Sometimes when I reflect on Bill Mantlo’s legacy it’s not just about what was, but also about what could have been under different circumstances. A big thanks to Greek artist and friend Kapandias Nikolaos for helping make this imaginary cover art possible. Like many of you we sure do wish it had been a published hard copy found on a spinner rack back in the day.
And speaking of spinner racks. I'm sure you've all seen this photo before with this George Lucas looking guy it's been posted all over social media countless times over the years. By chance I recently found this color version on X/twitter.
Back to more collaboration fan art with my before mentioned Greek friend. I dressed up some fan art of his from 2021 to make a ROM Annual 3 cover variant. Now, no disrespect to Bill Sienkiewicz who did the original cover art we all still very much love. It's just that a different interpretation some times can be interesting and enjoyable as well.
If you grew up in the 80s and don't remember the show Airwolf, well I don't know what to say because I sure do remember it. Back when ROM annual 3 came out I noticed something very familiar about the helmets featured for the Wraith Hunter Rangers. I would find it hard to believe that redesign concept was not directly influenced that cool helmet design from the show.
Also, my hypothetical Tales to Astonish publishing those untold Mantlo stories would be penciled by just about any other artist other then Steve Ditko. Sal Buscema ofcourse would have been ideal but Bob Layton would have been a good alternative. The same Bob Layton who did this spectacular SABRA commission late last year.
I also have a message for marvel studios because even though the opening weekend of Captain America Brave New World is not quite over we can already do a post mortem. Well you idiots caved in to the BDShole woke antisemitic mob and how did that work out for ya? But that still didn't keep the hamas supporters from harassing Shira Hass at the premier in LA. Did you people learn nothing from the last election and see how all the double talk from the democrats on the war in gaza was just pissing every one off on both sides!? Like Nick Fury said in Captain Marvel ..."pick a side".
I mean Shira Hass was a questionable person for the role in the first place given that she looks like she's barely old enough to drive but was playing a character who's traded punches with the HULK in the comics. But you people really screwed this all up even worse then expected. And Marvel/Disney has got another money losing disaster over the horizon in the form of the semi live action Snow Woke film. Just as gaza has brought all this misery and destruction on it's self as a result of the October 7th terror attack, you've done much the same with your financial miseries and brand destruction. Well deserved in each case!
Instead of wasting your money on Captain America Brave New Whatever, just watch this instead. It's free, a better use of your time and I heard it has better CGI effects.
February 27th Update: Holy shit I just heard the news about Gene Hackman, his wife and their dog having been found dead in their New Mexico home! I don't even know where to start with this one. My personal favorite Gene Hackman films are Superman I and 2, The Unforgiven, Crimson Tide, The Firm and The Poseidon Adventure. My all three of them rest in peace.
April 1st Update: And here we go again with the loss of another iconic actor for early 2025. My all time favorite Val Kilmer films are Top Secret, HEAT and Tombstone. Top Gun was good in a cheesy 80s action drama kinda way but Mavrick really ended up far exceeding my expectations for a sequel to a movie like Top Gun could be. I'm so glad Val Kilmer was at least healthy enough at the time for that heart warming scene between him and Tom Cruise it was one of those great moments that made Maverick so damn good. In terms of science fiction, Val Kilmer was in the film Red Planet. Not at all a bad film although not as good as other Mars based films like Mission To Mars and The Martian.
Now this one here I retrieved from my fan art archives. It's the only Jewish culture and ROM crossover piece I've ever come across and unfortunately I still don't know who the artist is because I sure would have a few questions for him or her about it. The four or five of you who will see this posting probably aren't old enough to recognize the little "girl" here. She's an android from this late 80s sitcom called Small Wonder. This artist had a quite a vivid imagination. Well, Happy Hanukkha whoever you are.
I really wanted to close out the year with some original fan art of my own so in honor of the first night of Hanukkah I came up with this sketch card a couple days ago. There ofcourse are a number of other Jewish characters from Marvel Comics such as Moon Knight and Alpha Flight's Sesquatch but I decided to use the ones that I think worked best for this gathering around the menorah scene. Please spare a thought and maybe even a prayer for the hostages still in the terrorist Hell hole of gaza who will be missing their second Hanukkah in a row now. Bring Them Home Now!
January 18th Update: Tomorrow will be the first day of phase 1 for the ceasefire for the hostages deal. Let's hope it holds and eventually results in the release of all the hostages in the coming weeks from those hamas bastards.
Anyways, on a much much less serious topic . . . images of these new Marvel Legends action figures have turned up yesterday on social media. At exactly 20:20 in this presentation video we get a detailed look and description of the ROM figure.
Before we get to the Sabra stuff, have a look at this. A mere coincidence? I think not.
So just earlier today I came across something of a wonderful mystery involving Cloak n' Dagger issue 11 (Volume 2) from 1985. What you see here are two unpublished pages (9 and 15) for a story called O Little Town of Bethlehem in which Cloak n' Dagger get caught up in a West Bank weapons smuggling operation. The published story featured a non super powered female semi protagonist named Beth Stein who is on a personal vendetta to avenge the death of her daughter by terrorists.
There's no mention of Israel or of "palestinians" but it's very obvious that Beth is an Israeli and that the terrorists she's pursuing are palestinians. I always thought that was a bit odd when I first read Cloak n' Dagger 11 as a back issue a few years ago especially considering that Marvel had published stories with Middle East politics in the background in the early 80s with out any drama for first appearance issues (Incredible HULK series ofcourse) of Sabra and The Arabian Knight. And now it would appear as if at some point in this issue's production that it was intended to have Sabra (aka Ruth Bat Seraph) as the semi protagonist instead of this Beth Stein character.
I wish I had more answers about what the Hell went on behind the scenes at the time between original writer Bill Mantlo, penciler June Brigman and editor Carl Potts. I dunno maybe it had something to do with it already having been established that the Sabra character's background involved the murder of her son (presumably only offspring) to palestinian terrorists and that this revenge story line about a murdered daughter would then not make much sense for Sabra? I suspect the reasoning was more political in nature but really who knows?
All I can say for now is that I'm grateful for these two pages that were
uncovered even though I have no idea if they're are any more out there
from the unpublished Sabra version of Cloak n' Dagger 11. Interestingly enough in the 90s and early 2000s we would see Sabra make appearances in The Hulk, New Warriors, X-Men and Union Jack that took fairly deep dives into hot topics such as The Holocaust and Israel's conflict with the palestinians. And here we are in 2024 with the ongoing MCU Sabra drama for Captain America Brave New World in this post October 7th world with this shit hamas war still ongoing.
No ceasefire without the speedy return of all hostages still in gaza. Fuck hamas and all their useful idiot supporters!
September 9th Update: All I can say is damn! Not you to James Earl Jones! Another part of my childhood and so much more gone, but never forgotten. Rest in peace.
November 13th Update: Here's one I didn't see coming, at only 69 we lost Tony Todd a few days ago. Todd had a long film and TV career spanning decades but my favorite work from Todd was his countless appearances on Star Trek and when it came to his movie work there was the excellent Night of The Living Dead remake, Platoon and The Rock. I also want to make an honorary mention of yet another recent loss just prior to Todd of another Star Trek DS9 actor, James Darren. Darren played the reoccurring beloved holodeck character Vic Fontaine and you may remember him also from back in the day on T.J. Hooker.
I've always wanted to see at least part of this awesome commission piece in color so I went ahead and added some. The original was done last year by Ron Joseph, you can see it here...
I recently came across this fan art in deviant art by chance. While looking at the comments section I realized I had seen it before because I had left a comment exactly one year ago. At the time I described it as well illustrated but too "derivitive". But now I kinda feel like I'm seeing it in a different light and felt it was worth while to showcase here.
So, at the cost of sounding immodest I'd say the bulk of the good fan art that turned up in 2019 probably came from myself and my Greek friend. His solo work as well as our collaborative efforts have been featured quite heavily in the hand full of postings I've done this past year. Unfortunately, most of what I've seen other wise has been a mixed bag of disappointment ranging from . . .
...stuff that was just plain weird, obscure and borderline incomprehensible. Then you had pieces that were so amateurish from an illustration skill stand point to others that were utterly lacking in creativity or otherwise imagination. But there was...
...also some other work in which the artists did combine genuine illustration skills with some sense of creativity (the number of those pieces was a short list to be sure) to the point where their art work was more or less in the spirit of the Marvel series and evoked some sense of nostalgia. I would like to think that 2020 will have in store more of the kinda of fan art that reminds me of the good ol days as opposed to the dull and uninspiring crap I usually find but I doubt it.
February 23rd Update: Any fans out there of The Mandalorian? Great show, and the only good thing out there when it comes to live action Star Wars along with Rogue 1 in the past 19 years. I recently did some fan art on a greeting card for a buddy of mine.
Last year I did something similar for Okoye and Misty Knight who are some of my favorite ladies of color from Marvel Comics...
Having some fun here bringing back that 80s feelin just one last time here. As a parting gift I just wanted to share a few cool items with you all that some of you may or may not have seen yet and some that all of you definitely have not.
This fictitious cover art is gorgeous but at the same time it kinda makes me sad. To think about what could have been as opposed to what was. Ofcourse I'm talking about all the half baked continuity that ended up from Marvel after they lost the character rights and on top of that many years later the travesty that is IDW's reboot after they gained the rights. I'm still not sure to this day which of the two publishers has done a bigger disservice to the character.
And how about one last sketch card? This one as you can see having to do with an 80s property cross over I've had on my mind in recent weeks. Although I have to say after having seen IDW's idea of the Hasbroverse in the past couple years I must say some cross overs might be better left in the imaginations of the fan base with some occasional fan art popping up here and there.
So all the stuff you see below this opening photo was stuff I was planning on posting along with a Black Panther movie review which I already have tickets to see on opening weekend. But when my buddy Sammy (fellow comic book/sci-fi fanboy) text this photo from earlier today while he was cruising down 580 I was like fuck it it's time for a new blog posting right now. According to Sammy this guy was really hauling ass but I betcha even a minor accident would have been a quick wake up call to this idiot that he's not a super soldier with an indestructible shield on his back. Among all the cities in the San Francisco metro area Hayward is certainly not one of the ones that you're likely to see some thing cool like this but once in a while you get lucky kinda like I did last fall when I saw the Batmobile at a down town vintage car show . . . http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/2017/09/black-power.html
Ya know it's funny, probably a third of the back issues I buy from discount boxes are of comics I had back in the 80s but some where along the way over the years lost or traded away. Sometimes I think it's worthwhile to pick something up again and give it a second look with a fresh pair of eyes.
One such issue is Avengers 253 which was kind of a cool issue aside from the ROM connection. In it, The Vision's conscience enters a number of global computer networks around the world in an ill conceived plan in order to take over the world and make it a better place. There's clearly some elements of TRON in that concept as well as the computer intelligence taking over the world narrative which have spawned a ton of sci-fi movies like The Forbin Project, The Terminator, I Robot or The Matrix.
For those of you who've read ROM 43 remember that The Living Computer Quasimodo had possessed ROM's armor but was driven out by the mind controlled Brandy Clark who was merged with the Starshine armor at the time. Now they never really explained after having been driven out what happened to Quasimodo his conscience represented as this ghost image just kinda disappears in the air and keep in mind all that shit happened at some kind of secret base in The Soviet Union (or call it Russia if you prefer but who gives a fuck same difference).
Back in the mid 80s when I first had this issue I completely missed this. Despite the absence of a foot note (dumb ass writing over site) it's pretty obvious Quasimodo is making a reference to ROM 43 which I was able to confirm on the Quasimodo entry page in The Ultimate Marvel Universe Handbook (issue 10 Vol. 2).
Avengers 252
Oh and look at this clip art from the previous Avengers issue. Even though it was written in 1985 talk about no truer words ever spoken in the current political climate of this country. Chris Evans has done such a great job with the Captain America role it makes me want to see him run in 2020. Pretty sure unlike trump, Chris Evens wouldn't get an endorsement from that racist and anti-Semitic piece of shit david duke.
In case you didn't happen to have seen this before. Oh my goodness how could you not love the 80s? Poly bag sets, spinner racks, comics at your local liquor store and 7-Eleven not to mention none of this $2.99 and $3.99 cover price bullshit.
Also pretty cool in case you didn't happen to have seen this before. Now I know what some of you might be thinking right something along the lines of "hey wait a minute those are dire wraiths from IDW and you had that ROM in name only reboot".
Yes that's true, however the dire wraiths from Marvel were shape shifters as well so if we stretch our imaginations a bit one might say this is the original ROM busting up and banishing these fools. Anyways, I found this on deviant art and the guy who staged this has a bunch of other cool toy scenes based on comic book clip art. Especially cool if you're an 80s Transformers fan . . .
Ok it's back to more Star Wars stuff. I recently recovered this old passport (long story don't ask) I had as a kid I totally forgot about it. It was valid from 1978 to 1983. I'm guessing I was around 8 or 9 when I did this Empire Strikes Back doodle and clearly at that age you don't understand that it's not legal to be drawing fan art on federal documents.
This is a commission art piece done by artist Peter Nguyen based on X-Men issue #188 which was the climatic ending of a 5 issue story arc (184,185, 186, 187, 188 all by John Romita Jr. and Chris Claremont) covering the assassination attempt on Forge by the dire wraiths. Ofcourse that broader story line of Forge's involvement in the Wraith War would continue in the pages of ROM. No ROM spaceknight collection is truly complete with out these important X-Men tie-in issues.
Just noticed this in the latest Incredible Hulk trade paper back (Future Imperfect) just published last month. The TPB includes the Rick Jones wedding issue and I was happy to see the panels with ROM were not left out but that didn't come as much of a surprise given that ROM was not in his cyborg armor. Although even that may have been an over site given that Marvel these days isn't even willing to have ROM in any new stories as even human and being referred to in some other way then the name "ROM". And I would know because I've suggested it to them only to have that idea flatly rejected back in 2011 and again 2012. But Marvel definitely made an over site in the back pages featuring reprinted clip art in black and white which has a panel with some skrulls impersonating superheroes that Rick Jones has been a side kick to over the years. Quick, somebody go tell Hasbro (just kidding like they'd care). Well Gary (a very dedicated ROM curator), even though you already have all the individual ROM related Hulk issues it looks like you're gonna have to open up your wallet yet again and add this TPB to your collection.
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February 14th Update: Started this sketch in the morning and finished it after I got home from work tonight. Just found my self in the mood to draw Storm today.
Damn, is it just me or did January seem to come and go in the blink of an eye!? I have the feeling 2017 is gonna fly by like 2016 did. Anyways, it would be pretty hard to have ROM, Panthro and Snake Eyes together and it somehow sucking. And all the better if you throw in other characters I like who are licensed properties from the 80s and cool DC characters. Anyways, that's all I've got to say about that and here's a link to where I found this . . . http://www.scrollboss.illmosis.net/blog/?p=1753
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I also wanted to use this posting today to feature the art work of an artist you've probably never heard of before. As you can see in terms of style and theme it's a complete departure from how I opened this posting. He's a fellow by the name of Paul Sloan and he's done a number of these apocalyptic ice age fantasy art piece featuring famous cities like Seattle (which I visited late last year as some of you may recall) and San Francisco.
Getting back to the superhero genre fan art here's something new from my good friend and fellow ROM fan from the island of Crete (Greece). I've featured his work here before and have even been inspired by his stuff in regards to my own fan art. He recently did this sweet piece with Storm from The X-Men. But to see the full body view in her Savage Land costume variant you need to go to the link http://nikoskap.deviantart.com/art/Savage-Land-Ororo-659747348
I totally wasn't expecting to do another sketch card any time soon but I saw something recently that gave me almost instant inspiration. But first things first. The closest thing we ever got to see in terms of some kind of ROM and Spider Man cross over was a cameo in ROM spaceknight 23. No doubt some kind of team up story between the greatest of the spaceknights and arguably Marvel's most popular character would have been nothing short of epic for ROM fans. So getting back to my inspiration it came when I saw this black suite Spider Man fan art by my good friend from Greece. It was one of the coolest and most creative web swinging poses I've ever seen and I knew almost right away I wanted to use it some how with ROM. I hammered this sketch card out it just one evening. Don't forget to check out part of the source material from Nikoskap ... http://nikoskap.deviantart.com/art/Web-swinger-634802666
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And speaking of all things cool and Spider Man have a look at what I passed by just last week. This can be found in the city of Hayward at a custom plastics fabrication business called Bell Plastics (2020 National Ave.). But I'm also happy to say that Hayward has been home before to other public art of our friendly neighborhood Spider this can be found on Tennyson Road Man http://www.itsadansworld.net/2010/09/united-by-style-marvel-takes-dc-to.html
Been meaning to add another sketch card to my collection for a while now but just hadn't been feeling very artistically inspired lately. But with my most recent trip to Seattle I got an idea based on all the souvenir and gift shops with all the Seattle this and Seattle that merchandise but keep in mind I say that with Seattle still being my all time favorite U.S. city. Too bad it's almost as expensive to live there these days as it is in San Francisco. Anyways, that's nothing that ROM would have to worry about so here you have it a silver spaceknight in The Emerald City. Unfortunately, ROM never made it up to Seattle or to The Pacific Northwest in general during his original series but it sure would have been cool. That would have been so awesome seeing ROM use his neutralizer to banish a dire wraith posing as a Starbucks coffee employee. Not too far from reality actually when you think about it given Starbuck's already fairly successful plan for world domination.
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Classic Marvel 80s ROM sketch cards collect em all!
