ROM cover variant by Bob Layton

Although I've decided to steer the subject matter of my postings away from all things IDW I'm making an exception on this art work which I just found last night. Here we have one of the countless upcoming cover variants but this one is unique for a few reasons and hence forth worth posting. Like so many of the other cover variants the design for ROM's armor design differs considerably again showing us IDW's complete lack of interest in visual consistency. However, on it's own merits the art work in general is well done plus it offers a full view of an updated ROM design I would have found acceptable for the reboot.
So why do I like this updated look so much more then what IDW settled on as seen in the interior art? In the design on this interpretation by Layton gone is the stupidly shaped head and over sized hands. Same goes for the bell bottom pants feet. Although for those of you who remember Rakk from the spaceknight squadron he had the bell bottom pants look but with him they managed to make it look cool. But in general Layton's design is completely devoid of any anime/manga influence which is a look that does not suite ROM at all. In fact, to me here his armor looks slightly reminiscent of the original Robocop which has me wondering if that had some influence here or if it was purely coincidental? Alas, it's a just a cover when you all start wasting your money on this series it'll be the same old zero issue shit when you flip the pages. And speaking of which . . .

Gods of Galador please make this shit stop!

Well thanks to a link in Gary's comment I now have this to present to you all. I just realized when ROM isn't fighting dire wraiths he must be working at the same place I do I have those same boots he's wearing. But mine don't have flight capability. Does ROM get his thrust from his boots when he's in flight? Kinda looks like it but it's not quite clear either. Hey IDW why not just give ROM a propulsion pack fitted to his armor? Oh wait we can't have that it was something cool and that made sense with the original so we have to do something way different now just because.

June 11th Update
Unlike Ultron, I can physically throw up into my own mouth which is why I really wished I had grabbed some of the air sickness bags from my vacation flights when I found this on twitter. I guess the hasbro hero mugg as a cover variant should hardly come as a shock to me at this point. But it would make a great surprise gift for The King of Thessaly a.k.a K.o.T

SOLD

At first I was gonna update the previous posting to let any other would be interested parties know that the Onyx mini-series has been sold but then I decided to just replace the previous posting since a sale announcement posting serves no real entertainment or archival purpose. But to those of you who caught it as I said I would probably include some envelope art in the deal. Oh indeed it's such a better deal then what was being offered up at ebay and it happened with only the 2nd interested party here only the first inquirer  turned out to be a flake.

Nothing new to talk about or share here and I suspect their won't be until around FCBD. I've seen on twitter and facebook how people are just sucking up to IDW about the new series with the usual base compliments and "likes" it's like nobody dares post anything negative any where where Chris Ryall might see it. I know for a fact that most everybody is not happy with the new look for ROM rather you hate it or just think it needs some more work. I Also know many of you have been waiting for this for a long time so don't you owe it to your self to take a few minutes and let IDW know what's on your mind instead of just passively watching them  . . . do what it is they're doing like a deer in headlights? Well I certainly have, although I'm not holding my breath for IDW to ever print that letter.

letters@idwpublishing.com

Left click to enlarge

February 10th Update:  WRITING WORKS!!! I will have you all know that I just copied and pasted Joseph's comment with the facebook replies into an email and fired it off to IDW and got a pretty prompt response. Out of respect for confidentiality I won't make their response public but I can assure you all that IDW is aware of the public criticism of the new look for ROM but seem to be "bewildered" about it. The correspondence actually went on as I'm writing this update which is around 11 AM pacific time. They even refereed to the manga style armor of the Jim Starlin 2001 spaceknights mini-series as rationale for this new look for ROM. I even told em straight up just go with what you guys had on the cover and how we were all happy with that and the collective WTF through out the internet when we saw the inside pages. Folks, it's clear to me IDW just doesn't get it and we're going down the Star Wars pre-quel path here with George Lucas. At what point did it make good marketing sense in the field of creative arts to not listen to the fans? For fuck's sake if you care anything for The Greatest of the spaceknights and the legacy of Bill Mantlo & Sal Buscema's creation email IDW now! Or hit em up on twitter and farcebook, it may be all for nothing but ask your self . . . what would ROM do?

Rom on roids cover variant by Michael Golden

Update February 13th: Thank you to Brian W. for bringing this to my attention today (see today's comments). It's nice to see an old school ROM cover artist back at it again although to be honest this isn't some of the best work from him I've ever seen especially if you compare it to the ROM covers he did in the 80s. All of which I love ofcourse but may favorite I think is issue 18 with ROM and The X-Men fighting Hybrid. Notice how the armor design here is more a reflection of the zero issue art cover as opposed to the interior? Don't know if that's what Rom's neutrilizer is gonna look like even though we don't get a really good look at it here. I hope IDW doesn't foul that up to and come up with something radically different looking not to mention that cool looking straight line stream of crimson energy that the neutrilizer discharged. If you're in the mood to see a some old school Mantlo/Golden era fan art check out what I found today over at deviant art . . .
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Rom-VS-Acroyer-587533905

Update February 14th: Now that's more the kind of ROM I want to see. I lifted this image off of the latest Hasbro cinematic multiverse online chatter this morning. I'm not gonna get into all that but I just really like this illustration ROM looks so fucken slick not all "beefed up" and clumsy looking like that Michael Golden variant. Like I said before the minor but noticeable changes IDW had for him at first were fine with me but they just went way too far.