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.

The ROM legacy Heroclix collection

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I've loved dioramas ever since I was a kid, and this one comes to us by Gary Martin Jr.who did a fine job on it. The top left silver figurine is Ikon with some gold color variants that are supposed to be some kind of standard spaceknight soldiers in the Heroclix universe. Along the bottom to the left we have Forge from The X-Men which I'm sure most of you ROM fans remember as having had a pivotal role as an ally to ROM in the final days of the Wraith War both in the pages of The X-Men as well as in ROM spaceknight. Moving to the right we've also got Turbo from The New Warriors although for nostalgia's sake I wish they had made that figure outfitted with the original Torpedo costume as opposed to the updated version as seen in the 2nd New Warriors series.
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.

It also so happens that this past weekend I was at the latest San Jose Super Toy comic and collectibles show. I really like this con I've been to it a few times now over the past couple of years it's not as big as most other cons but it's not bad at all and for a measly $10 admission fee (plenty of free parking nearby to) you get quite a lot of bang for your buck as the saying goes. It was kinda cool to see a dealer decorate one of his comic boxes with ROM 18. Also, Sam Jones from the awesomely cheesy 1980 Flash Gordon movie and more recently from the Ted movies was there.

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.

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).

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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

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