Lesser known licensed properties of the 80s

A big thanks to Michael Mantlo for sending me this photo from this weekend's visit to Bill. As you can see I sent a copy of my ROM Micronauts holiday fan art to Michael just in time for him to have it for what was then the upcoming visit to Bill. It's so cool to think that the same guy who wrote the entire ROM series along with so much other great stuff for Marvel during the 80s is enjoying something I drew that's based on his prolific career. As you all know Bill had a knack for writing comics based on toy lines but let's have a look at a couple of toy based titles Bill didn't write that are worth having a second look at . . .

Another big thanks to the lovely and ever charming Randomnerd for loaning me her Crystar series. I've already read the issues I used to have and it's been a real joy reading them now as opposed to when I kinda sorta did in my early teens. They're actually pretty well written and ofcourse in general it's great to now be able to read all 11 issues of the series. Written by Jo Duffy by the way, you all should know of her aside from her career in Marvel Comics I've also posted about her here because of her editing work on ROM spaceknight.

And on the same day I got Random's Crystar collection so also arrived the 3 issue mini-series of The Power Lords from ebay. Ever since I coincidentally found issue one at a flee market last summer I've been wanting to read the other two issues again.  Back in the day (1983) I used to have issues 2 and 3 and shortly there after as a random gift selection my mother had gotten me a few of the figures for X-Mas. I think as far as the comic goes the big selling point for me back then was the inherent intriguing visual nature of the characters which I think Mark Texiera's dynamic pencils really brought out the best off.

In terms of the story and dialogue it was largely what one might expect from a toy based mini-series of the early to mid 80s but it wasn't a bad read in the here and now and it still brought back some good memories. But at the same time I think Mantlo and Duffy would have done more justice to it. The Power Lords franchise has earned a place in the 80s vintage toy arena despite it having been some what less then a success back then but like with Crystar I'll always have a bit of a soft spot for them.

Jan. 12 update: Gary, I don't know how you find this stuff! What a fantastic article this 2009 #32 of Back Issue magazine has about the Al Milgrom alternate ROM #1 cover art as well as on Bill Mantlo and the business of comic book titles based on licensed properties. So now we know where that "mock up" in my Jan. 1st posting came from.You can read a digital copy online at the link below . . .

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=735

But here's just a sample to whet your appetite . . .

But regardless of which cover you prefer thank the Gods of Galador the cover art for ROM #1 was never this version it almost makes the cover art for the ROM remix project look good . . . http://sanctumsanctorumcomix.blogspot.com/search?q=rom+1

Gods of Galador my ROM t-shirt arrived today!

Just got this baby in the mail a couple of hours ago! This is actually the first time I've ever bought any clothing online I've always had this standing rule about never buying anything I can try on first I'm a bit fussy when it comes to how stuff fits on me. But I had no choice Redbubble doesn't have any retail services from their San Francisco office. I don't know how they can get away with selling t-shirts of licensed characters with everything from Thundarr The Barbarian to The Shogun Warriors and even to The Micronauts but I gotta go back to S.F. early next week and now that I have my brand spanking new ROM t-shirt from these guys maybe I'll try to pay them another visit.

Left click to enlarge

This custom Torpedo figure has been around for a while but I felt like featuring it here basically because I really like it. The artist did a good job on making the Torpedo armor look very accurate to how it was drawn not to mention the transparent visor. I'm also a big fan of figures that have good points of articulation. Even when a figure has a good sculpt but is about as articulate as the original Star Wars action figure line well then it might as well just be a statue figurine which kinda defeats the whole point of producing an "action figure". Now here's an example of a custom Torpedo I'm not too crazy about for the before mentioned reasons . . .
http://www.figurerealm.com/viewcustomfigure.php?FID=60300

September 7 Update: A heart warming moment from the Bill Finger Awards presentation at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con with our beloved Bill spaceknight Mantlo.

"Parker Brothers"

I'm sure Rom fans and all others in general who understand the complications of comic book titles and characters based on licensed properties will understand and appreciate the humor here. A big thanks to Bruce who hails from far away Spain for bringing this Amazing Spiderman 672 clip art to us.

And speaking of which if you want to see my video overview of the IDW Mars Attacks trade paper back with a very special bonus pin up page you can see all that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALieUDk_l1Q

Bill Mantlo from this past weekend

Just wanted to share with you all this nice photo of Bill from his brother's latest visit. As you can see he came bearing gifts. Regardless of most anything going on in your life if you're a fan of Bill Mantlo's work it's gotta make you feel better about things over all when you see happy moments like this for Bill.

 

The following clip art was published in Marvel titles (Captain Marvel #6 vol. 3 2001 & Universe X #3 2000) for issues that came out right after Marvel lost the rights to both Rom and The Micronuats. What I like about these panels is how the respective artists managed to represent both Baron Karza and Rom with out actually drawing them technically speaking. That sort of thing takes a unique skill set as an artist. So here comes my pun you might say in the case of Baron Karza you might say he's just a shadow of his former self in comparison to my last posting.

Unlike Rom spaceknight and The Micronauts The Human Fly was not inspired by a toy line but instead by real life daredevil Rick Rojatt. There's not a whole lot of fan art for The Human Fly out there on the internet but I would have to say this rendering I found on Deviant Art is the best I've come across so far.

Also, there's a number of  fan art pieces in the Cloak & Dagger fan folder on Deviant Art. be sure to scroll through all 6 pages there's some really great stuff there http://cloak-n-dagger-fc.deviantart.com/favourites/?set=48825402&offset=0