My Spacenotes and Micromail in BACK ISSUE Magazine 82

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So yesterday I was in downtown Berkeley with some friends and I needed a mental break from all the gibberish they were talking so I slipped into a near by comic shop I like to frequent when I happen to be in the area. By chance I thumbed through a copy of BACK ISSUE Magazine #82 (Aug. issue) just for the heck of it and decided to buy it because it had some articles about the original Secret Wars I and Secret Wars II (with plenty of ROM & Micronauts references) series that looked pretty interesting. Plus I wanted something to read it didn't look like there was gonna be shit on TV last night.
Well imagine my surprise when I got to the letters page toward the end of the evening and found my letter there although I don't remember entitling it "Mantlo Booster" I think that's something they added. Plus it seems like they also may have tweaked my letter a bit to. In fact I had totally forgotten about the letter altogether seeing as I wrote and sent it back in December 2014 in response to a Micronauts article for BACK ISSUE Magazine #76 published October 2014. As far as published letters go this is the second one I've discovered this year back in May I learned about a 2012 Avengers Academy issue that printed my letter as well. Ironically I was giving them shit about some Avengers Academy issues which were written by Christos Gage who is slated to co-write the 2016 ROM series.

BACK ISSUE Magazine #82

Rather big or small BACK ISSUE Magazine once again showing they don't give a shit about copy rights issues when it comes to printing ROM. As many of you know there have been a number of reprinted material over the years in which Marvel removed ROM's likeness including in a color version of this poster art.

All the ROM and Micronauts stuff aside there were some pretty interesting topics in those articles being discussed. Apparently there was some kind of "disconnect" in the deal between Mattel's Secret Wars toy line and Marvel Comics. Ever wonder why Mattel came out with accessory toys like The Doom Roller or Captain America's Turbo Cycle which were never in the series? Or better yet why did they never make any figures of any female characters like She-Hulk or Enchantress? Or why would they make a figure for Kang who was "killed" off by issue #4 but never a HULK figure who was pivotal through out the series? Not to mention the figures that Mattel made like Daredevil, Iceman or The Constrictor who were never in the series in the first place. It's funny according to the Secret Wars article the comic book series was a huge hit which I certainly remember being the case back in the day but apparently the toys line was some what of a marketing failure much like the Parker Brothers ROM spaceknight doll. That certainly wasn't my impression at the time I had a few of the figures and they seemed to be fairly popular at the time although not quite as much as Masters of The Universe, G.I.Joe or The Transformers. However, just like the ROM doll the Secret Wars action figure line have become highly sought after collector's items especially the ones still in their original packaging.

Well isn't that cool BACK ISSUE Magazine printed one of my letters again

BACK ISSUE Magazine 88 letter column

Big thanks to ROM curator Gary Martin Jr. for finding this in the letter column of BACK ISSUE Magazine 88 (May 2016). I had actually forgotten about having written this letter which as you can see was in response to BACK ISSUE Magazine 82 which had a long article about the Secret Wars series both I and II (see blog link below). Ironically I had picked up issue 82 because that issue had a letter of mine in it as well which was feed back from yet an earlier issue featuring The Micronauts. Unfortunately all print copies of issue 88 are sold out so for now I won't be able to get a copy to add to my growing collection of comics and magazines that have my letters published in them. I didn't have any luck on ebay either that blows.
http://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/search?q=back+issue+magazine

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August 20th Update: Just found this Spanish language cover art for ROM 72. Aside from the obvious (spanish and not english), notice some other differences from the original? The left hand corner art has the Beyonder instead of ROM and instead of the little Secret Wars logo dog eared in the opposite corner they have a tag line running along the bottom. For those of you who don't have a copy of the original here's a link for a quick reference to compare...
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Rom_Vol_1_72

Welcome to Clairton West Virginia

Ya know I was thinking the other day if I keep making these sketch cards I might eventually have a enough for a deck. Kinda like those collectible of trading cards in the late 70s and 80s that used to come wrapped in that waxed paper with a strip of bubble gum inside.
In case anyone is wondering I do know about the ROM doll appearance in the recent Comic Book Men episode. It would have been nice however if they hadn't been whining so much about their conflicted adolescent feelings back in the day and maybe kept the focus more on ROM. Perhaps even share their thoughts about the new series next year? Just sayin.
So moving on, this weekend I'll be flying down to LA with my wife for a race she wants to participate in she likes running more then Forest Gump. We'll be staying in the down town area and thanks to a Google search yesterday I discovered about 3 to 4 comic shops within a five mile radius. And since we'll have a rental car and a few hours to kill I'll try to check at least a couple of them out. If I find anything new and cool that's ROM related I'll be sure to update this posting accordingly. One of the near by comic shops is called Mega City One how cool is that!?

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Oct. 25th Update: Well it just goes to show you as the old adage says "What's in a name?". Mega City One was much to do about nothing as far as good comic shops go. However, Golden Apple Comics was a pretty damn cool comic shop however, among other things they had a pretty large stash of discount back issue boxes so I had plenty to read at the airport and on the plane even though LA to Oakland is a pretty short flight. Unfortunately I didn't find anything there cool that was ROM related I didn't already have. But on a high note in regards to my visit there my ROM t-shirt which I was wearing was very warmly received by some of the staff and customers alike. All the chatter about what made the series cool and the high hopes for the 2016 re-launch was the next best thing to finding something like my letter in that Back Issue magazine earlier this month.

Rom Annual 2 cosplay cover variant courtesy of Gary Martin Jr.

Halloween weekend update: Well I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween. Halloween is still fun but it's not quite what it used to be back in the 1980s. An all around better decade where we had a new issue of ROM to look forward to every month, Marvel didn't suck and it was safe for kids to go trick or treating with out adult supervision.

Lesser known licensed properties of the 80s

A big thanks to Michael Mantlo for sending me this photo from this weekend's visit to Bill. As you can see I sent a copy of my ROM Micronauts holiday fan art to Michael just in time for him to have it for what was then the upcoming visit to Bill. It's so cool to think that the same guy who wrote the entire ROM series along with so much other great stuff for Marvel during the 80s is enjoying something I drew that's based on his prolific career. As you all know Bill had a knack for writing comics based on toy lines but let's have a look at a couple of toy based titles Bill didn't write that are worth having a second look at . . .

Another big thanks to the lovely and ever charming Randomnerd for loaning me her Crystar series. I've already read the issues I used to have and it's been a real joy reading them now as opposed to when I kinda sorta did in my early teens. They're actually pretty well written and ofcourse in general it's great to now be able to read all 11 issues of the series. Written by Jo Duffy by the way, you all should know of her aside from her career in Marvel Comics I've also posted about her here because of her editing work on ROM spaceknight.

And on the same day I got Random's Crystar collection so also arrived the 3 issue mini-series of The Power Lords from ebay. Ever since I coincidentally found issue one at a flee market last summer I've been wanting to read the other two issues again.  Back in the day (1983) I used to have issues 2 and 3 and shortly there after as a random gift selection my mother had gotten me a few of the figures for X-Mas. I think as far as the comic goes the big selling point for me back then was the inherent intriguing visual nature of the characters which I think Mark Texiera's dynamic pencils really brought out the best off.

In terms of the story and dialogue it was largely what one might expect from a toy based mini-series of the early to mid 80s but it wasn't a bad read in the here and now and it still brought back some good memories. But at the same time I think Mantlo and Duffy would have done more justice to it. The Power Lords franchise has earned a place in the 80s vintage toy arena despite it having been some what less then a success back then but like with Crystar I'll always have a bit of a soft spot for them.

Jan. 12 update: Gary, I don't know how you find this stuff! What a fantastic article this 2009 #32 of Back Issue magazine has about the Al Milgrom alternate ROM #1 cover art as well as on Bill Mantlo and the business of comic book titles based on licensed properties. So now we know where that "mock up" in my Jan. 1st posting came from.You can read a digital copy online at the link below . . .

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=735

But here's just a sample to whet your appetite . . .

But regardless of which cover you prefer thank the Gods of Galador the cover art for ROM #1 was never this version it almost makes the cover art for the ROM remix project look good . . . http://sanctumsanctorumcomix.blogspot.com/search?q=rom+1

Joe Sinnot on Rom in Comics Scene Magazine #2 (1982)

 Some of you Rom appearance and reference aficionados will appreciate this Joe Sinnott quote and back issue price guide page I found in Comic Scene Magazine #2 published in March 1982. I found this issue in a discount bin at a comic shop way back in the day around the mid 80s. But I remembered there was something in it Rom related and rare that I wanted to see again so I recently picked it up on ebay.

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I like this early photo of Bill Mantlo. It comes from an article in Amazing Heroes magazine #60 (published in December 1984) on Bill's upcoming work at the time which was Cloak & Dagger, Rocket Raccoon, Sword of The Swashbucklers and The Derangers. The Derangers were a group of super powered individuals (Bedlam, Freakout, Breakdown, Shadow) with some serious mental problems that were supposed to be a new book title. As far as I know that never happened but The Derangers did end up being characters that battled Alpha Flight in issues 53 and 54 both written by Mantlo.

 

Just seeing this for the first time for some reason even though it's been featured in several places on the internet for a couple of years now. This is a portion of a recovered two page spread that Anthony Vukojevich that was originally done by Fred Hembeck as some sort of Fantastic Four Roast issue one shot. The original Hembeck version had Rom in it but he was left out in the published version. So thank you Anthony for putting Rom back in for your recovered rendition. Be sure to check out all the links on Anthony's page in order to see all the versions of this cover art: http://vukojevich.blogspot.com/2010/11/fred-hembeck-fantastic-four-roast-cover.html

ROM spaceknight 65 tribute sketch card and Sal Buscema in Comic Book Fever

After nearly a year delay the over sized hard cover COMIC BOOK FEVER from Twomorrows Publishing (Back Issue Magazine) finally came out. And thanks to Gary again who's already got his copy we now know about the ROM related stuff in it. It has me feeling kinda sentimental which in turn is bringing out my creative side after it's been on a bit reclusive in recent weeks. Aside from that doing something with ROM and Iron Man has been on the back burner for quite a while.

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Getting back to Comic Book Fever, it's compilation of the comic book industry from the mid 70s to the mid 80s and it includes a 3 page chapter devoted to ROM. One page is just a splash page with the doll with star field background but the other two pages are editorial and include some clip art from the original series. The information for the most part is redundant although it also has some new commentary from editor Joe Duffy about her experience with working on the original ROM spaceknight series.

Now ROM does turn up in other sections of the book and it was a chapter on Sal Buscema where I found the most interesting ROM related information. When it comes to the behind the scenes talk in regards to the original series the most interesting thing to me has always been what effected me the most as a fan and reader back in the day. And that is, Sal's departure from the series which gave way to a very low point in the art work on the in the series. The quote seen above seems to suggest that Bill Mantlo and Sal may have had some creative differences very early on in the series which ultimately came to a head a few years later. Just imagine if Sal had penciled ROM spaceknight 65 it would have made the wraith war conclusion so much more epic. You can preview some of what's inside of Comic Book Fever here . . .
http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=95_94&products_id=1195

August 28 update: I noticed a copy of the 2nd issue for the IDW ROM in name only series and while I was browsing through it a certain familiar name got my attention. By April of this year my enthusiasm for this new series was buried under 50 feet of shit in a casket made out of utter dismay and disappointment. But I'm still going to post Gary's letter because it's his birthday today and he's also such an all around stand up guy. Happy Birthday Gary and welcome to the published letters club.

Marvel 80s Assemble

Here's my latest sketch card and as you may have guessed it's based on the events of issue 65 (1985).  But in terms of it's layout it's loosely based on based on the movie poster for Iron Man 3. No particular reason why I just always thought the movie poster was pretty cool even though the movie certainly was not the best of the three Iron Man films by a long shot. Speaking of art, the art in most of today's comics is really outstanding but I never the less feel very uninterested beyond their visual appeal. More style then substance as it were.

Continuing the theme from part of the last posting in terms of the half baked continuity of the original one and only ROM series. I'm back to talking about Avengers Academy after having ripped into Hickman's Imperial in the last posting. Avengers Academy from 2014 saw the return of Hybrid in a 3 issue story arc. Unfortunately, unlike the 1997 X-Man (Nate Grey) Hybrid return one shot story this one was not at all written well and ultimately ended up being a big disappointment. I've got several blog postings and a published letter to the editor from back then expressing my grievances. For the one or two of you over the course of the next decade who might actually be interested in seeing those they're just a key word search away but I'm not going to go into all that now I don't want this posting to be any more too long winded then it already is. But those Avengers Academy issues did have one little bright spot of genuine 80s nostalgia in the form a single panel featuring a flash back of ROM 65. It also acts like a preview of what that issue might have looked like with a different artist then Steve Ditko.

 

One of the other things I miss about the Marvel Comics of the 80s are those corner boxes on the front pages. Although like every one else at the time I liked them, while at the same time they were such a standard fixture on Marvel covers to the point where you almost stopped noticing them on a conscience level. But, like many other things in life you sometimes don't miss something or really begin to appreciate what you had until it's gone. This one here is what a version with Starshine (art by Kapandais Nikolause) might have looked like back in the day.

Fast forward to today, more specifically to the San Diego Comic Con a couple weeks ago. This is the front and back cover art variants for the Comic Con one shot Dread The Hall H which is a satirical anthology of the challenges, mishaps and the sub culture of the world of Comic Con. ROM has made some waves in the past year between the Legends figure, omnibus collection and other reprint publications. Not to mention the actual ROM cosplay that has been at the Comic Con in recent years so it's nice that they were able to get him into the mix on that cover art.

https://fanbasepress.com/press/event-coverage/item/57166-sdcc-2025-syzygys-dread-the-hall-h-takes-comic-con-by-storm-with-its-all-too-relatable-convention-horror-stories/ 

I seldom post things here that are from the horror genre but this mural I spotted a while back is never the less worth sharing. Like most of the other murals I feature on this blog this one is also in the San Francisco Bay Area although I can't recall which city exactly but I'm pretty sure it was in or around oakland. Anyways, I like this it looks like something you'd see as the cover art for some kind of horror magazine or comic.

 

September 17th Update: I just heard the sad news about Terence Stamp having passed away this weekend. Between Stamp and Gene Hackman that's two main actors from the original Superman films we've lost this year. Aside from playing General Zod, don't forget Terence Stamp also was in the movie Red Planet along with Val Kilmer who as you know we also lost this year.

I saw these at a Half Price Book store the other day. Talk about bringing back great 80s memories. Too bad they were in a locked glass case it would have been interesting to see how much the set with the Shogun Warriors was going for as well.

New Rom fan art galore! Plus, Bill Mantlo's Paradox

by Manos Lagouvardos

This one comes to us all the way from Greece. Unfortunately these days Greece's economic problems are even a bigger mess then the legal red tape Rom is caught up in.

by Jean Louis Sanglan

Another good piece of Rom fan art done by someone who has excellent figure composition skills when it comes to illustration. Also, I think that may be the the most faithful fan art rendering of Rom's neautrlizer I've ever seen.

 4/12 Update: If you didn't see this before it's because I didn't have this in the posting when I first published it last night. Today by chance I found Bill Mantlo's Paradox in a magazine back issue bin for just $3 so I figured what the Hell I'll check it out.  Hopefully I'll be able to read it in the next day or two and add a brief review of it to this posting so stay tuned if you want to know more about Paradox.

4/13 Update: The setting for Paradox is 200 years in the future in which the entire solar system has been colonized. Earth (referred to as Terra in the story) has genetically engineered a series of new "people" in order to survive as slave labor in the various hostile environments through out the Terran Empire. Paradox is a popular anti-gravity dancer and shape shifting agent of the Interplanetary Security Agency. He is sent from Terra to the moon (which is a large colony now called Luna) in order to investigate the death of the Terran Ambassador to Luna. There he discovers the connection to the ambassador's death to an addictive  hallucinogenic drug called firelite in which the state of euphoria the drug induces becomes more intense as it gets closer to being fatal when it causes the user to spontaneously combust which is called going "ferno".
As Paradox's investigation continues he discovers the connection to the Ambassador's fireflite addiction to a blackmail scheme which was part of planned revolt by Luna's slave population.

It should also be noted that Paradox was apparently a switch hitter as well as a dancer although we only see him being with just women when it came to overt sexual scenes. I liked the premise of the story it was kinda like The America Revolution in space (although in this case Earth was playing the role of England) with some Blade Runner and Total Recall mixed in there. The story read fairly well with themes being touched upon such as drug abuse, racism and human sexuality. I'm going to say that the reason Paradox failed to find an audience is that I don't think readers
of Marvel Magazine Group in 1980 were ready for a leading character that was basically a "James Bond" who was also a ballet dancer that hooked up with guys from time to time. I applaud Mantlo's vision and for what he was trying to say with certain social justice narratives in Paradox but at the end of the day issue #24 of Marvel Preview from Marvel Magazine Group was just a head of it's day. I also don't think it helped win over the predominately male heterosexual readers of Marvel Magazine Group publications to Paradox with what he was wearing through out the issue.

Something Dire This Way Comes

Last weekend I got this idea to do a spot light piece for the dire wraiths. I wanted to do something in particular that was as menacing and creepy as possible with out depicting any sort of out right gore. My fan art that includes the wraiths usually features them getting banished, dismembered, stabbed or blown up so I decided to do something a bit different this time. Ofcourse I could never do anything that would come even close to the days of Bill Mantlo's writing, Sal Buscema's pencils with Akin & Garvey inks. But I'm pretty happy with this sci-fi horror movie poster kinda look that resulted from my efforts.

 

 

It's been quite a while since we've seen ROM or any reference to him in any sort of publication. But at least in this month's issue of BACK ISSUE magazine 137 he gets a name drop in an article about Power Lords which was a short lived toy line that DC Comics made into a 3 issue mini-series. It's nice to see that ROM still gets some recognition today when it comes to published articles about comics from licensed properties of the 70s and 80s despite more then two decades of Marvel's poor attempts at continuity for the original series and ofcourse idw's atrocious reboot. All of which can be said for The Micronauts as well.

And speaking of invasions by evil and vile creatures, please stand with Ukraine.

 

A reason to feel a bit more optimistic about IDWs ROM reboot

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From the pages of Comic Heroes Magazine issue 27. Allow me to bring your attention to the paragraph inside the red square. Perhaps there's some hope in regards to the questionable ROM redesign as seen in the Previews clip art that had everybody (myself included up in arms) up in arms. But again there's no way to know for sure until the series comes out so ultimately the jury's still out on this but in about two weeks from now (FCBD) we should be able to get into more serious deliberations.

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On the flip side the IDW Micronauts series has generated next to no controversy and as far as I know will be turning up on comic book shelves on new comic book day this upcoming Wednesday. I have every intention of making it to the store that day to get a copy of issue 1. For which I will most certainly update this blog posting with after I get done reading it so be on the look out for that. Years ago I came across a letter to the editor in an old issue of Marvel's Micronauts with a good question a reader had that Marvel had no answer for but gave a "no prize" recognition for. If a person traveled to a planet much larger then Earth they would be subject to some serious gravitational pull they wouldn't be used to. So how come visitors from The Microverse to Earth don't seem to be impacted by what most certainly would be for them the higher gravity? I think I'll throw that physics question at IDW in a letter and see if and how they respond to it since eventually even the rebooted Micronauts will find themselves on Earth.

My impersonation of Gary Martin Jr. A ROM curator

If there's any confusion about this photo spoof please refer to the comments section. I remember back in the 80s how they used to rope us into buying more new comics with countless references being made by characters with all those asterisks * referring to the footnote boxes with the see this issue or see that issue and as told in the blah blah and so on. Today's comics seem to do the same thing with all these goddamn cover variants and with these cover prices! Although to be honest I don't mind these cover prices as long as the product is what I'm looking for. I mean really what's $4 or even $5 a month for a new ROM series that turns out to be a pleasant surprise? Same goes for The Micronauts. But ofcourse I'm just speaking as someone who's interested in just following the main story for which I don't need to buy multiple covers or any publication that even makes a ROM reference. That can really add up as we can see. It kinda reminds me of popular cities with notorious tourist trap area and attractions.

The following April 28th update will just consist of a copy and paste of my latest letter to WTF Publishing.

When IDW released online all The Micronauts cover variants earlier this year I have to say I was very pleased with what I saw when it came to Acroyear and Baron Karza. For Acroyear, there had just been some minor design updates that I felt were done in good taste just like with ROM on the cover of his zero issue. And as for Baron Karza it pretty much looked like you guys just went with his classic look which I was cool with because like Darth Vader that look works just as well in 2016 as it did in the 80s. But it all became a different story once I read Micronauts #1.
With Acroyear you guys stayed consistent as far as character design goes with the interior art but what is up with Baron Karza!? Why did you guys find it necessary to change his head/helmet design like that? I also don't like the new look for Space Glider, as you did with Acroyear I would have much preferred a design that looks something closer to the original Mego figure. And especially that "tail" on this new Space Glider suite that has got to go! I know part of my negativity here has to do with my weariness from all the controversy earlier this year surrounding the first clear look at ROM spaceknight as seen on page 3 of the zero issue preview but all that aside I'm sorry guys this new series is not off to a great start in the opinion of this old school Micronauts fan. 

"The Human Fly is me" Bill Mantlo 1977

Here's a couple of other issues that were part of my recent $1 bin loot. I actually used to have the Human Fly #1 back when I was around 12 or 13 as it was part of the numerous late 70s comic titles that were easily available in what used to be the 3 for $1 boxes found at comic shops. At the time I had no real idea who Bill Mantlo was nor did I know he had anything to do with this character. But more importantly I was too young to understand what the Human Fly was really about which I certainly do now that I've had a chance to thoroughly read it from cover to cover.

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The Human Fly himself was guy who lost his family and badly injured in terrible car accident and had to have 60% of his bones replaced by metal. In the flash back sequences of the his origins during his rehabilitation and of how he recruited his team they show him with his face in bandages the whole time implying that he was disfigured some how. His team members consist of a commercial airplane co-pilot who happens to be a black woman (pretty forward thinking for 1977) by the the name of Blaze Kendall who is suffering from some serious confidence issues due to an emergency situation she had to take over while in the air. The other is former army engineer Ted Locke who lost his hands in Vietnam. So ultimately The Human Fly is not about being a super hero per se, it's about over coming disabilities of the mind, body and spirit and in doing so making a difference to others in the world.
Some pretty inspirational stuff a real tribute to not just what kind of writer Bill Mantlo was but also about what kind of person he is. That's why it was something of a shock to me when I came across this editorial page that included this opening sentence.

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It kinda creeps me out how prophetic this ended up being considering what's going on today which I don't need to get into. I'm really glad thanks to the benefit auctions and in general to the fans who've shown over the years how much Bill is missed that something has been given back to him for all he's done for us. More clip art from the issue can been found here: http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/human_fly_1.shtml

Also written by Bill Mantlo, Spectacular Spider Man #81 featured his own creations Cloak & Dagger. In this issue we see a convergence of the vigilante duo, Spiderman and the Punisher in the mean streets of New York's drug wars. With Cloak & Dagger we again see the theme of social issues like street crime, drugs and the question of ethics in crime and punishment. You can see clip art from the issue here: http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/peter_parker_the_spectacular_s_19.shtml

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And on a side note this isn't from a one $1 bin but I recently learned that The Last Starfighter movie comic adaptation was written by Bill Mantlo. The three issue mini-series was also in the form of a Marvel comic magazine which I used to have. It's turning out that there's more and more stuff I'm discovering was written by Mantlo that I used to have. As to the Last Star Fighter (1984) this was a good adaptation on what was a pretty good movie that still holds up fairly well today. And it was something of a first of it's kind with having been only the second movie to extensively use computer generated special effect. The first of course was TRON (1982) I say both movies when they debuted at the theaters.

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 Also the Swords of the Swashbucklers first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #14. Epic Comics, a division of Marvel Comics, began publishing it as an ongoing title in 1985. Created by Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice, it could perhaps best be described as Treasure Island meets Star Wars.
Swords of the Swashbucklers is set in an alternate dimension to Earth in which the inhabitants resemble Earth’s pirates of old. A powerful, evil race of aliens known as the Colonizers controls the dimension while rebel “Swashbucklers” rob and pillage their oppressors so that they might survive. In one battle, The Admiral of the Colonizers’ armada, J’Rel discovers Earth and kidnaps two of the Swashbuckler’s leader’s descendants. The couple’s daughter, Domino, finds the Swashbucklers and agrees to use her unique powers to fight the Colonizers if the Swashbucklers help her rescue her parents. The series chronicles the war between the two races. A more comprehensive synopsis can be read here: http://www.comicsreview.co.uk/nowreadthis/2011/11/21/swords-of-the-swashbucklers-marvel-graphic-novel-14/

Coming up next we go Easter egg hunting.