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.