Monday, September 17, 2012

The Arrival by John Romita Jr. and a little known Rom cameo in Captain America


Lee Sietz has had something about this on his website Rom Spaceknight Revisited for some time now but I'm sure there's at least some Rom fans out there who don't know about this. So I'm sharing this cool find I made at Comic Art Fans. John Romita Jr. and Marie Severin developed the art work above as a sales pitch by Marvel to Parker Brothers back in the day. At a glance it may look like what ended up being page1 of Rom's first issue but there are some differences as you will see after a closer look. They're both pretty sweet.


Oh boy did I ever make a good $1 bin find recently. Also thanks to Rom Spaceknight Revisited I had learned about this flash back cameo Rom made in Captain America #311. I was able to find the cover art but I couldn't for the life of me find the particular clip art anywhere on the net. Then woe and behold I lucked out one day at one of my local comic shops. In the issue Captain America stumbles across The Mad Thinker's awesome android in a barn and they get into a rumble as the cover suggests.

Left click to enlarge
I gotta tell ya folks. This was one of five back issues I picked up yesterday and I also took the time to browse at some new stuff on the shelves. I've just felt so detached from new comics in recent months. I'm happy to check out some of it online in reviews and what not but when it comes to doling out my money nothing makes me happier then to spend it on stuff like this. I guess I'm just kinda old fashioned that way.

Next up, Bill Mantlo and what his work said about what kind of human being he was.

12 comments:

  1. Wow brother all I can say is,"You Got the Touch, You Power!!" You know how to keep us forever wanting more cool info I completely forgot about the whole cap appearance as usual sweet find!!

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  2. No kidding! I don't think I've ever lucked out that way in the dollar bins. Very cool link.

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  3. I hate to blaspheme in regard to the great Sal Buscema, but I actually like the JRJR concept page better! Also, these Rom cameos in other books are absolutely priceless since his own book came to such a permanent end. Thanks once again for sharing this stuff man. You are really doing a great service for the rest of us!

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    1. since the Romita one is pretty damn good i'll only consider what you said a minor blasphemy which means i won't call upon Rom fans everywhere to storm your home. got your other comment too, more good stuff from my recent $1 bin find coming up in a couple of days stay tuned.

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    2. I'm curious, do we ever learn why he crashed down to the Earth? Shouldn't Rom just have flew from space down into the atmosphere and then glide around? Also, how does Rom traverse the cosmos to cover such incredible distance? Does he have some sort of hyperspace flight technology which allows him to travel faster than light, enough to reach other systems and galaxies?

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    3. excellent questions Rick i believe i can answer at least one of them. the meteorite touch down sequence was basically paying homage to classic Sci-Fi movies like the original War of the Worlds in which the "Martian" invaders arrived in meteorites. i believe on the matter of your other question that was just a logic gap over sight. if you can believe it i found even more Rom related cool stuff in that Captain America issue outside of what i posted here that'll be coming in a posting later this week.

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  4. That's what I got from the crash landing as well a way to mask his arrival and that scene is forever etched into my mind can't wait to see what else your going to whip up!!

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  5. If I recall correctly, in one of the Marvel Handbooks, his armor is supposedly capable of locating wormhole anomoalies that allow him to traverse great distances in short periods of time. When Luke Cage damaged his rocket pods that was part of the mechanism that he needed to repair thus requiring the 'loan' of the Skrull saucer from the FF to return to Galador. IIRC of course.

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  6. well according to this you seem to be onto something http://www.classicmarvelforever.com/cast/rom.htm

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  7. Hot damn!
    Even I have never known about the ROM cameo in Captain America!

    Now I have to put that issue on my hunt-list.

    NOR have I ever seen that JRjr / Marie Severin promo pitch!

    SWEET!

    GREAT JOB!

    ~P~

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    1. hey how about that i found something even you didn't know about already! maybe i'll get as lucky with tomorrow's posting.

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