ROM Jedi spaceknight. The Force is strong with this one! Yeah I just saw Star Wars

Fan art by J.K. Woodward

Perfect art work to go with this posting topic don't you think? In the back of my head I know I remember seeing some ROM wielding lightsaber fan art at one point and thankfully I was able to find it after doing a little digging. This concept isn't that crazy after all Jedi knights and spaceknights do have a lot in common.

But let's get on with what I really wanted to talk about . . . STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS! Let me start off by saying thank god is wasn't The Farce Reawakens as in another prequel quality film. I don't know if it was that The Force was with Abrams or that it was George Lucas having nothing to do with the production. Or perhaps it was some kind of combination there of but either way we finally got a pretty good Star Wars movie even though it took 32 fucken years. It wasn't sufficient to simply get something that was better then the prequels that would have been too easy of a project. It didn't have to be as epic as the original trilogy it just had to a solid sequel to the original trilogy and have at least a little bit of that old school SW magic. And ofcourse, no major fucks ups although it having some little things to nit pick at was pretty much unavoidable.
Well I'd say this movie pulled it off for the most part. At this point we can regard the prequels as nothing more then George Lucas's private project of his interpretation of the back story to the original trilogy. I mean many of the basics such as events like The Clones Wars is established history ofcourse but specific shit like jar jar binks might as well just be some obscure character that briefly appeared in one of the countless comic book spin offs over the years. And speaking of comics, it's the same as I've been saying about all the ROM related shit marvel has pumped out in the last 5 years it just never happened as far as I'm concerned. Same goes for the 2001 Spaceknight mini-series. So, who else out there The Force Awakens? Likes, dislikes or general opinions about the movie I'd like to hear from you.

Quickie sketch by yours truly

So the other matter I'd like to discuss here is the latest ROM related rumors swirling around the internet. In particular about a possible movie project for which I've received links to by several people already. Keep in mind ROM movie rumors have been around for many years now and they've proven to be as substantive as the rumors about ROM's return to marvel which we've had no shortage of over the years as well. And even when the director of The Guardians of The Galaxy talks about how he would like to include ROM in a future movie it doesn't make it any less fan boy wishful thinking then when some anonymous person says the same in an article. I mean is it possible it might happen someday as it did for The Transformers or G.I.Joe? Sure, but it could just as easily not ever happen and I'm not gonna get all sprung on something so very speculative at this time. The ROM Zero Issue in May next year and the series to follow are all coming that's for sure the rumors are long over so that's where the focus of my excitement is. Aside from that there's also talk about how ROM, The Transformers, G.I.Joe, M.A.S.K and perhaps even The Micronauts may inhabit the same IDW Universe. That's probably more plausible to me then a future ROM movie. If that is the case the cross over story line potential would be huge and would need to be handled by some very talented writers in order to do the characters justice. But even that stuff is probably a ways off if it happens, right now I just want to see a good ROM comic book series and hopefully the same for The Microanuts.

P.S. Venom spaceknight has nothing to do with actual spaceknights or ROM himself. It's just a title marvel added to Venom now that he's gone cosmic. So stop getting all worked up it's more of much to do about nothing from the assholes who are running marvel comics these days.

By Dann Phillips

Dec. 22 Update
It seems I'm not the only one who's been recently inspired to do some fan art with the IDW version of ROM.

The Inside Scoop

Previews Comic Shop catalog January 2016 issue 328 

Something interesting I came across last night. No time for a fancy posting just a quick copy and paste . . .

Rom the Space Knight #0 will feature an introductory 10-page story of Rom’s arrival on Earth, an incident that sets up an ongoing Rom series launching in July 2016.
“Many people have only heard of Rom but that’s it,” continued Ryall. “And those that do know of his past iteration might have some preconceived notion of what this series will be. And while we can promise that the DNA of the character as established with the original toy remains intact, there will be surprises galore as people experience a new universe built entirely around Rom and company.”
As an added bonus, the issue will contain additional content including character sketches, creator interviews and a glimpse of things to come. This debut represents a major launch for IDW and Hasbro next year, and this special first story will be free throughout the universe next May!

The only thing missing from the ROM 2016 zero issue cover

There are so many different things that would have been great to insert into those dialogue bubbles it almost boggles the human mind (examples: Always bet on silver! Wassup bitches!? or just simply wwwassssssup! and so on). Big thanks to Gary Martin Jr. for bringing to my attention a very cool article (Dec.10) by Trent Hunsaker about what will hopefully be a triumphant return for ROM next year. And I'm not just saying that because Trent made it clear in his article that he's something of a fan of this blog (which makes you a ROM fan who's most certainly not a dick) but he does offer some insight as to what we might expect and reasons to be optimistic about the new series. I would especially recommend this article for those of you who are feeling a little more on the pessimistic side about ROM's non marvel return.
I just want to correct you on a couple little things Trent the IDW announcement for the new series (along with a new Micronauts series) came out back in July. And also, thus far "Venom spaceknight" has shown no indication of having any sort of ROM related continuity to it. The expression "what's in a name" totally applies here the spaceknight title seems to pertain to venom as a cosmic adventurer as opposed to Galadorian spaceknights. So now that we got all that out of the way let's get to the article . . .
http://www.bigshinyrobot.com/59400/rom-returns/

Also, this is why I love people who leave comments on this blog like nikoskap in the previous posting. The cover artist has this art work (uncolored) on deviant art and he actually responds to comments so here's your chance to let him know what you think about it  . . .
http://spacefriend-krunk.deviantart.com/art/Rom-0-Cover-for-FCBD-577222062

By artist Andrea Shock left click to enlarge

Dec. 13th Update: Look what Gary found just in time for me to post while Hanukkah is still going on. How many of you out there remember that mid to late 80s TV show Small Wonder about the android girl care taker known as V.I.C.I?

Cover homage or coincidence?

It recently occurred to me that there was a stained glass themed cover in the original ROM series as well although I have no idea if that served as any sort of inspiration for the Onyx 3 variant. Not much new going on but I do have something cool to share I've been sitting on for a while for reasons which I can't quite remember. This ones comes to us from the letters page of New Warriors 65 (thanks Gary).

Left click to enlarge

My collaborator Gary Martin Jr. wanted me to include the following information in this posting. Apparently it's possible we might see some sort of sneak peak of the new ROM series as early as later this month. But don't quote me on that because here's the following from Gary and I quote . . .
"Chris Ryall had mentioned on twitter recently that he has sent the cover art & issue info of ROM The Space Knight #0 to Diamond Distributors, who would then reveal all to the public sometime in December. Diamond's Previews catalog that came out last week says that next month's issue, Previews #328 due to be released 12/23/15, will have extensive information about all of 2016's Free Comic Book Day comics, of which ROM #0 is our most anticipated participant. Depending on whether or not Onyx #4 would have an unexpected sneak-peek or, more surprisingly, would come out ahead of Diamond's reveal...PREVIEWS #328 should be the first printed appearance of IDW's new ROM!"

December 2nd Update: Big thanks to Joseph for giving me a heads up on this from farcebook! Looks like Gary was onto something obviously but I dare say even he didn't see this coming this soon. Its' gonna take a bit of getting used to with ROM having fingers and all but so far this is looking good. For ROM fans seeing this cover is the equivalent of fans of STAR WARS seeing that scene from the trailer where Han Solo says "Chewie, we're home". Really looking forward to that to it better not suck like those shitty pre-quels!

Thanks again Joseph for bringing this to my attention. As a mutual Transformers fan you might like my latest sketch card. To see it in full . . .
http://csuhsux.deviantart.com/art/Optimus-Prime-Bluestreak-fan-art-sketch-card-575875140

Damn, both my letter and fan art made it into Onyx

Onyx #3 November 2015 left click to enlarge

I seem to be on a roll lately with discovering my letters turning up here and there. First it was Avengers Academy 27 from 2012, then earlier this year it was BACK ISSUE Magazine 76 and this week it's with Onyx 3. The funny thing is I never wrote a single letter back in the late 80s when I was at my comic book collecting peak. You can get a better look at the art work here . . .
http://csuhsux.deviantart.com/art/Rom-spaceknight-and-Onyx-team-up-sketch-art-550782374

Happy Birthday Bill Mantlo

Damn, is it November already!? Where did 2015 go? It's not to say that it hasn't been a pretty good year and that there's certainly things to look forward to in 2016 but really it just feels like the years go by so fast in the last half decade or so. Anyways, you'll no doubt recognize the clip art here from the calendar back side cover of Marvel Age magazine.

Left click to enlarge

Here's an editorial cartoon from Skull Slayer #5 I bet many Bill Mantlo fans haven't seen yet. Turns out that was another title Bill wrote for a while not to mention one where he and Sal worked on together. I assume that's Sal at the drafting table but I'm not 100% certain for more information for Bill and Sal on that series go to http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/03/if-you-blinked-you-missed-skull-slayer.html

Fantastic fan art by Gary Martin Jr. left click to enlarge

On an interesting side note today also happens to be the birthday of the daughter of my biggest contributor to this blog. Here's to a very happy birthday for both Emily and Bill. As for  the rest of us, it's Monday I guess it's time to get on with the work week.

Nov. 10th Update:
In response to some complaint emails I sent to IDW about the excessive lag time between Onyx issues and my concerns about the new ROM and Micronauts series next year possibly suffering the same problem I got this today . . .
"Correct—Rom #0 is already under way and will launch on Free Comic Book Day, the main series in July. We’re going to have multiple issues done before launch and ship every issue on time. We have two art teams, too, so no worries there. Gabriel on Onyx is just a unique situation."

IDW Letters

letters@idwpublishing.com

So? Thoughts or opinions on this? Cmon folks when I don't hear any feed back for a while it makes me feel like I'm just talking to myself with these blog postings. Except talking to myself is much less work and less time consuming.

Welcome to Clairton West Virginia

Ya know I was thinking the other day if I keep making these sketch cards I might eventually have a enough for a deck. Kinda like those collectible of trading cards in the late 70s and 80s that used to come wrapped in that waxed paper with a strip of bubble gum inside.
In case anyone is wondering I do know about the ROM doll appearance in the recent Comic Book Men episode. It would have been nice however if they hadn't been whining so much about their conflicted adolescent feelings back in the day and maybe kept the focus more on ROM. Perhaps even share their thoughts about the new series next year? Just sayin.
So moving on, this weekend I'll be flying down to LA with my wife for a race she wants to participate in she likes running more then Forest Gump. We'll be staying in the down town area and thanks to a Google search yesterday I discovered about 3 to 4 comic shops within a five mile radius. And since we'll have a rental car and a few hours to kill I'll try to check at least a couple of them out. If I find anything new and cool that's ROM related I'll be sure to update this posting accordingly. One of the near by comic shops is called Mega City One how cool is that!?

Left click to enlarge

Left click to enlarge

Oct. 25th Update: Well it just goes to show you as the old adage says "What's in a name?". Mega City One was much to do about nothing as far as good comic shops go. However, Golden Apple Comics was a pretty damn cool comic shop however, among other things they had a pretty large stash of discount back issue boxes so I had plenty to read at the airport and on the plane even though LA to Oakland is a pretty short flight. Unfortunately I didn't find anything there cool that was ROM related I didn't already have. But on a high note in regards to my visit there my ROM t-shirt which I was wearing was very warmly received by some of the staff and customers alike. All the chatter about what made the series cool and the high hopes for the 2016 re-launch was the next best thing to finding something like my letter in that Back Issue magazine earlier this month.

Rom Annual 2 cosplay cover variant courtesy of Gary Martin Jr.

Halloween weekend update: Well I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween. Halloween is still fun but it's not quite what it used to be back in the 1980s. An all around better decade where we had a new issue of ROM to look forward to every month, Marvel didn't suck and it was safe for kids to go trick or treating with out adult supervision.