What the Hell were they thinking!?"

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Ok so one last thing here. I wrote this posting after midnight when I finally got home from work and this morning I end up finding this innovative fan art. This obviously doesn't fit a narrative of the Rom universe as we know it but then again it isn't supposed to since it's a homage piece to those old mystery and sci-fi novels of the 30s which were largely regarded by the "literary community" as pulp. But then again those are the same sorts who say that about comics and let's not even get into all the art snobs out there who think comic book art is beneath their notice. Remember I was an art major in college (multi-media) so I was around a lot of those assholes for years. Rather you like the concept or not you gotta hand it to the artist (Rob Reis) for having some serious illustration skills.

Eagle Moss Publications not afarid to print ROM

Hat tip to Gary Martin Jr. for picking up all this stuff on ebay for me to present here. "Eaglemoss Publications Ltd" is a London based company that licensed characters from Marvel, DC, & other entertainment to produce all kinds of merchandise mainly for their market in the UK.  Customers there could subscribe to a series of lead figurines packaged with magazines that were delivered every two weeks, and they'd get other special items like t-shirts & calendars, too.  Eaglemoss also translated their magazines into many languages other than English & exported them to a number of countries.  For some reason United States buyers were prohibited from subscribing directly from Eaglemoss, but Diamond Distributors made the items available for sale through comic shops in the United States.

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So first off you see here some snippets of clip art from the Rogue one-shot magazine. As you can see they reprinted the cover art for Rom #31 and also mention him by name. Many of you will recognize the scene from Rom #32 that the clip refers to in which Rogue attempts to absorb Rom's powers.

Rom spaceknight #32

And I guess you can say in this panel here are her after thoughts on what ended up being a vulcan mind meld as opposed to the usual power and memory siphoning that results when Rogue kisses her adversaries. I guess you can say Rom's plandanium armor is a chick magnet of sorts clearly Rogue is taken with Rom as far as what kind of person he is on the "inside".

Obviously this clip art goes to the magazine that comes with the NOVA figurine. Keep in mind that this magazine series from Eagle Moss was published within the last few years. As for any licensing issues to the Rom name and likeness you're guess is as good as mine why it wasn't an issue. It should also be noted that other issues such as for Galactus, Forge and The Skrulls make text mentions of Rom and The Dire Wraiths. But regardless of the how or the why I give Eagle Moss Publications some major props for including Rom and The Dire Wraith's role in the histories of these character and alien species profiles.

And by the way it looks like another page (#12) from that ROM #1 remix project has turned up. I don't mean to be a dick here and wish I could sound more optimistic but the more I see of  this project the less enthusiastic I get about it http://www.deviantart.com/art/ROM-Spaceknight-Jam-Page-Inks-400065563

This is an update to this posting with something that turned up on deviant art just a day ago: http://www.deviantart.com/#/art/ROM-Spaceknight-400875215?hf=1

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

Wizard Magazine Calendar May 1998 (Rom, Micronauts, NOVA) 3 of 3

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Aside from this awesome final edition of these Wizard Magazine Calendars postings I want to make sure I leave you all with some cool stuff to enjoy for your Memorial Day weekends. First up we have a Podcast re-enactment of Incredible HULK #318 (Bruce Banner & Betty Ross wedding issue) and #319 by Rick "Smash" Hansen: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16360597/Smash%20Tales%20August%202011.mp3
And if you're also in the mood for some good laughs with "F" bomb comic books reviews of cool shit from the 80s there's a new Youtube video by the one and only Kingofthessaly:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxWk60jcf2c

May 25th Update New Rom related fan art found
 http://kyle7890.deviantart.com/art/ROM-372239743
http://johnmiic.deviantart.com/art/Spaceknight-Terminator-06as-368674363
http://c21.deviantart.com/art/Rom-Space-Knight-366145943

Rom, Silver Surfer, Nova and Quasar together for the first time

All this fan art I've been getting in recent weeks along with the Sal Buscema bonus pin-up page recently has gotten me all jazzed to do something myself. Here's a little something that's been in the back of my mind for a while now but until recently I hadn't been motivated to just sit down and do it.