Something dire this way comes for Halloween

Not taking anything away from the original Bill Sienkiewicz haunting cover art, but this recreation of the cover for ROM 47 would have been nightmare fuel for the Marvel Comics fan boys of the early 80s. How I miss Halloween back in those days. Trick or treating was so much more fun back then. Even if you're not a big AI art fan you gotta admit the dire wraith here looks awesome right down to it's finest detail. The logo and other cover elements were added in photoshop. 

This one is some art work that's been on Deviant Art for years now. I've never posted it before even though I kinda liked it but at the same time I've always felt like it would be much better with some "fine tuning". I came across it again today and thought it would make for another cool piece to add to my Halloween posting so I brought it into photoshop. I left the deviant art gallery link below so you can see what the original looks like  . . . 

https://www.deviantart.com/c-lee-b/art/Rom-Spaceknight-796722467

And allow me to share with you some other art work of my own from this year that’s not digital media. Quite the departure from the usual small format sketch cards I usually do. Yeah as you can see I've been pretty busy with my spare time during this politically very turbulent 2026.

A surprise discovery weekend full of ROM related Marvel 80s nostalgia fan art

For most of this year I was pretty sure my January 1st post would be my last. But then this weekend came along and a number of cool stuff turned up. The kinda stuff I like to post, but has become increasingly rare. So for the 3 or 4 of you out there still checking out this blog I'm pleased to share the following with you. 

Unam The Unseen, one of the most tragic figures of  any spaceknight from back in the day. I don't know anythng about how this ficticious fan art cover in terms of who or how it was put together. I see the name Batista, as in the artist Chris Batista I assume. Is it hand drawn with some graphics added in photoshop or is it AI? Either way, it's an intriging concept and well illustrated with it's bold Marvel 80s cover art style.

Now this cropped cover art reproduction for ROM spaceknight 18 with the Wolverine yellow costume variant is all but certainly AI. But I never the less like it, despite it not being the most creative fan art from a conceptual stand point. It kinda reminds me of The Brothers Hilderbrandt in it's almost photo realistsic style and vivid colors.

Here we have a 3D printed statue of The Torpedo. According to the artist Kelly Green this is just a prototype so it's possible an even better updated version may turn up down the road. I absolutely love the pose, it has the prospects for a great referrence for some new fan art some day.

Now here's a show down many of us woud have liked to see back in the day. Tony Stark's genius technology vs Galadorian spaceknight armor. Many thanks to artist Ron Frenz for bringing this little sneak peak at what might have been. 

October 26th Update: I found this recent upload on deviant art today and I knew I just had to get me some Sabra all up in here.

https://www.deviantart.com/chaosemperor971/art/Sabra-(Ruth-Bat-Seraph)-1401752638

Unfortunately today also has brought us some really sad news as well, and on the heels of Tom Skerritt's passing no less. We just lost Walter Koenig who was another icon of science fiction history. Koenig was best known ofcourse for playing Mr. Chekov but I also want to give him some props for his work on Babylon 5 as the arrogant and devious psi cop Alfred Bester. To my surprise, Koenig played a very convincing villain character who was also well written. His addition to the cast as a semi regular came at a time when the series was starting to find it's legs. When Babylon 5 first came out I thought of it as a discount Deep Space 9 show. Rest in peace Walter, and thank you.

October 29 Update: When I heard earlier today about Patrick Stewart having passed away I was like you gotta be fucken kidding me. Walter Koenig and Patrick Stewart in the same damn week, really!? Ya know it's funny I can still remember thinking to myself  "Hey I know that guy from DUNE" after the first time I saw Stewart as Jean Luc Picard. I can also remember the first time I saw Stewart's death scene in Logan. The shock and sadness from that was pretty potent at the time and that was just as Stewart playing in a tragic moment of a beloved character. So many great memories, thank you and rest in peace sir.

Detroit finally gets it's Robocop statue and it's about damn time

Anyways, back in early 2018 my wife and I decided to go visit some family in Detroit but the trip didn't happen until later in the year. In the run up to our trip I learned about the Robocop statue project which was supposed to get it's unveiling just before our trip so I was pretty excited about that. Unfortunately that didn't happen and there would be over 7 years worth of delays. But as of November last year, the the seemingly endless delays finally came to end and Detroit has it's Robocop tribute statue for all to enjoy. I may be due for another visit to Detroit this year.

January 27th Update: I don't know any details as of yet but I just literaly learned a few minutes ago about the passing of the great SAL BUSCEMA! In some ways Sal Buscema is even more responsible for getting me into ROM then even Bill Mantlo given that I was following the stories in comics from the art more then from the writing back in the early 80s. Afterall I wasn't even quite into my teens back then. Sal also co-created the Sabra character which I'm a fan of so I'm grateful for that as well. Rest in peace sir, your work was one of the many things that made the 1980s epic.

Sal Buscema's last issue on ROM was issue 58. After that there was ofcourse a noticable decline in the quality of the art work. But thanks to the embellshments of other artists on Ditko's pencils the art work was still decent from issues 59 thru 63. In a sense it was the last issue in the series I was able to enjoy both from a story and visual stand point. After that it was only Bill Mantlo's story telling that made it possible for me to get through the rest of the series which ran for another 12 issues and 1 final annual.

June 15th Update: Yeah I know all about this new blind bag M.A.S.K Energon Universe whatever so called ROM issue from Image and Skybox. From the preview clip art I've seen so far this might as well be idw ROM reboot 2.0, hard pass.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DZh5f09nDHW/?img_index=7

August 27th 15th Update: I've been a Transformers fan since the first commercial promo for the original comic book mini-series back in the day. And off and on through out the years I've talked plenty on this blog about the comparisons between Optimus Prime and ROM. So this was some pretty sad news today about Peter Cullin passing away but at 85 I'm glad to know this voice actor legend lived a pretty full life. Tributes have been all over social media today about his large body of work although I wish more of them would mention his epic voice over for the intro on the Voltron cartoon series.

October 23rd Update: A couple days ago we lost Tom Skerritt. Even though as far as I know ALIEN was the only thing he did that was in the science fiction/comic book genre I think I need to give him his props here just by virtue of his work in that epic film alone. As of now, there are only two members of that cast that are still alive today. Also, let's also add an honorable mention to Chuck Norris who passed away earlier this year. Why? Because he's Chuck Norris.