Always cool when your letter gets published

This past weekend I found a copy of Avengers Academy #27 which I had been made recently aware (thanks Gary) of as having letter I wrote (under the pen name "Sol Rosenberg", any other Jerky Boys fans out there?) back in 2012 to the editor William Rosemann. I had actually written two letters but completely forgot about this one until recently. This one was written after the first issue of a 3 issue story arc that included the return of one of ROM's top deadliest enemies, Hybrid. But by the time the 3rd issue came along my attitude had changed drastically when I realized marvel had failed yet to do justice to the ROM legacy. So I wrote a rather critical follow up letter which obviously didn't make it into any Avengers Academy letter columns but I did have it in a past posting along with Rosemann's reply : )
http://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/search?q=avengers+academy

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=Oh man after posting the letter page related stuff I got a call from work letting me know I can have the day off from work because it's so slow this week. I'm so sprung right now it makes me feel like doing a another drawing I've been meaning to get to for a while now. This scene didn't quite turn out the way I envisioned at first but this is basically how I see an encounter going between ROM and Dr. Doom.

Also, I found something cool on Figure Realm today . . .
https://www.figurerealm.com/viewcustomfigure.php?FID=72162
and for fans of the Masters of the Universe mini comics . . .
http://old.he-man.org/primary_sects/comics/html/mini_comics/motu/index.shtml

BIG WOW Comic Con San Jose CA. 2015

So just this past weekend I went to the BIG WOW Comic Con in San Jose which I've gone to for the past 2 years (not counting this year's) now. Off hand it was cool this year for me because this time I was able to go sporting the ROM t-shirt I ordered from Redbubble last Fall. I had a few random people through out the day there give me my props when they saw it . . .
http://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/2014/09/gods-of-galador-my-new-rom-t-shirt-fits.html
Ironically I didn't get a chance to take a close look at the official convention program book until just this afternoon when I noticed something under the artist guest list I didn't catch in the previous years. That's pretty cool that among the huge breadth of work Golden has had over the decades that ROM and The Micronauts was included on this short list of art credits. Same goes for The She-Hulk as far as I know like with ROM he only ever did some of the cover art for that title too.

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April 23 Update: In keeping with the local theme of this posting I decided to do something with ROM in another S.F. Bay Area city. But don't forget part of the story from ROM #48 (see August 12, 2012 posting) actually takes place in San Francisco so in a way this is something of a tribute piece to that issue.

April 26 Update: Ok one last thing before we close out this month. Last night I was doodling while in a  "fuck marvel - hasbro" kinda mood and it actually started to come out as a pretty good sketch. It makes me feel better when I just some times don't have the words or don't want to repeat myself.

The good ol days of letter columns in your comics

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Last weekend I grabbed a copy of New Warriors 35 (1993) in a $1 box because it had a bunch of action with the Torpedo armor. While browsing through the letter column I found a cool letter I thought I'd share with you all along with this nicely done panel with Turbo and Nova. It's funny back when I was in my early teens I never really cared much for the letter column section of my comics. It always seemed like the letters mostly consisted of fan boys asking stupid behind the scenes questions about who's working with who and why did that guy stop working on that title and how they would like to see this n' that and so on. Now of course I see these letter columns with a different perspective  . . . at least some times hence this posting.

Art work by Bob Layton

April 9 update: What a nice surprise to come my way just when I thought I had scraped the bottom of the barrel for all the good ROM related fan art out there. Originally done by Bob Layton and later colored by Ian Sokoliwski this one has actually been around for about a year and a half but as far as I can tell has remained largely undiscovered.

April 11 update: Looks like I lucked out again last night I came across what as far as I know is the only Torpedo (Brock Jones) sketch card out there. Also, we'll have to wait till October but it looks like Twomorrows Publishing will have something in print for not just ROM fans but also for fans of late 70s and early 80s comics. Aside from the synopsis see if you can spot ROM on the cover
http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1195

Screw basketball this is Man-Thing Madness

Well I've got this temporary lull in my schedule and I decided to enjoy some of my down time with one of my favorite leisure activities which is to draw. I had this story idea for a while now in which The Dire Wraiths possess The Man-Thing in order to create some sort of mayhem in the their latest scheme against humanity. Discovering their, plot ROM shows up to save the day by breaking their spell which in turn have the dire wraiths running scared because now they've not only lost control of the Man-Thing but also have their greatest enemy on the scene. But it isn't ROM that does them in because as you all should know Whatever knows fear burns at the touch of The Man-Thing!
On a side note here if you want to read a some what cheesy but entertaining Man-Thing related story from the bronze age of comics written by Bill Mantlo I recommend Marvel Premier 28
http://bronzeagebabies.blogspot.com/2011/10/legion-of-mediocrity-marvel-premiere-28.html

Awesome 70s & 80s Man-Thing appearance cover art by Michael Golden

That's gonna pretty much do it for March it's been another much to do about nothing month in regards to all things ROM related as far as any news or any cool fan art and what not. It's not to say no new fan art has appeared this month but it just hasn't been the sort of thing I want to post on this blog any more. Some new fan art has turned up this month but of that new art work here's the most recent piece which happens to be by someone who's got some serious illustration skills but unfortunately didn't put much imagination into their ROM fan art  . . .
http://iszyiszard.deviantart.com/art/Romspaceknight-522296953

ROM vs The Brood, the full picture

So here it is, the completed ROM vs The Brood sketch art. Didn't think I'd get to it this soon a couple of weeks ago the idea of finishing this felt like such a chore. But sometimes when the time is right what felt like a drag before becomes a slam dunk.

And continuing the ROM cover easter eggs on the big screen from the last posting here's the first time I've ever come across a Robocop review video on youtube that calls out the various ROM covers (as well as a copy of Iron Man) spotted during the liquor store hold up scene which we see at the 2:50 mark . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvqU9fhsxoQ

ROM spaceknight vs The Brood

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This actually isn't finished it's a horizontal drawing. But I just don't have the time right now to finish this Sunday afternoon sketch today because as it is I should have used this time to get some studying done and or get to my fucken taxes. With everything that's going on right now I just needed a mental break and sometimes putting pen or pencil to paper does the trick. Nothing new or exciting since my last posting as far as ROM related stuff goes. None of the fan art I've seen had me saying "wow" to myself and even though some new videos have turned up it's nothing we haven't heard or seen before. They were a lot of the  . . "ROM was a Parker Brothers doll . . . the comic outlasted the toy (insert commonly found clip). . . Marvel lost the rights to the character (insert more commonly found clip) . . .and  . . huh . . zzzzzzzz..zzzzz . .zzzzz".

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Feb. 25th update: Big thanks to Gary Martin Jr. who sent me these screen shots and the following quote today . . .
"The Oscar has been awarded, the Blu-ray released, and we now have our best look at The Torpedo's treatment in the movie Big Hero 6.  While they couldn't give us a closeup on the display suit's helmet, I was surprised to notice on the latest viewing that ROM-related back story comic Marvel Premiere #39 appears prominently!"

On a side note I wanted to remind you all that the cover of ROM spaceknight 26 makes a brief appearance in an opening scene in Tron Legacy. Just this past Valentines Day Weekend I was in Santa Cruz and visited the comic shop from a scene in The Lost Boys where we catch a glimpse of ROM Annual 2.

Lost Boys comic shop scene at the 53 second mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZynRcyXIGKM
TRON Legacy opening scene at the 20 second mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEndyAOpI8A

The kind of fan art I was afraid I'd never find again

Fan art by Zo Pontz

Got time for just a quickie posting tonight. The last time I found any fan art from another artist I felt that was worth posting was around Fall of last year. This guy has a good grip on figure composition his art doesn't look amateurish at all. And unlike almost all the ROM related fan art that's turned up in recent months this guy actually puts ROM in an interesting and imaginative scene along with these street level Marvel characters. Most of the time lately it's pretty passe stuff with ROM just standing around or floating in space by himself with his neutrilizer.

Feb. 10th Update: Here's some new ROM cosplay that's recently turned up that's worth having a look at. My good friend Dan W. beat me to the punch as far as posting it : )
http://www.itsadansworld.net/2015/02/now-comes-cosplayer-spider-man-rom.html