Power Man, Iron Fist & ROM together again

Look at these awesome statues I found of three Marvel heroes who's paths have crossed on two occasions. I know the ROM statue was done by Helder M. and Iron Fist was done by Randy Bowen but uncertain at this time who did Luke Cage. Notice how I said their paths have crossed twice? That's because the ROM issue in the back round was the second part of a story that actually kicked off in Powerman & Iron Fist #73 that guest starred ROM. Check out the statue trio set up featuring that issue at the blog site for Iron Fist fans who aren't dicks: http://ironfistfan.blogspot.com/2011/02/trio-action-figures-luke-cage-iron-fist.html This is a pretty high resolution photo so rest assured you will see it in more detail by left clicking on it to magnify. Also, check out this kick ass video of how the ROM statue was put together. It's not some boring how to video with someone droning on with narration. It's more like a rock music video, trust me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee-m3Yjpbf0

Speculations on Annihilators: The Silver Surfer, Beta Ray Bill, Gladiator, Galactus, the Kree and their place in the ROM anthology

Well we're down to a little over a week before Annihilators hits the shelves. Rather I post again or not between now and then you can bet you'll be hearing from me as soon as I get my copy at my local comic shop the day it's out. Which is a Wednesday, a day I typically have off from work. And I find myself wondering if any members of the Annihilators will make any references to past dealings with the Dire Wraiths, Spaceknights or even perhaps ROM himself. For that we have to go back and look at which members of the team have actually dealt with any of the before mentioned. So many of us out there would have loved to have seen a ROM & Silver Surfer cross over way back when. Unfortunately the closest we ever got was Galactus mentioning both of them in the same dialogue bubble. What a shame, the characters really do have a lot in common beyond both being silver and having been heralds of the big G. Although in ROM's case it was more like he was temping as a herald as opposed to it being a long term gig like the Surfer but you get the idea. Some of those obvious commonalities is that unwavering sense of justice, sacrifice and respect for most living things.
Then there's Gladiator who may not know anything about the Dire Wraiths but he sure knows about Spaceknights and ROM himself from ROM annual #4. By the way what the fuck was up with Gladiator in this issue he looks like a regular white guy with a mohawk. I mean shit, every time I go to San Francisco or Berkeley I see "Gladiator". He's supposed to be purple with like pointed ears like Mr. Spock. And even though he looked correct on the cover he looked like this panel through out all of the interior art. How the Hell does that happen!? Well this was during the Steve Dikto era of ROM in which there was so much about the art that sucked so I guess this was just one more retarded aspect to it.
Beta Ray Bill fought in the finale of the Wraith War although he never had any direct contact with ROM so we know he at least knows about ROM, and has fought the Dire Wraiths first hand.
We know that the Kree and Galadorian Spaceknights have had some dealings during the ANNIHILATION Conquest (left click to magnify). But this certainly doesn't mean that Ronan himself knows of ROM. This all has prompted me to wonder if at any point ROM will be called out by name like he was in the HULK at Rick Jone's wedding although he was in human form. And then of course we saw Hybrid do the same for his brief return in X-Man during his battle with Nate Grey. And what about if Galactus himself appears in Annhilators? Is it possible after they realize who and what Ikon is that any of the Annihilators or the G man himself will be like "oh yeah I heard of you Spaceknights, who was that dude way back in the day that was like the greatest one? Rom right? Yeah there's this cool blog site about him for his fans who aren't dicks." That would be a really nice added bonus if Marvel just manned up and dropped ROM's name at least once somewhere in the mini-series. I mean really it's not like someone from Parker Bros./Hasbro is gonna see it and want to drag Marvel to the Supreme Court, or even to the Supreme Intelligence. You owe it to the fans Marvel, man the fuck up!
On a side note here it's too bad Nova is apparently dead. Having him as one of the Annihilators would have all but guaranteed a direct ROM reference given their brief alliance in repelling a Skrull invasion of Xandar in ROM #23. Man I still can't believe Richard Rider (Nova), Peter Quill (Star Lord) and Wendall Vaughn (Quasar) are all deceased noW! Those were really some great characters, what a loss I'll miss em.

The DC / Marvel Fight Club presents: ROM vs. The Martian Manhunter

I just found this blog site of these DC vs Marvel match ups in which there is the most unlikely of showdowns. One of my favorite DC characters versus the guy this blog site is about. If there was ever two dudes who could respectfully negotiate their way out of having to throw down it's these two but hey, this is all purely hypothetical. The site apparently doesn't actually describe the battles but just sets it up and lets the commentators throw they're opinions into the ring.
On paper MM is the more powerful of the two no doubt. But I wouldn't be too quick to write off The Greatest of the Spaceknights. After all he was able to hold his own against Gladiator (Shiar Imperial Guard) in ROM annual #4. Plus, ROM's neutralizer could be an ace up his sleeve. It would be curious to see how that would affect MM. Plus, what if a fire broke out over the course of the fight? I'm sure you have some ideas of your own but have a look at what others were saying at the time: http://www.theouthousers.com/forum/the-news-stand/arena-martian-manhunter-rom-match-over-t57093.html
Feature art work by Eddie Nunez (MM) and Mahmud Asrar (ROM) www.mahmudasrar.com

Galadorian Graffiti: A thumbs up to people who like sex in public, just go with it

Ya know, I've seen every thing from a ton of custom made figures to videos on youtube of the Greatest of the Spaceknights. But an actual full blown mural takes the cake. Unfortunately I found this on flicker as part of a photo essay having to do with some random nameless city so I don't know jack about who did it, when the photo was taken or even where the Hell this is. If you're looking at this right now you know as much as I do so feel free to speculate in the comments section about all that if you want. Too bad they didn't add the red pen light eyes. Maybe they just didn't have any red paint with em at the time? Not to mention there's more to this mural then what this photo shows. Plus what's the thumbs up all about? Unlike when it comes to the women I've dated, I wish there was more history and less mystery forth coming with this bit of eye candy. All that said however this is still pretty awesome.

Comic book spinner racks: damn I miss the 80's!!!

I came across this web site that was totally devoted to vintage photos and information about Duluth Minnesota of all places. And I thought I had the market cornered for obscure topics on the internet with this blog. This is a photo of a local magazine/book shop from 1982. Get a load of those awesome spinner racks! I was about 10 years old at the time (yeah I know some of you were still in diapers back then so kiss my ass). Man those bring back some memories! Back then there weren't as many comic shops around and those that were mostly had comic books sitting on shelves like you see today. Most of the stores you'd see these spinner racks with Marvel & DC Comics were places like the magazine sections of liquor stores, 711s, five n dimes and other general stores. That would be so cool to get a hold of one of these and just set it up some where at my place and put a bunch of lite reading comics on it. This particular spinner rack among other titles (not visible) contains contains in it's slots Captain America, Ghost Rider, Star Wars, Moonknight and of course ROM Spaceknight. It's 2011, somebody invent a time machine already!

More art from Dan at IADW

You may recognize one of these as being a digitally colored version of some pretty sweet art work from the previous posting. And of course who doesn't know and love Optimus Prime? I've posted several times before about Prime on this blog which includes the very first posting kicking off this blog site. I've always felt that these two characters had a lot in common and in some ways that the Greatest of the Spaceknights was the forerunner to the Leader of the Autobots. These illustrations really kick ass and I love being able to publish them side by side like this. Left click on em they look even better magnified. Thanks Dan, your a credit to Kiwis everywhere. Especially the ones in my fruit salad.

At last, cool ROM art by Dan from IADW!

After many months now of ball busting harassment which has included doing everything from threatening to take Dan's first born to invading New Zealand he finally has produced some art work to grace this blog. Aside from it having to do with ROM of course I had no idea what he was going to do exactly but I can't help but feel how appropriate the Dire Wraith theme is given the up coming ANNIHILATORS series. I really like art work that includes clever elements like the Wraith reaching over the M in the ROM title. Another thing I like about this is that it serves as a good analogy for how life just seems to be overwhelming with problems pulling you in all different directions some times. Rather your a stay at home home mom, over worked because your company laid off people who's jobs your doing now or just feel like you've got too many obstacles in your way to getting your life on track I know you all know what I'm talking about. I'm not sure If I'll have much of anything else this month to post but rest assured I'll be back early March with plenty to praise or rant about.