ROM #1 (December 1979, Actual: 9-4-1979)

ROM: SPACEKNIGHT #1

Source: www.comics.org

Script: Bill Mantlo

Pencils: Sal Buscema

Inks: Sal Buscema

Colors: Bob Sharen

Letters: Tom Orzechowski

Characters: Rom, Brandy Clark, Archie Stryker, Dire Wraiths, Space Knights,  Prime Director

Synopsis:

Rom arrives on Earth where he immediately encounters a terrified Brandy Clark. When Brandy returns home to Clairton, she discovers the giant space robot has arrived ahead of her and has murdered some of the townsfolk. Rom takes Brandy aside and tells her of his origins and current mission. He explains that the men he killed were shape-shifting Dire Wraiths in disguise. The Wraiths that have infiltrated Clairton call in the national guard to take care of Rom. Rom easily defeats the soldiers and sends the Wraiths to Limbo.

My Synopsis:

ROM arrives on earth (West Virginia) as a fiery meteor that lands in rural West Virginia. That splash page...ICONIC!

After climbing out of the crater he walks out onto the road and Brandy Clark nearly hits him but swerves out of the way and is going to crash but ROM catches the car and saves her. He uses his "anylizer" to see if she is a Dire Wraith in disguise. Once he knows she is human he uses his universal translator to communicate with her in English. He then rockets off and lands in town where his sensors have picked up signs of Dire Wraiths. This turns into a total 1950's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" moment where a GIANT metallic alien confronts humanity. This time though ROM is on the hunt for evil shape-shifting aliens. He uses his neutralizer to send 2 Dire Wraiths, disguised as humans, into "limbo" which to human eyes looks as if he is destroying them with an alien death ray. The National Guard shows up and does battle with ROM but there are Dire Wraiths in their ranks. At one point they use a Wraith weapon on ROM that stuns him but does not stop him. In the end ROM disposes of the National Guard Dire Wraiths and flys off.

COVER ART: I really like this cover by Frank Miller but I also really like the rejected cover by Hanigan & Milgrom (Unused cover from: Tom Brevoort on Twitter: @TomBreevort)

INTERIOR ART: Sal Buscema can do no wrong in my book. Look at that splash page!

STORY: Bill Mantlo is a true genius. He created a backstory for a toy that turned into an epic. Miracle worker! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this first issue. Lots of action and a great origin.

Just an all around great issue. Pick it up if you can find it!

-Loran.

I'm Re-Reading ROM: SPACEKNIGHT #1 - #75....

As of Monday, April 13, 2020...I finally have EVERY issue of ROM!!!

My ROM collecting adventure did not begin back in the 1970's or 1980's, although I did purchase one issue of ROM back in 1985 (ROM Annual #4) because Steve Ditko did the art and I was completely obsessed with anything Ditko at the time.

That aside, I began my "ROM Quest" while digging through the back issue boxes at my Local Comic Shop in November 2019 and found ROM #2 through issues in the 40's. I had always liked ROM but was never quite on board since he looked kinda weird and clunky for a Space Knight. One of my friends had the ROM toy from Parker Brothers and it looked VERY cool! It lit up and made sounds but didn't bend a whole lot which was kind of disappointing.

So I purchased this large chunk of ROM comics and thought maybe someday I would be able to slowly track down the rest of the issues and if I'm lucky...FIND TIME TO READ THEM!!!

As the 2019 Holidays approached, my LCS advertised a HUGH sale for back issues. During that sale I was able to get an even larger chunk, each issue around 25 cents EACH! There were a few issues that were a little trickier to get like the appearances of the X-Men but my LCS came through again!

I was able to get  EVERY issue except for 2 key issues. #1 and #75.

#1 is naturally difficult to get because well, it's the 1st and EVERYONE wants it! Luckily enter MyComicShop.com (Highly recommended!) where I was able to get a decent copy and man, they are really fast! #75 however still eluded me. It had a very low print run and wasn't in the back issue boxes. I decided to check eBay and there it was! Right sell and the right price. So now I'm going to read each issue and give a brief synopsis and rate the STORY, ART, COVER ART with how many NEUTRALIZERS it gets. For example:

COVER: Outstanding art!

So here it goes! Onward to issue #1....