Retro Comic Review: ROM: Spaceknight #20

 Hi everyone, 

Today I'll be writing about the twentieth issue of Marvel Comics' ROM: Spaceknight. The cover features our hero down on the ground on his back, being blasted by eye beams from his fellow Galadorians, Starshine and Terminator. It promises a battle of Spaceknights. The first story is titled "Mindgames," and the issue had a cover date of July, 1981.

The story begins in the home of Brandy Clark's parents, Sarah and Jonathan, in Clairton, West Virginia. Brandy's fiance, Steve Jackson, attempts to set up an energy analyzer that he and his friends assembled from spare parts at the auto garage that he owns to identify any traces of residual energy left behind by the silver Spaceknight on his neutralizer. The couple found the analyzer in a snowbank not long after ROM and the X-Men battled the half-wraith, half-human mutant known as Hybrid at the Marks farm.

Brandy feared that ROM had perished, but Steve encouraged her to have some faith. He got the machine working, but the beam it emitted was soon fed back into the apparatus, causing the manmade device to explode. A cloud of smoke filled the room, and when the air cleared, its inhabitants were thrilled to see ROM standing in front of them, as he picked up his weapon from the table it had rested upon.

The Galadorian had simply entered the door during the experiment, and quickly explained his journey to and escape from limbo. He included his gaze into the Window of Worlds during his battle with Dire Wraiths, and his shock upon seeing his homeworld in ruins. Wraiths devised the window, but although the Spaceknight was certain what he had seen had happened, it wasn't entirely clear at that point whether or not what he saw was real, or just a wraith trick. 

Sarah Clark returned from the kitchen with tea and snacks, which appeased the humans in the living room for a while. As people congregated, ROM quietly made his way out to the backyard, brooding over his perceived notion of his world in tragedy. Brandy and Steve followed their friend outside, and Brandy agreed that he should return to help his planet. The only question now was how to get there soon. Steve mentioned the warring Kree and Skrull alien races, who had encountered Earth heroes like the Fantastic Four and the Avengers multiple times. Jackson thought that they might know how to get ROM home. 

Meanwhile, deep in the bowels of Earth, several wraith witches began an eerie chant as they stood in a circle around a clear disc. From behind them, the Most High One appeared (still with his face shrouded by shadow, much like his previous appearances in this magazine), asking for updates on the witches' usage of the star disc. One witch pointed to the green murder mole that soon appeared. It was an impressive-looking beast, but one that was quickly defeated by the bright light that their leader shone upon it. He urged the witches to do better. One of the witches complained that their powers were lessened on Earth, but that they could yield better results if they had the black sun from their own nebula to draw from. 

Angered by this remark, the Most High One lashed out at the cowardly witches, who trembled in fear. Soon, a voice emerged from the disc. The leader fired a beam from his left hand at the disc, and a new being soon stood in the disc's place. The stranger introduced himself as Mentus and told the wraith leader that he knew how to destroy the hated planet of Galador, and that the two of them sought the same goal. The Most High One accepted Mentus' offer, and the tall red and pink alien ordered that the witches who had just been attacked be transformed into shapes that their leader knew (but we readers would not, at least not yet). 

In the early morning hours of the next day, Brandy looked out from her bedroom at her parents' house to see ROM still brooding in the back yard. She understood his plight and soon went to sleep, thinking that she didn't want to see the Spaceknight leave. While the humans slept, ROM was greeted by the sound of his fellow Spaceknight Starshine behind him. He turned to see his companion, whose body he was able to walk right through. He turned once more and saw that she was joined by Terminator (who, along with Starshine, was introduced during the Saga of the Spaceknight stories). Terminator announced that they had returned to address the peril that their homeworld of Galador was experiencing. Once more, ROM saw the vision of their planet devastated by wraith attacks.

ROM refused to believe the vision and was attacked by his comrades. The fracas awoke Brandy, and she ran out into the yard to intervene. Starshine then fired a beam in front of Brandy's feet, causing her to back away cautiously. Terminator then turned to eliminate the human, but ROM, spurred on by Clark's declaration that there was something evil about the new Spaceknights, decided what was really important.

Meanwhile, back in Washington D.C., Mack Killburn was paging through folders in a file cabinet until he located the ROM file that his former coworker (the late "Ace" O'Connor) had started. He was stunned to find that the folder was empty, and thought back to how he had followed up on O'Connor's information and traveled to Clairton, to find ROM battling a towering Watchwraith (back in issue #16), which the citizens covered up. No one believed what Killburn saw, but he knew that what he witnessed was indeed real.

Killburn's former employer and a security guard arrived and escorted him out of the room. In Mr. Dunston's office, Mack explained that he was looking for information to follow up on after O'Connor's disappearance. Dunston appeared to not know that she was gone, and no sooner did he refute the claim when O'Connor herself opened the office door. She explained that she had taken a three-week vacation and that the story she had been pursuing was nothing more than a hoax. Killburn protested, even though no one would verify his claims, including the Jack of Hearts, who didn't really officially exist in the eyes of the government (even though he fought ROM at Project: Safeguard in issue #12). Bewildered, Killburn left the room, after turning down Dunston's copy job offer and insisting that there still wasn't something quite right about the whole affair. If he only knew how right he was, for after he departed, the two remaining individuals in the office soon shed their human disguises, revealing their true identies as Dire Wraiths. The aliens realized the threat that Killburn posed, and decided that they would have to get rid of him, much like they did the real Ace O'Connor.

Back at the Clark homestead, Brandy found herself in disbelief that two of ROM's fellow Spaceknights meant to slay her. The silver Spaceknight couldn't believe it either, and summoned his energy analyzer from subspace and fired its beam at his companions, revealing them to be wraiths wearing cloaks and devices that simulated Terminator and Starshine's eye beams. They attacked the Galadorian, who had already replaced the analyzer in his right hand with his neutralizer and dispatched the foes to limbo. ROM commended Brandy on her courage, and reassured her that she was safe as he took her up in his arms. He still planned to depart for his homeworld, but not until he was confident that Clairton was safe from the wraith menace. 

We then see that the battled had been witnessed by the Most High One and Mentus from another star disc deep undergound in the Earth. Mentus had transformed the wraith witches that their leader had chastised into the forms of Spaceknights, and admitted that it was a suicide mission, one that informed them that ROM was planning to leave the planet. Mentus affirmed that the silver Spaceknight would find a threat there, including himself, and he relished the opportunity for Dire Wraiths to further ravage the third planet from our sun. 

In the Saga of the Spaceknights backup story, we witnessed the trial of Terminator on Galador. He was in the council chamber, along with ROM, Starshine, Galador's Prime Director and other Spaceknights. Terminator was charged with murder, and shared the story of their expedition on the planet Thuvria (from last issue). He, ROM, and Starshine had arrived to combat a wraith threat and answer a distress signal from that world. The Spaceknights discovered that the Thuvrians' counsel was a Dire Wraith, who Terminator slew with his eye beams. He continued to lash out in a fit of anger in their castle, and his eye beams also struck and killed the planet's king. 

ROM pled with their leader for mercy. He explained that his own name means "above all others" in their native language, and that he was the first person who volunteered to become a Spaceknight. Our hero went on to say that Terminator's home planet was infected by a deadly wraith-devised plague, one that afflicted the cobalt colored Spaceknight's own body. His brain patterns had been saved and programmed into his suit of armor, but because of the plague, Terminator had no humanity to return to once the wraith war ended. Terminator accepted his friend's words, but asked ROM not to defend him. 

The Prime Director found Terminator guilty of murder, and asked the defendant to name his own sentence. Terminator asked for death. Starshine pleaded for rehabilitation instead, but her cries were denied. Their leader brought forth a glowing globe of power, whose living fire quickly consumed the Spaceknight, who vanished from the room. Those left remaining in the chamber presumed that Terminator had perished, but that was not the case. Instead, he found himself somewhere else. A voice from behind him said that Terminator's sentence had been commuted. The being had other plans for the fallen Spaceknight. Terminator rose to his feet to confront the stranger, who went on to say that he could use him. The Galadorian was stopped in his tracks, and we saw that it was Mentus who had summoned him. His intentions for Terminator would soon be made clear. At the same time, ROM, Starshine and the Prime Director lamented the necessary decision that had been made that day. ROM chose to leave his home planet, knowing that other worlds would also need protection from the wraith threat that expanded more and more every day. 

This was another great issue by Mantlo and Buscema, whose pencil art was inked by the legendary "Joltin'" Joe Sinnott. Both stories set up the events that would occur in ROM #25 and beyond, as both storylines intensify with each issue leading up to that milestone.

Next time, I'll write about the twenty-first issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight, where ROM meets yet another established Marvel character. We'll also learn more about what happened to Terminator, who was now in Mentus' employ. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another. 

Retro Comic Review: ROM: Spaceknight #19

 Hi everyone,

Today, I'll be writing about one of my favorite comics of all time: Marvel's nineteenth issue of ROM: Spaceknight. The Michael Golden-drawn cover features our hero facing his friend Karas in Limbo, right in front of the Space Phantom. You can also see a couple of pasty white Dire Wraiths just above the phantom's left hand. The first story was titled "Limbo!" and the issue had a cover date of June 1981.

The story begins with ROM's friends Steve Jackson and Brandy Clark riding in a snowmobile back to the Marks farm, where the Spaceknight and the uncanny X-Men battled the half-human, half-wraith being named Hybrid over the last couple of issues. The humans arrive to see that the house has been destroyed. Clark spots ROM's neutralizer, half-buried in the snow. His comrades didn't know what happened, including ROM's banishment by his weapon into the limbo dimension. As we see on the second page, the Galadorian is just slightly out of sync in space and time with the Earthlings. He can see and hear them, but they cannot see or hear him. 

Clark and Jackson load the weapon onto the snowmobile, hopeful that their armored friend will return for it. As they depart, ROM thinks back to the conflict that led him to be where he is. He recounts his first encounter with Earth's mutants, who initially thought that he was there to attack an innocent child. The X-Men didn't know that the child was a powerful mutant of his own, one whom the young X-Man Sprite banished along with ROM to limbo.

The Spaceknight starts to grow despondent as he sees his comrades walk past him, knowing they had no idea he was right by them. He then turns around, jolted back into reality by the sound of three Dire Wraiths right behind him. He made short work of the wraiths, not knowing that his actions were being watched by a humanoid known as the Space Phantom. 

The phantom knew of wraiths, having been trapped in the dimension since his recent skirmish with the Norse god of thunder known as Thor, in his own magazine. The villain also knew that ROM was a Galadorian, but not the first one that he had ever seen in person. That distinction went to ROM's friend, Karas, the Spaceknight, who first occupied the Firefall armor that Earthling Archie Stryker later inhabited after being tricked by wraiths into believing that ROM was an alien invader. As the phantom walked along a path, he came across Karas, sitting alone, brooding. The villain taunted ROM's ally, knowing of his longing to return to his home planet, but his inability to do so.

Karas was stunned by the Space Phantom's ability to resemble his own form, but before he could react, the phantom cast him aside, just before letting the Galadorian know that ROM was also now in limbo. At the same time, ROM found himself walking down another similar golden pathway. This one was filled with Dire Wraiths in their traditional forms. The wraiths (one of which we saw in her human guise of Dr. Rachel Sweet in earlier issues) soon took on monstrous forms and attacked the silver Spaceknight. During the attack, one wraith held ROM by the Window of Worlds, where he saw Earthlings captured as slaves on their own planet. He also saw his own planetary surface in ruins.

Those visions spurned ROM to intensify his defense and quickly threw off one wraith. His companion was struck by the living fire of fellow Galadorian Karas (who was really the Space Phantom in disguise). The flame threat was enough to frighten the remaining Dire Wraiths into a hasty retreat. 

Still somewhat shocked to see his fellow Spaceknight, ROM asked Karas how he came to be in limbo. The phantom then began to retell the tale that the real Karas had told him before. He began with the day 200 years prior, when the first wraith attack fleet approached their home planet of Galador. Karas, in his Spaceknight armor, flew off to fend off the intruders and wound up winning an exhausting battle against a wraith Deathwing. His energy spent by the battle, he was unable to avoid being pulled into a wraith destroyer ship. 

The wraiths began to examine their captive, and Karas finally decided the pain was too much for him to bear. The courageous Spaceknight used the living flame to send his human identity to the limbo dimension. That explained why wraiths owned his empty suit of armor way back in ROM #3. He explained to his colleague that his ID was destroyed during the wraiths' attempts to physically remove him from his armor, and that his energy form remained, but it could only exist in limbo. 

ROM explained that he came to limbo after having been banished to the dimension by his neutralizer. The phantom in disguise replied that the weapon could help to restore Karas' humanity that was left behind on Galador. The conversation was then interrupted by the sudden attack of more Dire Wraiths. ROM used his strength to subdue his foes, while the faux Karas used the living fire to keep the attackers at bay, until a scream arose from him.

The silver Spaceknight had no sooner defeated his opponents when he saw a second Karas rise from the living flame, and another being alongside him. The true Karas explained the Space Phantom's deception and his plan to win his trust, take ROM's form, and send him back to Earth. There, the neutralizer could then be used to free the phantom's true identity from limbo. ROM then noted that his neutralizer can only banish beings to limbo, not bring them back from that dimension. 

More wraiths returned to renew their assault on the trio. Karas fended them off with the living flame and opened the dimensional rift to Earth for his fellow Spaceknight. ROM found himself back at the Marks farm. The rift closed, but not before ROM heard Karas say that he had no humanity left to return to on Galador. Knowing that Spaceknight remains were preserved in their planet's Hall of Science after being grafted into their suits of armor, ROM asked what his friend meant, but received no answers, and instead only had more questions. 

The second story was another installment of the Saga of the Spaceknights. This time, ROM and his companions, Terminator and Starshine, arrived on the planet of Thuvria. It was reported to be a peaceful world. They were there because of a distress call from the planet and a slight trail of wraith bioenergy from the Galadorian hospital ship (attacked by the wraiths in issue #16) that ROM found on that planet. While the Spaceknights were talking, a knight in red armor riding a scaly blue lizard came up from behind them and started to charge at the aliens.

Terminator's eyeblasts were warded off by the knight's shield, and a single sonic ray from his lance soon rendered the Galadorians unconscious. The Spaceknights awoke in the palace, tied to one another by a strong energy binder. There, they talked to the red knight, who removed his helmet and exclaimed that Galador had been overtaken by Dire Wraiths, according to his information. He pointed to a robed figure in the corner who had told him so. The wizened wise one also told the Thuvrians that armor-wearing warriors would come from the sky and attack them, and that the invaders were actually wraiths. 

Seeing through the falsehoods, Starshine focused her light eyes on the wizard, burning through his cloak to reveal the Dire Wraith underneath. The townspeople were stunned by the revelation. Terminator used his eyebeams to break the binders and destroy the wraith. His beams wound up destroying part of the castle, and the cobalt Spaceknight went on a rampage. During his attack, the red knight went to stop him. Unfortunately, his attempt was cut short, as Terminator's beams lashed out and slew the young Thuvrian. He finally came to his senses when Starshine acknowledged his heinous act, apologized for the brief burst of madness that consumed him, and agreed to return with his companions to Galador to stand trial and face the consequences of his actions.

This issue holds a special place in my heart because it was the first issue of ROM that I ever read. Along with Marvel Two-In-One #76, it was also one of my very first non-Star Wars Marvel comics. I remember reading this issue at the doctor's office for the first time, while waiting for my mom's checkup a few months before my brother was born. It was my first taste of the Bill Mantlo-Sal Buscema experience, and I enjoyed the storytelling so much that I eventually ended up acquiring the entire run, along with most of their issues of the Incredible Hulk and other collaborations like Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, Skull the Slayer, and Marvel's Tarzan monthly book, to name a few. 

Both tales kept their respective storylines moving along and were important plot points by the time the comic approached its second year of publication. The only concerns I had were the fact that the cover showed ROM wielding his neutralizer (although it was still on Earth) and the fact that we never see Karas appear again. He was a great character that I felt was very underutilized. Overall, it was a great issue that kept me entertained from the first page to the final panel of the last page. 

Well, that's all for now. Next time, I'll write about the twentieth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight. In that issue, we'll see more of Starshine and Terminator, find out if ROM recovered his neutralizer, learn Terminator's fate, and be introduced to another key nemesis. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another. 

Retro Comic Review: ROM: Spaceknight #18

 Hi everyone,

Time to get right into the second part of ROM's first meeting with Marvel mutants, as I write about the eighteenth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight. The cover shows the half-human, half-Dire Wraith menace known as Hybrid in the foreground, locked in battle with Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and the star of this magazine. The story was titled "And a Child Shall Deceive Them!" The issue had a cover date of May 1981.

We pick up right where the action left off in the last issue in the first panel, as ROM stands against the X-Men, who mistakenly believe that the Galadorian was trying to assault the young Jimmy Marks in his human form, whom Sprite, aka Kitty Pryde, was holding in her arms. ROM stood outside the remnants of the Mark home (that had been destroyed during his confrontation with Hybrid in issue #17) and recounted his encounter with Jimmy's father, Jacob, who was a Dire Wraith, and his son, who quickly changed forms and attacked the Spaceknight and slew his dad. 

Nightcrawler teleported onto ROM's back, and Wolverine lashed out at the armored alien, as Storm flew in the blizzard that was not something that she created. Hybrid, still in his human form, smiled as he watched the battle begin, still cradled in Sprite's arms. The Galadorian shrugged off the attacks from Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Colossus, just before several farm implements flew into the air and broke against his armor. The tools were undoubtedly issued forth by Hybrid. 

As the storm increased in intensity, it became more difficult for the participants and observers to see who they were facing or who was even next to them. Soon, ROM met Sprit, who was scared by the alien identity of Hybrid right behind her. Instinctively, she leaped to escape the being and phased through ROM's armor. The process weakened the Spaceknight temporarily. Meanwhile, Colossus joined his teammates Nightcrawler and Wolverine. Wolverine admitted that there was something strange about the battle. The trio split up to find young Pryde. Above them, Storm hovered in the air, trying to combat the strange winter weather. With everyone separated, ROM soon found himself confronting Hybrid by himself.

Our hero brought his neutralizer forth from subspace, and even on a slay setting, still had difficulty against his foe. He was aided temporarily by Colossus, who leapt at Hybrid. To his surprise, he found that the alien was able to reach into the Russian's mind, remove his armored form, and wound him in the process. The X-Man collapsed in the snow, where he was soon found by his friend Nightcrawler. 

While Nightcrawler administered CPR on his fallen teammate, Wolverine unsheathed his claws and attacked ROM once more. Sprite watched their confrontation until Hybrid reached out for her. She found one of the snowmobiles that Steve Jackson and Brandy Clark had left behind last issue when they went to deliver Jimmy's mother, Marjorie, to the local hospital. She started the motor and pushed the vehicle at her attacker. Hybrid simply lifted one hand and disassembled the snowmobile into its components, and flung them through the air back at her. The last piece to fly at Sprite was the engine, which harmlessly phased through her body.

Sprite had no sooner evaded the machinery when she backed up against Wolverine, a moment before ROM's punch landed the Canadian mutant into the fresh snow. The two X-Men talked and realized that the silver Spaceknight wasn't their enemy after all. ROM then renewed his attack against Hybrid, who knocked the neutralizer from his hand. Wolverine picked up the weapon, but was shocked by the feedback from its safeguard systems that prevent anyone but ROM from using it. 

Undaunted by Wolverine's rebuff, Sprite picked up the neutralizer and fired it out in front of her. Surprisingly, she was able to wield ROM's weapon without being harmed. The neutralizer's rays continued firing at Hybrid, who turned to face his new attacker. ROM flew to assist the young girl and was once again locked in combat with his enemy. He called out to the young mutant during the skirmish and advised her to adjust her own atoms so that his weapon could be reset. Sprite did so, and both Hybrid and ROM were dispatched to limbo. 

With Hybrid gone, the fierce blizzard was over instantly. Storm swooped down to rejoin her comrades, who were recovering and trying to understand what had just happened. They walked away from the battlesite, thinking that the silver-armored one sacrificed himself against the enemy. As the X-Men left the Marks' homestead, we see ROM's neutralizer half buried in a small snowbank. On the last page, we see the silver Spaceknight plummeting helplessly through the dimension where he usually vanquishes his foes.

This was the finale of one of the best battle epics in this title's history. Both issues are well worth picking up, whether you're a ROM fan, an X-Men fan, or a fan of both. Next time, I'll write about the nineteenth issue of ROM: Spaceknight, where we find out what happens to ROM in limbo and his meeting with another longstanding Marvel character. We also find out more about the Galadorians in another chapter of the Saga of the Spaceknights. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another. 

Retro Comic Review: ROM: Spaceknight #17

 Hi everyone,

Time to resume this series after another busy week. Today, I'll be writing about Marvel Comics' seventeenth issue of ROM: Spaceknight. This was the beginning of a two-part epic where our hero interacted with the X-Men, one of the most popular Marvel franchises at the time. This issue's cover shows ROM lifting a child in his left hand while simultaneously trying to fend off a slicing attack from Wolverine's claws in his neutralizer-wielding right arm, as Storm, Nightcrawler, and Colossus look on. The issue's story was titled "Hybrid! and had a cover date of April 1981. 

The tale began at Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters when Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Sprite (Kitty Pryde) were roused by the piercing scream of an alert issued by Cerebro, Charles Xavier's computer system that had detected new mutant activity. Xavier explained to his team that the signal emanated from Clairton, West Virginia. The X-Men soon departed for the hangar, en route to West Virginia to determine if the new mutant was friend or foe. They left their mentor behind in his wheelchair to ponder the possibilities. 

In ROM's adopted hometown, we see a town doctor arrive via snowmobile at the Marks farm. There, the doctor is surprised to see livestock carcasses rotting in the snow. Doc Stennis makes his way to the front door, finding it slightly ajar. Cautiously, he enters the front room, calling out Jacob Marks' name. He soon reaches the master bedroom and is stunned to see the prematurely aged body of Jacob's wife, Marjorie. 

No sooner does the doctor retreat from the room than he hears Jacob's voice from behind him. Stennis turns to see Jacob confirms his wife's condition, noting that it was not caused by anything that science or medicine could explain. Jacob adds that the culprit was the same one who killed the livestock sitting in the yard, before he reveals himself to the doctor to be a Dire Wraith. The wraith then points to the nearby room, where Stennis can discover the reason for his house call. An eerie voice calls to the doctor, who is so revulsed by what he sees and smells that he runs out of the house in a hurry. After his departure, we learn that the eerie voice belongs to the Marks' child, who comments on Jacob's return to his human form and shames him for loving a human. Jacob Marks curses his decision, while the child laughs eerily. 

Meanwhile, Clairton County coroner Silas Lane is greeted at the Clark home by Brandy's father, who leads him into the living room, where several friends and family members are waiting for him, including the silver Spaceknight. Initially, Lane is shocked to see the alien whom many had assumed to have murdered townspeople shortly after his arrival, but allows Mr. Clark and Brandy's boyfriend Steve Jackson to explain the purpose of the Galadorian's arrival on Earth. The coroner starts to understand and brings out several files that he'd taken with him to Washington, D.C., that had puzzled him, because all of them had the exact same birth date: November 9, 1945. He believed that those records in question had been altered, and that the only person on that list who was still alive was Jimmy Marks.

ROM presumed that date was when the wraiths first arrived on Earth. One of the Clarks' friends protested the assumption that Marks was a Dire Wraith, explaining that she was friends with his wife, Marjorie, and that she had helped Doc Stennis deliver the Marks' child. ROM asserted that the wraiths had infiltrated American society for decades, and was bewildered by the possibility of a wraith and a human mating and having offspring. 

The Galadorian then flew off to the Marks' homestead, followed by Brandy Clark and Jackson on snowmobiles. The trio found a pair of humans waiting for them: Jacob Marks and his frail wife. Jacob freely admitted his wraith identity, and ROM summoned his energy analyzer from subspace to verify that his wife was human. Jackson and Clark led Marjorie away while ROM talked to the wraith who shed his human disguise. Their conversation continued after ROM's friends went on their way to take Mrs. Marks to the nearby hospital. 

Jacob explained that he arrived on Earth in November 1940 after his spaceship crashed. Soon after his arrival, he spied on humans. Instead of attacking them, he decided to mimic one of the males. Having grown weary of constant attacks, he decided to give up his Dire Wraith persona and assimilate into the town. In a nation that had just finished its involvement in the Second World War, his arrival wasn't questioned. It was merely accepted. 

Before too long, Marks had a career as a farmer, and after a decade on earth, he began courting Marjorie Seaton. They fell in love, and Marjorie gave birth to their son Jimmy fifteen years before this story was produced. Things were normal for several years, until Jimmy's wraith heritage came back to haunt him. On that fateful day, a pair of wraiths approached Marks, who saw right through his human disguise and came to visit his son, as was their right. The aliens privately opened the young boy's mind to the magic of his otherworldly heritage.

From then on, things were decidedly different in the Marks household. Young Jimmy rebelled at times, and used his newfound wraith abilities to punish the livestock and even his parents. By the time ROM arrived, the boy's evil was past the point of no return. After Jacob finished his story, the Spaceknight wandered into the house alone. He found the child alone in his bedroom, moments before the half-human half-wraith child transformed himself into a grotesque looking being that named himself Hybrid.

Hybrid attacked ROM, flinging floorboards at him as gale force winds whipped up inside the homestead. Jacobs pleaded for his son to stop, only to be have the pitchfork that was in his right hand possessed by Hybrid and hurled at his body. Jacob Marks was impaled by the weapon and died. The Spaceknight launched a physical attack against his foe, and was amazed by Hybrid's power. He summoned his neutralizer from subspace, but its beams did not send the creature to limbo. ROM increased the power until the neutralizer rays destroyed the house. ROM swore to continue the battle, but his speech now outside of the former building had been heard by Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, Wolverine and Sprite, who assumed that Jimmy Marks (who by then had returned to his human guise) had attacked the young mutant that Cerebro had detected.

Even though this issue's cover was a bit misleading, since the X-Men didn't confront ROM until the very last panel, the story was a good setup for their confrontation the next issue. Writer Bill Mantlo, artist Sal Buscema and company introduced a very powerful opponent, one that ROM would face multiple times over the title's run. Hybrid even had several additional appearances in the Marvel Universe long after the book was cancelled and they lost the rights to the character. 

Next time, I'll write about the eighteenth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight, where we see the Spaceknight go against Earth's mightiest mutant heroes, and we learn what happens in the aftermath of ROM's first encounter with Hybrid. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.  

Retro Comic Review: ROM: Spaceknight #16

 Hi everyone,

Today, I'm writing about the sixteenth issue of Marvel Comics' ROM: Spaceknight. The cover, penciled by Ed Hannigan and inked by artist/editor Al Milgrom, shows our hero, fighting a large, green menace, with the cover blurb declaring "Beware...The Watchwraith!" The first story was titled "The Watchwraith!" and the issue had a cover date of March 1981.

The opening image shows Clairton, West Virginia, on a brisk fall day. It looks like just about any other small town in America at the time, just before the fall holiday season. A reporter (whom we briefly saw in one panel in ROM #14) gets out of his car and makes his way to the local newspaper office. The man asks the Clairton Clarion's editor if he knows anything about the robot menace that was recently in Washington, D.C. The editor quickly dismisses the newsman Killburn's claims, but after the newsman has left, he realizes the threat and the importance of informing the rest of the town about the potential threat to their silver savior. 

As Killburn makes his way across the town, every resident and merchant he meets fails to take his assumptions seriously. This includes Brandy Clark and her father. The reporter leaves disappointed once more. However, he's convinced by their replies that the citizens are hiding something.

After his departure, we see ROM sitting in the Clark home with several other Clairton residents. The Spaceknight gained the trust of town residents after thwarting a Dire Wraith's attempt to disguise himself as Brandy's fiance Steve Jackson and wed her last issue. ROM told the group about his mission to eliminate the wraith menace after the aliens' initial attack on his home planet of Galador some 200 years ago. He expressed his faith in those assembled, and even though he knew what the results would be, he used his energy analyzer at their urging, only to verify that no wraiths were in attendance. 

Jackson and a pair of his friends then showed the Spaceknight their own energy analyzer, which was built using X-ray equipment. ROM hoped that the device would not be necessary, and informed the humans of his intentions to leave the area to search for other wraith encampments. Brandy protested his decision, but the Spaceknight assured her that the threat to their town was over, at least for all he knew.

Unbeknownst to the adults in the room, there was another menace still lurking, deep in the caverns of their small town. A pair of young boys was playing with their ray guns near one of the entrances to the old, abandoned mines in the town when one youngster found the remnants of a former wraith base in the cave. The boys soon discovered a strange-looking being encased in glass. As they turned to leave, one of them accidentally tripped an unseen alarm, which roused the being from its case. The boys fled to warn their parents about what they had just seen. 

At the same time, ROM was resting on a bed in the Clark's guest room, thinking about the guests who had since left the gathering and other humans that he'd encountered. His reverie was interrupted by the conversation that Steve and Brandy were having in Brandy's room. Brandy seemed to be torn between her love for her boyfriend and her love for the silver Spaceknight. Having heard the conversation, ROM thought about his love for the female human, and his desire not to hurt his friend Steve.

Before ROM's pondering could continue, the sound of sirens in the town warned of imminent danger, which we soon saw was caused by the being that the boys had found in the old cave. He was tearing up property in town, and the local fire department could not stop him. The fire chief made a call to Brandy's parents, to alert ROM of the danger. The Spaceknight soon attacked the creature, which he called a Watchwraith. Watchwraiths were created by the Dire Wraiths to serve as sentries for his enemies. This particular Watchwraith wondered where his alien masters were, not knowing that they had long since abandoned the base that he had been found in. 

The battle between Spaceknight and Watchwraith continued as several people looked on, including the reporter Killburn. Townspeople fired on the wraith sentry from a nearby rooftop, but their bullets proved ineffective. The Watchwraith lashed out and struck the building, knocking the men off the ledge, but they were quickly saved by ROM. The Watchwraith then released a burst of plasmifire from his palm, whihc attacked his armor until townspeople used a fire hose to douse the liquid flames. ROM continued to fight his opponent as the reporter from out of town continued to write down what he was witnessing.

The conflict moved on to the town's ice cream parlor, where the Spaceknight was able to use the freezer's freon to stop his opponent in his tracks. Jackson soon shut off the freon cable's power so that it wouldn't freeze ROM, who was still clenching the cable in his armored hand. He emerged from the building as citizens hailed him as a hero. A few minutes later, Killburn tried to prove his story, only to have a citizen knock the notebook from his hand. The reporter soon found that a panel truck was soon in the broken window where ROM and the Watchwraith had just crashed through a few minutes before, as if to explain that the window was broken by the truck crashing into it. 

Killburn swore that the real story would be printed, even as Clairton residents continued to dismiss his claims. From a nearby corner, ROM and his friends thought about what to do next. The Spaceknight asserted that the Watchwraith's presence confirmed that his masters were no longer in the town. Brandy made an impassioned plea to the Spaceknight to stay, which he accepted.

The second story was the third installment of the Saga of the Spaceknights. This time, we see ROM flanked by his fellow Spaceknights, the golden female Starshine and the male Terminator, who was encased in dark blue armor. The trio was on their way to save a Galadorian hospital ship which was under attack by a wraith Drakillar. Drakillars were powerful wraith craft with bat-shaped wings. ROM's neutralizer, Terminator's frontal assault and Starshine's lighteyes were sufficient enough to win the battle.

Once the Spaceknights entered the hospital vessel, they discovered the corpses of several passengers, floating in the air around them. They ventured on through multiple airlocks and found survivors. However, the remaining inhabitants asked for the Spaceknights to mercifully end their lives. Starshine was puzzled, but before one of the humanoids could explain their reasoning, Terminator swooped in and aimed his eye beams at the ship's stardrive power core. The blast soon destroyed the ship, moments after the Spaceknights flew to safety.

Starshine and ROM asked Terminator to explain his action. The solemn Galadorian said that the wraith Drakillars intended to infect the hospital ship with the as yet uncurable wraith plague. Terminator went on to say that the disease had once affected another formerly peaceful world, and that he was the only survivor of the plague. His body was grafted into his spaceknight armor and his diseased cells were simultaneously destroyed. He sought to destroy the infected ship so that the plague would not continue to infect additional life forms. Terminator also said that because of the infection, he has no humanity left to return to once the wraith conflict ends. This is a plot point that would prove to be very important during the rest of the comic's run. 

This was another well-crafted Marvel comic. My only concern was the fact that the coloring of the Watchwraith differed on the cover and the interior pages, but both tales were both fast-paced and solid examples of quality storytelling.

Next time, I'll write about the seventeenth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight, where we meet one of ROM's deadliest foe for the first time, a powerful being who continued on in the Marvel Universe years after the title ran its course. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another. 

Retro Comic Review: ROM: Spaceknight #15

 Hi everyone,

Today I'll be writing about the fifteenth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight, or the wedding issue, as fans know it. The cover, drawn by Hercules and Iron Man artist Bob Layton, shows the titular character drawing his neutralizer on his friend Steve Jackson, much to his fiancée Brandy Clark's horror. The story was called "Brandy Clark and Steve Jackson Cordially Invite You to...A Wedding!," and the issue had a cover date of February 1981. 

On the first page, we see the bride and groom-to-be arriving at the church in Clairton, West Virginia, before the ceremony. Brandy still wants to marry her longtime love, but has noticed a change in her boyfriend's behavior, one that's rather unlike him. As his groomsmen encourage him, Jackson follows Clark into the church.

At the same time, ROM returns to the Clark household. He enters the front door, surprised to see the empty building. He makes his way to Brandy's room, where he stops to page through a photo album. The Spaceknight stares at the images for a while, including the signed photo of Jackson by her bedside. 

ROM thought about how Jackson initially despised him, and didn't listen to his warnings about the Dire Wraiths until he saved Steve and Brandy from Archie Stryker, who attacked in his friend Karas' Firefall Spaceknight armor, and after the trio fought off the wraith thornoids at Clark's job. ROM was both thankful for Jackson's friendship and jealous of his relationship with Clark. He then walked out of the Clark home and was witnessed by a young child on a bike and an elderly man in a car, both of whom were fearful that the alien man in armor would harm them or others in the town. The Spaceknight watches the possible collision and decides not to interfere.

In Washington, D.C., Clairton's county coroner, Silas Lane, is busy reviewing piles of birth registrations dating back to the 1940s. He's concerned that multiple citizens of his town who perished during ROM's attacks all had the exact same date of birth. As he examines the records more closely, he finds that more than a dozen of them were recently tampered with. He then decides to reach out to "Ace" O'Connor, a reporter whom he had met on the train ride to the nation's capital several issues earlier. 

Unfortunately, O'Connor had already been captured by the Dire Wraiths. We find her on the next page in a wallless prison, where she meets Jackson, who explains how he had been captured and the wraiths' plans to impersonate him in his hometown. O'Connor then told Steve about seeing ROM in action for the first time against the Jack of Hearts and how she discovered from a photo that she took during that battle of a person who the Spaceknight had banished, who wasn't exactly human, and the hellhounds who had brought her to their shared prison.

No sooner had O'Connor recounted her experience than a pair of Dire Wraiths entered to take Jackson and end his life. The aliens revealed that his doppelganger was preparing to wed Jackson's fiancée, Brandy Clark. O'Connor used the flash from her camera to momentarily blind the wraiths, and the humans briefly fought the alien beings.

Ace pleaded with Jackson to escape and save his girlfriend. Jackson grudgingly agreed and left the portal through the same opening that the wraiths had entered from. He heard a chilling scream, moments later, knowing that the lady reporter had sacrificed her life for him. Steve ran down the hallway in front of him, and found that he had been in another of the city's old mine entrances. He then rushed off to find his girlfriend.

Meanwhile, ROM changed his mind and stepped in front of the oncoming car to save the young girl who had been riding down the street on her bicycle. He put her down safely moments before the driver of the car left his vehicle and verbally assaulted the Spaceknight. ROM informed the man that if he really had the malicious intent that the human claimed, he would no longer be alive to issue any more utterances to him. He lifted the human briefly, tossing him back at the ruined car after learning of the wedding. ROM then walked off in the direction of the church.

At the church, final preparations were being made. ROM soon made his way there, and casually tossed aside an attendant at the front steps. At the same time, we see Jackson back at his auto garage in town. He breaks the front door's window and grabs the keys off the wall for an older car that was sitting in the lot. Gunning the engine, he speeds off to save his love. 

A few minutes later, the ceremony finally begins. Brandy's parents talk quietly about the sparse crowd, knowing that their daughter's association with the silver Spaceknight probably caused several citizens to stay away. Just before the minister is about to proclaim the couple man and wife, ROM bursts through the wooden church doors, and asks Brandy to halt. His sudden appearance surprises everyone in the building.

The Spaceknight pushes the humans who try to interfere out of his way, until Brandy's father walks up to him and accuses him of murdering his fellow townspeople. ROM explains that those he banished were not townspeople, and becomes angered by his hatred and blind prejudice. He raises a fist in the air, before realizing what he was almost about to do. ROM lowers his fist, and walks toward the couple at the altar.

The wraith posing as Jackson tries to shield Brandy and accuses the Spaceknight of trying to disrupt their nuptials. Clark defends ROM, who summons his energy analyzer from subspace. He trains its beam on the couple, and confirms that the male in front of him is indeed a Dire Wraith. The wraith denies ROM's accusation, and Brandy realizes that the Spaceknight has loved her ever since the day they first met (in the debut issue). She doesn't initially believe that the man next to her is a wraith until he's felled by a single gunshot.

As the assemblage is swiftly silenced, we see the real Steve Jackson standing in the back of the church, with the pistol that he just used to shoot at his double in his hand. He admitted that ROM was telling the truth about the wraiths. Clark is overjoyed to see her fiancé, who provides background to the people in attendance about ROM's activities in their town and his mission to rid their planet of the alien menace. 

The priest informs ROM that the people of Clairton now believe and trust him and asks the Spaceknight to use his energy analyzer on them. The Spaceknight denies the request, knowing that no real Dire Wraith would ever willingly submit to that. He takes the man at his word and confesses his faith in those gathered around him. Clark talks with Jackson and admits that she felt that something was off. She is willing to marry the real Steve Jackson, who appreciates the offer, but admits that it isn't the right time. The couple still loves each other just as much as they ever did.

Just when readers were getting accustomed to the two-story setup, Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema, and company reverted to a single-story issue, but I think that it's one that was essential to the supporting characters' development. The revelation that ROM loves Clark would be important to the storyline moving forward. My only regrets were that O'Connor's character was killed so quickly, and that we didn't see more of the other-dimensional prison. I thought that Buscema did a good job of drawing the characters and conflict in the borderless panels. Overall, ROM #15 was another solid issue. 

Well, that's all for this issue. Next time, I'll write about the sixteenth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight. It's another two-story issue, where we learn more about a new kind of wraith menace and the saga of the Spaceknights. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another. 

Retro Comic Review: ROM: Spaceknight #14

Hi everyone,

Today I'll be writing about the fourteenth issue of Marvel Comics' ROM: Spaceknight title. The cover, drawn by X-Men illustrator Dave Cockrum, shows the Mad Thinker cheering from a viewscreen, as his awesome android attacks our titular hero. The first story of this two-story issue was titled "The Ultimate Android!" and the issue had a cover date of January 1981. 

On the first page, we see the Thinker brooding over his namesake statue, as screens next to him show ROM's arrival on Earth in issue #1. The genius ponders the information that he knows about that incident and deduces that the intruder is an android, much like the behemoth that peered over his shoulder. He then gets up to examine a small model of the Spaceknight and calculates his voyage here. The Mad Thinker also postulates about his android's previous battles with the Fantastic Four and Charles Xavier's first team of X-Men, as well as encounters with other nonsentient life forms, like the Vision, Dragon Man, Ultron, and the original Human Torch. 

The villain sought to control the alien and used a wrist beam to activate the pod he was in, activating the capsule's flight controls and sending it on a path toward Clairton, West Virginia. ROM was several hundred miles from his adopted hometown at the time, having recently finished his battle with the Plunderer last issue. He sat on an abandoned ridge and thought about Brandy Clark, the first earthling that he met after landing on the planet. His thoughts turned to love. (If you're wondering why such thoughts did not revolve around Ray-Na, stay tuned for the synopsis of the second story in this issue later in this article.)

ROM realizes that Clark loves another, her longtime boyfriend Steve Jackson, who came to his aid and fought the wraith invasion more than once. ROM soon returned to the place where he first landed on Earth, and continued to brood and silently curse the decades-long conflict with the Dire Wraiths, not knowing that the Thinker's capsule had landed not far from him. The Mad Thinker then activated his lumbering android and commanded it to bring the Spaceknight to him. The machine embarked on its quest, fully ready to sacrifice itself for its master. 

Meanwhile, in town, we see Brandy getting fitted in her wedding gown, with her mother's assistance and her father's encouragement. Her fiancé, Jackson, then arrived for a few moments, although no one in the Clark household knew at the time that her husband-to-be was actually a Dire Wraith in disguise, who had imprisoned her longtime boyfriend. However, Brandy began to suspect that something was off, noting that her fiancé's kiss was more like a kiss from a stranger. 

As Clark pondered, the Mad Thinker's android struck ROM from behind. Stunned, the silver Spaceknight turned to face his unexpected foe. He initially thought that his mute opponent was created by wraiths, but soon discovered through the use of his energy analyzer that the being was an incredible creation of human science. He wondered if he served humans or wraiths, and was attacked once more by the android. The Thinker's servant soon had our hero encased in a suffocating embrace.

At the same time, reporter "Ace" O'Connor showed the photos of ROM's battle at Project: Safeguard to her editor at the Washington Weekly magazine. The editor eventually agreed with her assertion that he was battling Dire Wraiths before revealing that he was a wraith himself. A pair of wraith hellhounds grabbed her from behind and pulled the reporter into a portal that disappeared into the nearby wall. The editor wraith then burned the photos. He thought the threat of being exposed was over, but only momentarily. No sooner had he destroyed O'Connor's photos than another reporter entered the editor's room, asking for Ace, after having seen the negatives that she had left behind in the darkroom. 

We then return to ROM, who tried to free himself from the android's grip by igniting his rocket pods. That just caused the android to enflame his own artificial body, and later mimic the makeup of ROM's spaceknight armor. ROM fought his way free and fired his neutralizer ray at the android. The blast incapacitated the android, but it now faced the Mad Thinker himself. The Spaceknight replaced his neutralizer with his energy analyzer, whose beam could not penetrate the villain's personal forcefield. The Thinker asked ROM to replace his android, still thinking ROM was another android. However, once he realized that ROM was not an android, he acknowledged his mistake and activated his android, who returned him to the flight pod, and the duo soon flew off, leaving a somewhat bewildered and confused Galadorian behind. ROM soon realized that the android was much like a child, and the Mad Thinker its parent. He hoped that both of them would identify their roles and improve their relationship and situation.

The second story was another Saga of the Spaceknights. The action began with ROM and his companions Starshine and Terminator fending off an attack from wraith spaceships. Starshine's defenses were a bit more subtle, while Terminator's headfront assault and lighteye attacks were more offensive and direct. The trio was about to assess the condition of the attack in the D'Barri sector when a fourth Spaceknight flew in to inform ROM of the distress call he had just received regarding a wraith attack on the planet Agricon.

Knowing that his beloved Ray-Na was on that planet, he and his two fellow warriors quickly flew off to the rescue. As they made their approach, things seemed quite ordinary. That was, until Terminator blasted what appeared to be a pair of innocent-looking children. The dark Spaceknight proclaimed that the children were actually Dire Wraiths, a fact that ROM confirmed by using his energy analyzer. Terminator's beams struck out at the aliens, while ROM's neutralizer sent his foes to limbo. 

After that skirmish, the Spaceknights flew to the planet's capital city. There, they found Ray-Na, who had been held hostage by wraiths, who brandished their pistols at the Galadorians. Ray-Na soon freed herself, but was shot in the back by one of the wraith weapons. After deciding not to use his neutralizer because his beloved would have been in the line of fire, he quickly leapt to her side. Meanwhile, Terminator and Starshine vanquished the wraiths. ROM held his lady in his arms in what turned out to be her final moments just before she passed away. 

This was another action-packed issue. We got to see some more well-established Marvel characters interact with ROM, see two more Spaceknights, and find out what happened to ROM's beloved Ray-Na. It also explained why ROM now had his eyes set on Brandy Clark. I love how this title hit the ground running with the first issue, and to this point still hasn't let up. 

Next time, I'll write about the fifteenth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight, which is a single story about the wedding of Brandy Clark and Steve Jackson. Does it actually happen? Will a human marry a Dire Wraith? We'll find out. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another. 

Retro Comic Review: ROM: Spaceknight #13

 Hi everyone,

Today I'm writing about Marvel's thirteenth issue of ROM: Spaceknight. The cover featured our hero in his shining armor, flanked by fellow Spaceknights in suits of armor that are a somewhat darker shade of gray. It marked the beginning of the Saga of the Spaceknights bonus story arc, and the issue had a cover date of December 1980.

The first page resumed the main storyline, and that tale was called "Peril, Thy Name Is Plunderer!" We see ROM's Spaceknight armor washed up on rocks on a coastline, where it caught the attention of a dog named Teaser and its owner, a young girl who hears ROM's soft cry for help. She throws out a fishing net and tries to slowly bring the alien to shore. She relies on the tide to help accomplish her task. ROM slowly rises on the beach, but doesn't know who he is.

The girl identifies the Spaceknight's condition as amnesia and guides him to a nearby cave, where he waits for her to return. While he sits, ROM's mind fills with images of people, including himself, whose names are foreign to him. 

At the same time, reporter "Ace" O'Connor is in a photo lab at the Washington Weekly magazine, developing the pictures that she took during ROM's skirmish with the Jack of Hearts at Project: Safeguard. As she reviews her photos, one of them catches her immediate attention. That particular image shows Rachel Sweet, a former Project employee, and a strange, alien shape behind her human face. O'Connor starts to wonder if ROM wasn't lying about the people he banished, who were Dire Wraiths in disguise.

The focus then returns to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, where the silver Spaceknight was found in the vicinity at the beginning of this issue. Young Talley Lansing, who rescued ROM, is bringing dinner to her father, who has been busy manning his post. Talley then returns to the house and grabs a flashlight, telling her mother that she and her dog Teaser will be out for a walk. Her parents are unaware of their alien visitor or the purpose of their daughter's excursion. 

Talley finds that the Spaceknight had been waiting as she had instructed. He soon grabbed her flashlight and consumed its energy. The cave was dark for only moments before another light source caught the trio's attention. This time, the light emanated from a large hydrofoil, which was leading several smaller boats behind it. The lead craft was commanded by the Plunderer. Parnival Plunder (whose brother is the hero Ka-Zar) had captured the vessels behind him and their cargo. Talley and ROM stood watching as the girl explained to the alien what was going on.

Describing the pirates' evil reminded ROM of another evil, one that he couldn't quite place exactly. ROM decided to take action against the pirates and advised his young friend to advise her father of the intruders. The Spaceknight then flew off to combat the invaders. Just as one of the Plunderer's guards told several captives of his boss' desire to own their boats, ROM stepped in. He tore the guard's gun apart with his bare hands, an action that caused the human guard to faint in disbelief.

Our hero then freed the boat owners and their crews and told them to leave. The humans explained that the underground channel they were in was the only way out, and expressed their desire to get their boats back. ROM chose to help the humans accomplish that goal, but not before one of the sailors warned him of the dangerous weapons the pirates possessed. ROM was determined to overcome the evil, and the boaters rallied behind him, following as he took off in search of the invaders. 

ROM landed on the hydrofoil and was quickly shot at with laser guns. He was nicked by one blast and subconsciously brought his neutralizer forth from subspace. He instinctively reacted by returning fire at the gun that had just fired at him, destroying the laser cannon and drawing the attention of Plunder himself. Parvnival introduced himself to his foe and explained his intent of creating an impressive smuggling network. He also stated that he was searching for the powerful metal vibranium to fuel his weapons. 

During the speech, ROM stated his observation that the small fleet was no longer under the pirates' control. Indeed, as Parnival turned around, he saw that the boat owners and their companions were rebelling against his crew. He then lashed out at the Spaceknight with his own hand cannon, whose blast went up against ROM's neutralizer ray. The neutralizer ray won the battle, but then Plunder fired his weapon directly at ROM's unprotected body. He cried out in pain, and in his agony, he remembered who he was. 

Coast Guard sirens signaled the arrival of help, including Talley and her father on one Coast Guard boat. Plunder's henchmen were rounded up at gunpoint, but the villain still made a dash to escape capture. He sped away in his hydrofoil until ROM rose up to confront him once more. This time, Plunder's vibragun was no threat to the Spaceknight. 

The hydrofoil was damaged by a jutting coral reef and the ensuing movement caused Plunder, who was in the process of firing his weapon, to aim the beam at the vessel's engine. The resultant explosion was seen from a safe distance by the Coast Guard boats and freed boat owners. Talley and her companions presumed that her silver friend had perished in the explosion.

The second story began the Saga of the Spaceknights. This tale began some 200 years ago on ROM's home planet of Galador, not long after the first Spaceknights were grafted to their suits of armor. The planet's Prime Director held up a globe of power and announced the beginning of the funeral rites for the valiant heroes who had sacrificed their lives while battling the dread Dire Wraiths. 

We then see several fallen Spaceknights, encased in transparent coffins. Their loved ones climbed the steps to honor the deceased before the glowing globe that held the power of the planet's suns released the energy it contained and dispersed the living fire to absorb the fallen heroes. Their clear coffins then stood empty before the citizens who had assembled.

ROM briefly reflected on the cost their war had inflicted on their populace and bode them well in the afterlife. Family members continued to congregate around the surviving Spaceknights, including ROM's lady love, Ray-Na. The lovers embraced, but the Prime Director reminded everyone that their conflict with the wraiths had not ceased. Our hero protested, reminding his leader how he and his colleagues had driven their foes back into deep space. He declared the war to be over, but the Prime Director reminded him that the wraiths would still attack other worlds, including planets that needed the protection of the Spaceknights.

Incredulous, the silver Spaceknight asked why the struggle must continue, thinking that it was enough just for them to have given up their own humanity to defend their planet. His leader admitted that he could not order the warriors to continue the fight, and acknowledged that no one would chastise the first of the Spaceknights if he chose to give up his armor and return to his normal life. The words of his beloved, who reinforced the fact that other worlds were not as lucky as theirs, convinced ROM to continue the battle and encouraged his fellow soldiers to not give up until the war had actually been won. 

The two-story approach was something that writer Bill Mantlo was also doing for the Micronauts title at the same time, and it reminded me of earlier split books like Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. It's a concept that Marvel has revived briefly at various periods. Both stories were impressive, and Sal Buscema's artwork continued to shine. I didn't know much about Plunder except for his relation to Ka-Zar and having read an earlier story where he and his crew tried to take over the Baxter Building in an issue of the Fantastic Four after the quartet decided to split up, but it was an enjoyable read. It was also nice getting to know more about ROM's homeworld and their longtime conflict against the Dire Wraiths.

Next time, I'll write about the fourteenth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight, where we learn more about the Galadorians and see ROM encounter two more fairly well-known Marvel characters. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another. 

Retro Comic Review: ROM: Spaceknight #12

 Hi everyone,

Today I'll be writing about ROM: Spaceknight #12. The cover (once again wonderfully illustrated by Michael Golden) shows the titular character, about ready to do battle with the Jack of Hearts, as the cover blurb indicates. The story was called "Heart Attack!" and the issue had a cover date of November 1980.

The story began at a top-secret government training facility called The Farm. It's a place where CIA, FBI, and SHIELD agents are educated. We see Jack of Hearts flying off into the foreground, as he's about to begin a training sequence. He deftly evades obstacles, including missiles and lasers, before beginning the "death run" portion of the course. Small saucers that emit different kinds of ray blasts attack Jack, but he soon discovers how to defeat them and successfully completes the course in under ten seconds, a new record.

Jack lands next to the agent who was timing his progress when another agent rushes toward them, with the news that he'd just received a priority alert from Project: Safeguard in Washington, D.C. Jack flies off to investigate, leaving SHIELD Major Martins and the confused agent behind. 

The focus then turns to that facility, where we see ROM in the aftermath of his skirmish in the Ultralab. Guards and reporter "Ace" O'Connor believe that the Spaceknight murdered Sweet, who was really a Dire Wraith in disguise. ROM stands next to the ashes where the wraith once stood and his fallen comrade, Archie Stryker, who had recently inhabited his friend Karas' Firefall Spaceknight armor. Stryker sacrificed himself last issue so that his neutralizer could be freed from the force sphere that wraith hellhounds had encased it in before delivering the weapon to Project: Safeguard.

O'Connor took pictures of the Spaceknight, wondering if he was connected to the "murders" of a half dozen residents of Clairton, West Virginia, that she had heard about from that city's coroner on the train ride to the nation's capital. As the nervous human guards tensed and aimed their weapons at the Galadorian, ROM brought his energy analyzer from subspace and identified Dire Wraiths among them. The analyzer was swiftly replaced in ROM's hand by his neutralizer, which he then used to banish the wraiths to the otherworldly dimension known as limbo.

Not understanding what had just happened, the human guards began firing their energy weapons at ROM, who shrugged off the beams and walked toward them, eventually ripping the guns from their hands and smashing them into pieces. The unarmored men then tried to cling to the Spaceknight to restrain him, but ROM quickly brushed them off, as if they were mere insects. 

As ROM walked to the guards' leader, Jack arrived at Project: Safeguard. He left behind his calling card (a Jack of Hearts playing card) and soon entered the Ultralab. He saw a pair of guards fleeing, and was amazed by what they were fleeing from. Witnessing ROM banish wraiths with his neutralizer, Jack, like most humans, thought that he was killing humans and attacked him.

ROM assumed this new opponent was another Dire Wraith in human guise, and turned his energy analyzer on him. To his surprise, he learned that Jack was a human being with a substantial amount of explosive energy within his body. ROM fought to protect himself, and concerned for the safety of the others in the building, soon flew off, with Jack in hot pursuit. As the battle continued across the complex, Jack's blasts infused ROM's armor with energy. Soon, there was too much energy in the Spaceknight's suit. ROM had to release that energy or risk his systems shutting down. He then flew off into space, where his respirator started after he left the planetary atmosphere.

Jack wasn't far behind and continued the tussle. Finally, after another staggering blow, ROM flew backwards, realizing that he couldn't contain the extra energy anymore. He released the energy in an explosive burst, and Jack reeled back, thinking that his enemy had blown up. He then returned to Project: Safeguard, where he was hailed as a hero. Ace O'Connor got the scoop she was looking for.

Meanwhile, ROM's unconscious body floated in space. He began thinking about how and why he first became a Spaceknight and his first encounter with human beings on Earth. As his armor dragged against the upper levels of our atmosphere, the ensuing friction slowed him and eventually led him to start descending to the planet, much like his arrival in the debut issue. 

Steve Jackson and Brandy Clark see ROM soaring through the atmosphere, although Clark assumes that what they saw was a falling star. She worries about the Spaceknight, and Jackson tries to reassure her before proposing. Clark accepts his proposal, not knowing that the person she agreed to marry was secretly a Dire Wraith. On the last page, we see ROM crash land at the bottom of a body of water. He's apparently unconscious, and his future is once again left in doubt.

This was another great issue from the Marvel creative team. The story echoed one that Mantlo and Buscema recounted in the Incredible Hulk, where the Jack of Hearts battled the Hulk, not realizing that his foe wasn't the enemy. Jack was an interesting character who debuted in the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu black and white magazine and showed up in Iron Man's mag and an issue of Marvel Premiere before this appearance. Unfortunately, he hasn't crossed paths with the Spaceknight since. 

Next time, I'll write about the thirteenth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight, where we learn what happened next to our hero and his encounter with another Marvel character. We also get to learn more about Spaceknights in a bonus feature. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.