Sunday, April 14, 2013

The Marvel appearance that sadly never was, Rom in the pages of Machine Man

Talk about a cool crossover that never happened. One a cyborg who was desperate to be human again and the other a machine desperate to become human some how. And as irony would have it both were far more human in terms of nobility and a respect for living things then many people out there. I thought I'd also throw in The Torpedo since Brock Jones and Machine Man's human alter ego both worked at Delmare insurance.

In light of Bruce's comment about Beta Ray Bill and Rom I'll add this Thor 354 clip art from Gary Martin Jr. I've been sitting on into the posting. I guess you can say in a sense there already has been a Rom/Bet Ray Bill crossover. Along with an appearance inside, Bill was even on the cover of Rom#65 if you remember.


13 comments:

  1. Neat stuff. You definitely can't say "alas it wasn't meant to be" because YES, for the connections you mentioned & more, this REALLY SHOULD have happened.

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    1. yeah even as a What if issue this would have been awesome. thanks for checking it out Gary i'm glad you liked it.

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  2. So many connections like this just got lost. It's why that whole not using the ROM name thing sucks, because it almost feels like all the peripheral characters and relationships are negated as well. It almost ends up feeling like ROM is some kind of swear word, and he must have done something horrid to those around him so no one wants to mention him again. Which we know isn't the case, but it does make writing around that time period awkward.

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    1. i think when Marvel still had the Rom licensing rights even after the series ended they were able to do some descent stuff still like the Torpedo armor continuity in the New Warriors and Rom and Brandy's appearance at Rick Jone's wedding for example. but since 2000 Marvel has had almost nothing but shit to offer as far as any Rom continuity goes.
      Random, did you see the Paradox addition i made in the previous posting? i think you'll find it interesting and i'm curious to know what your take is on the Paradox character that Bill Mantlo introduced to Marvel Magazine readers back in 1980.

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    2. No! I'll go check it out now.

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  3. Of course. But the huge paralelism (though I rather think the latter is sort of a copy) is between ROM and Beta Ray Bill. That crossover would be nice as well.

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  4. I had no idea that Brock and Aaron both worked at the same insurance company! What a missed opportunity by Marvel, my friend. I can imagine the story now: Dire Wraith agents infiltrate the forces which are out to destroy X-51, but Rom and Machine Man get off to a bad start because Stack resents what Rom gave up... his humanity, which X-51 so desperately craves. An uneasy truce leads to a discovery which affects them both: Colonel Kragg, the commander determined to destroy X-51, is himself a dire wraith! Now all Rom and X-51 need is a little energon...and a lot of luck.

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    1. yeah that Delmar connection was unknown to me as well for years until recently thanks to Lee's Rom spaceknight Revisited data base web site. i had a scenario or two about what this issue could have been about but as of yet i don't have anything coherent enough to write down.

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  5. Very well done. My first reaction was I MISSED THIS!!?? Looks like it would have been fun.

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    1. looks like we have a mystery guest today, thanks for visiting. i hope you still enjoyed the posting despite it having gotten your hopes up for a moment that there were more Rom related back issues out there to hunt down you didn't know about.

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  6. You kidding me Brother I was about to hit the comic shop!!! Very well done it looks as a cover truly should down right too good Ha!!

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    1. what is real however is the Rom bonus pin up page in the Mars Attacks trade paper back that just came out. i had to special order it however but i'll be hitting the comic shop when that arrives next week.

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