Hi everyone,
Today I'm writing about the eighth Marvel issue of ROM: Spaceknight. The cover was once again drawn by Michael Golden, and it shows the titular character being attacked by what appear to be wraith-like spirits over an open gravesite. We see a tombstone for the Spaceknight just to his left and two unknown figures behind him. The story was called "Deathwing!" and the issue had a cover date of July 1980.
Jackson starts to express doubt in their involvement in ROM's conflict with the wraiths, which his girlfriend, Clark, protests. ROM is silent until he decides to share a story of wraiths invading Angelica, a formerly peaceful planet that his homeworld of Galador had initially settled. ROM and his fellow Spaceknights were unable to save that planet's residents, who unfortunately perished in the wraith ships' attacks. He explains to Clark and Jackson why it's so important to not let the same such tragedy happen to Earth.
Moments later, several of Clark's coworkers start inquiring about the commotion that went on from the other side of the locked door. ROM's friends start to panic, not knowing how to explain what happened to those who wouldn't understand the conflict. ROM summons his energy analyzer from subspace and learns that Packer still faintly clings to life, and could recover if he receives immediate medical assistance. He then departs to find his neutralizer, which wraith hellhounds had locked in an impenetrable force sphere a couple of issues earlier.
Brandy's coworkers break the door lock, just in time to find her and Jackson cleaning up from the thornoid battle. She tells her boss to get Packer to the hospital while she and Steve still try to figure out just how to explain the mess. Carting Artie away postpones the explanation for a while, but the lovers realize that their friend won't be able to corroborate their story.
Later on in the day, we find out that ROM hasn't strayed too far from Clairton. He watches over a funeral procession and uses his analyzer once more, this time to determine that several individuals in the group are not human at all, but Dire Wraiths in disguise. ROM could quickly send the wraiths to limbo if he had his neutralizer and decided to head toward the crowd, thinking that some of the wraiths could tell him where his weapon had gone.
At the county coroner's office, the coroner examines the records of Clairton citizens (who were really Dire Wraiths) who seemingly died during ROM's attack at the mine in the third issue. He notices an odd coincidence: all of the citizens who passed away during that battle were born on the exact same day. He shares that information with a coworker who is secretly a wraith. The wraith leaves the office, thinking about how to resolve that issue, when a dark, clawed hand reaches out from the shadows and grabs him. In the next panel, we see a somewhat animalistic shadow of a creature who seemingly slays the disguised wraith. The human leaves the same office a little while later, having no idea of what has happened to his coworker or the threat that he unknowingly faced. However, he does not head home unobserved.
The focus then shifts to the funeral ceremony in the steady rain. A priest leads an unusual ceremony, where patrons talk about their hated enemy, ROM. No sooner is his name spoken than the silver Spaceknight arrives. He takes a couple of coffins to reveal that no remains are inside them. He tosses them aside before the wraiths in their human guises pull out pink ray guns (drawn uniquely as only Sal Buscema could draw them) and open fire on their foe. ROM is slightly injured by the initial attack, which allows time for the priest to conjure up a deadlier opponent. In a few minutes, the gathered aliens see the dreaded deathwing that the wraith priest has brought forward. Its first blow knocks ROM backward into an empty grave.
ROM quickly reaches out to grab the wraith priest by the throat and watches it change into several sinister-looking forms before resuming its human appearance. The priest eventually reveals that ROM's neutralizer has been taken to Project Safeguard in Washington, D.C., just before the deathwing returns for another attack. The spaceknight releases his prisoner, who is quickly snatched by the deathwing's talons and flown away from the scene.
However, the battle isn't a total success. ROM starts to feel numbness from the deathwing's first strike, causing him to fall back into the open grave and even further down into the earth below. Moments later, only one being remains on the scene: an orange, scaly sentient creature. The one who attacked the wraith outside of the Clairton coroner's office and watched the coroner after he left earlier in the evening wonders who the silver armored being was, and thinks that he must have his neutralizer to slay the Dire Wraiths. This goal is foremost on the being named Serpentyne's mind.
This was another great action and suspense-filled issue. Mantlo was great at creating plotlines that would gradually unfurl details and introduce new characters over the course of a year or more. Buscema was the perfect artist for this book, a sentiment I also felt about the duo's run on the Incredible Hulk that was going on at the same time.
Next time, I'll write about issue #9, where we learn more about Serpentyne (whose race was shown in earlier issues of a more recent Marvel book) and why he wanted to dispose of the Dire Wraiths. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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