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.
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