Rom, Spaceknight reboot

Amazing. Bill Mantlo took the, like, one paragraph backstory for the Rom toy and fleshed it out with horror and SF tropes. The first stories were kind of like The Day The Earth Stood Still v.s. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, but with Klaatu trapped inside Gort.
Rom didn't realise that humans couldn't see his Energy Analyser uncovering disguised Dire Wraiths, so to a human observer it just looked like this 7 foot tall robot was randomly killing every one in ten people by burning them to ash.

Towards the end, Mantlo apparently had some kind of nervous breakdown, and the story went full horror. Some of that stuff still gives me the chills 30 years later.

Some of the art was gorgeous, the artist from Micronauts did some covers, making Rom smooth and supple, like the Silver Surfer or the T-1000, and the interior art followed that, and then Akin and Garvey worked on inks, and it was so lush and surreal, like, I don't know, if Alan Moore worked off Steve Ditko designs.

I don't suppose there are any reprints of the original?

Transformers/My Little Pony crossover when?

No, trademark issues between Hasbro and Marvel.
If anyone can find a collection file, let me know, there's a couple issues I never read…

Fucking Hasbro

Why would I ever be reading this?

They publish some good books sometimes (and that's why the industry is not shit)?

If they publish anything good, it's just by chance.

The only reason you'd read an IDW comic is because you really really like the licence they have their claws on.

These days, if ANYBODY publishes ANYTHING good, it's by chance.
The industry is a room full of fucking stopped clocks.

More like a room full of dropped cucks.

No, with the big 2, Image, Dark Horse, and Vertigo, it's because they had good writers and artists.

Isn't that the transgender flag colors?

Are these actual stories or just variant covers?

Why the fuck would I read this then?

It's still Rom, just with a different supporting cast, and slightly different Wraiths, and now he's from the "Solstar Order", rather than Galador.
He's still the victim of bad publicity, lol, but now it's Wraiths using their cellphones to take videos that make him look bad. Rom mentions propaganda as being the favoured tool of the Wraiths. Looks like the space-scum have mastered spin!
But the important thing is that it's the big silver guy with the big ray gun that makes the things go away. There could be a little more VREEEEEET in my opinion, but I don't hate this.

If that was a full story inside, I'd lose my mind from the absurdity.

Has there been a pony/G.I.Joe crossover where Cobra tries to weaponize the power of friendship?

That does sound cool.

Anyone got anything they can storytime?

You mean the gay rainbow?
No.

Does anyone have the Marvel Spaceknights miniseries to storytime?
It's such a weird cousin to Rom, as it uses everything from Rom except Rom, just Wraiths and Spaceknights, and Rom and the Neutraliser are referred to as "the first one" and "Abraxas".

I have some old ROM comics
He kills tons of ayys and bitches be all over his dick but he's melodramatic about it

You'd be melodramatic too, if you'd left your cock and balls on Galador 200 years ago.

This sounds amazing

How? Isn't he a robot?

Bitches love robots.

I thought the saying was "Bitches liquefy robots"?

He's a poet. Bitches be all over a sensitive man, even if his head looks like a toaster.
Humans, Galadorians, other Spaceknights, Rom could pull.

And Rom is a cyborg, he volunteered to have half of his organs removed and frozen so he could be turned into a Spaceknight.

Probably should have opened with that

home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/comics/Rom/othermedia/index.shtml

Hehe, I spotted Rom in South Park.

Also in the background in Secret Wars, looking like he was macking on to Jocasta. I'm glad I'm not the only one who liked Jocasta.

No, I tell a lie, it was Contest Of Champions.

Yeah every so often he's like, looking at woman and says " if only I were still flesh and blood etc etc" like maybe he wants to get a boner but can't.

Also these old comics have HOSTESS FRUIT PIES and a fuckton of other mail in ads as well

Found some!
Imina start with the run with the best art, around the middle of the series, when Akin & Garvey inked, and Bill Mantlo started getting weird.

Lol, shame ray.

Brandy is the top waifu but she married the human dude I think and ROM took it like a little beta

Wraith Hellhounds and Watchwraiths, good examples of the Degraded Boss trope.
Rom spent a whole issue each fighting these guys separately when they first showed up, now he just ploughs through them in a couple pages each.

And grok the shading on the castle flagstones, that's some E.C. comics level shit right there.

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I included the letters page because of the "get well soon" card for Avalanche from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the first published work of Evan Dorkin, who would go on to do Hectic Planet, Bill & Ted, Space Ghost Coast To Coast, and Agent X.

savage

That was pretty good, thanks for storytiming. I've never read a Rom story, so I'm glad for the fact that older books always tried to treat every issue like it could be someone's first issue. I think I can see even from this one issue why people remember the book so fondly.

Well what the fuck could ROM do? It's not like he could consummate a marriage

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Would it shoot out little cyborg sperm so they could have cyborg babies? Get real, nigga.

… yes

I meant Alan Davis. Sheesh!

They sure don't write 'em like that anymore

No but at the end of the insanely weird IDW G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover that ended recently, Megatron might be rebuilt into Galvatron by MLP unicorns instead of Unicron, probably.

DEEPEST LORE

But seriously, if you have any pictures to go with that, I'd have to see. I don't think Galvatron could live with that embarrassment.

This is probably one of the less absurd things from the crossover.

Your daily reminder that Rainbow Dash won a death battle with Starscream.

Beautiful.

Shia Labeouf won a battle with Starscream, and I know any pony could kick his ass, so… seems reasonable.

All this crossover stuff reminds me that the Transformers used to actually exist in the Marvel Universe, but all their Marvel buddies forgot about them once the license was over.

So did Godzilla, Shogun Warriors, Micronauts, Conan the Barbarian, KISS, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Human Fly.

Did James Bond exist in the Marvel Universe? I know they made some comics.

This would've made an excellent cartoon, the way Mantlo wrote it. With all the toyetic cartoons swirling around in the 80s it's a wonder they didn't do it, but then again according to Sal Buscema the toy was basically a dud while the comics were immensely popular and outlasted the toy by a mile.

For a second I forgot I mentioned them existing in the Marvel universe, and thought you were listing off characters besides Rainbow Dash and Sam Whitwicky that had kicked Starscream's ass. And considering that list… I'd pay to see every instance.

I fucking LOVE you user.

Please OP, please, link me to the new reboot scans.

I got the next issue, it was a Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu crossover. Hmm, I should add Fu Manchu to that list of licenced characters.
I suspect Bill Mantlo was a fan of Doug Moench, it wasn't the last time he referenced his work in Rom.
Mantlo is really underrated IMO, he laid the groundwork for Peter David's run on The Hulk, being the first to suggest Bruce Banner's mental problems predate the gamma-bomb.
He was hit by a car in '92, and suffered severe brain damage. There was an art show of various artist's renditions of Rom, to raise money for his care. Apparently he really enjoyed his old character Rocket Raccoon's appearance in the Guardians Of The Galaxy movie.

AND THEN A SKELETON POPPED OUT

OH YOU DO, DO YOU?

This is, I feel, apart from Rom, the main reason the Wraith invasion of Earth failed. Even in human disguise, the wraiths just can't help leering, cackling, rubbing their hands together, and saying things like "Oh, you'll get what's coming to you! OH YES! YES INDEED! MUHAHAHAHAHAH!", like a fucking E.C. horror comic host.

Here Rom goes Full Paladin on these Wraiths.

Wraith witch robes are very flammable. Are they made of nylon or something?

Oh, I just remembered that Rogue was also profoundly attracted to Rom. Rom had GAME.

Hehe, Starshine's head always looked to me like a gift box of chocolates.
God knows where the Galadorian surgeons put the poor woman's brain.

FUCK YEAH!

Dad bought me a fuck-huge box of comics few years ago, we sleeved most all of them, took a while.

I thiiiink I have some ROM in here, infact I know I do, it's how I discovered and got into ROM. Let me look for em.

Oh yeah baby, now we're cooking. Got about twelve ROM comics, pretty good condition.

These covers are pretty rad, you have to admit.

Pretty cool, user. Makes me want to go out and find some good comic sales.

Never too late to start collecting some nice comics.

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Marvel never reprints those Rom crossovers, so hold onto them. The issue of Power Man and Iron Fist is left out of collections, and the issue of Hulk is severely cut.

Actually, the Spaceknights miniseries is really good, written by Jim Starlin, and nobody writes cosmic like Jim Starlin.

Big news, there's talk of a combined Hasbro cinematic universe like DC and Marvel, with crossovers between Transformers, GI Joe, Micronauts, MASK, and even a Rom movie.

Anyhoo, here's the Shang-Chi team-up.

Page 9: See, now it's pulling faces like that that makes people suspect your intentions.

Shit just went Tom Hanks.

Check out the special effects done by drawing the line art in the colouring phase. That's a trick that Alan Davis used to pull out occasionally. It didn't carry across so well in Australian Federal Press reprints of Marvel and DC comics in black and white, because the nongs editing the Oz edition would always forget about the colour layer and leave big patches of the art blank.

It was a pretty next-level stunt for the lousy four-colour printing that comics used at the time, though.

God, the power of sending people to fucking Limbo is hardcore.

#HOLYSHITDIDYOUSEETHAT
I honestly have no idea how they got away with this. I guess back in the 80's, Comics Just Weren't For Kids Anymore.
There was a general spirit of experimentation and boundary-pushing, Heavy Metal magazine was influencing more artists and writers to attempt mature themes and content.
Sigh. And then the 90's happened, and comics were just for kids again. Mind you, there was plenty of sex and violence, but it was just stupid.

I just had a mental image of Wraiths having to dance under a pole while bending backwards at the waist every time Rom shoots his neutraliser.

"Noooo! Not Limbo! Our spines!"

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That was pretty fucking good. You don't happen to have the issue with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants talked about in the letter section, do you? I'm reading that era of X-Men, so I'm curious to see as much of how Rogue was portrayed before joining the team as possible.

Can Do. This is right after Rogue sucked all the juice out of Ms. Trumpvel, IIRC.

Awesome! I might be passing out soon, but I'll definitely read it in the morning, thanks.

The art isn't as pretty as the other issues, Akin and Garvey aren't inking.
Lol, Sal Buscema draws everybody with The Hulk's face.

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That's kinda funny. Good one, Rogue.

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Thanks, I ended up staying up to read it afterall. Pretty nice story which feels nicely driven by the characters. Rom is just doing his thing, the Brotherhood are doing their thing, and life just sorta throws them at eachother. This is the kinda stuff that helps the Marvel Universe feel alive, you can pretty much have a clear set of encounters of Mystique's Brotherhood from their appearance in X-Men to their appearance here. And even though the characters are still young, you know there is underlying guidelines to keep them consistently written. Even the side characters like the criminals and the prison staff seem like simple, believable characters who are just acting in their best interests or according to their moral codes. This is the kinda stuff that I love about older books.

Inorite? Along with "house style", the Big Two seem to have lost basic storytelling and story structure. I might as well storytime the second half next.

I guess Mantlo was really selling Hybrid as The Dunwich Horror here, he does bear a bit of similarity to the Whatley brothers.

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Spin to win!

Rom and Rogue kind of had a moment there.

Ew, Hybrid wants to make snu-snu.

Actually, I remember him trying to rape Kitty Pryde the first time he showed up. Guess he likes those X-chicks.
Didn't Hybrid show up in Avengers Academy?
Is he still a rapey Cthulhu asshole?

SPOOKY!

It's all fun and games until someone wants to enslave all women and turn them into breeding stock.

This was really good stuff. Please tell me Rogue and Rom did see eachother at least once after she reformed and joined the X-Men.

It's fine, officer, she's not a little girl, she's a 2000 year old wraith! Trust me…

You know, that defence didn't work for Frank Thorne…