Hi everyone,
Today I'll be writing about the twenty-fourth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight. The cover (once again illustrated by Al Milgrom) shows the Spaceknight amid a pitched battle against Skrulls alongside Nova and the New Champions. The story was titled "No Place Like Home!" The issue had a cover date of November 1981.
ROM soon noticed the glow of several beings approaching his spacecraft. They were Syfon warriors, and the man called Nova (who had his own Marvel Comic that ran for 25 issues in the 1970s). After determining that the vessel in front of them belonged to the Skrulls, the warriors opened fire on it. Inside the ship, ROM turned on his armor's respirators and opened the top hatch, so that he could fly out and meet his attackers.
The silver Spaceknight's energy analyzer was trained on Powerhouse, who flew up to meet him. Powerhouse sought to drain his opponent's energy, only to find that after grasping the Galadorian, he was the one whose energy had instead been exhausted. After Powerhouse fell away, ROM's analyzer was then turned on Nova, who flew into battle with what he thought was a robot. ROM revealed that he was not a robot, but a native of the planet Galador who had recently been on Earth. Upon hearing the name of his own homeworld, Richard Rider (Nova) then ordered his companions to cease hostilities.
With the warriors gathered together, ROM told his tale of his arrival on Earth and his fight against the Dire Wraiths, whom he banishes to limbo with his neutralizer. He went on to explain how the wraiths had shown him an image from the Window on the World that showed his planet devastated by Wraith attacks, and how the ship he had been in had been lent to him by the Fantastic Four so that he could return to Galador.
Nova told the Spaceknight that he was in the Andromeda galaxy, which was home to the planet Xandar. Xandar was currently embroiled in a longstanding conflict with the shape-shifting Skrulls (who have been in the Marvel Universe since the second issue of the Fantastic Four). Nova suggested that ROM join them in traveling back to Xandar, in the hopes that the planet's living computers could assist him.
A little while later, ROM and his new friends stood before Xandar's suzerain, Queen Adora. The queen welcomed her guest, but had never heard of the planet Galador. The Spaceknight asked if her world's living computers could help him locate his homeworld. Adora then went on to explain that the computers' power had been transferred to the Prime Thorian for their battle against the Skrulls (which was chronicled in issue numbers 206 to 209 of the Fantastic Four's comic) and the villain known as the Sphinx.
During the battle, the Prime Thorian absorbed Xandar's living computers and joined the crew of the Protector, a space vessel that led Xandar's Nova Corps in their journey following the Skrulls. Nova and the New Champions stayed on the planet to defend it against future Skrull attacks. Nova was upset over the New Champions' disbanding. Diamondhead, Crimebuster, and Comet left to join the Nova Corps on their mission, while Powerhouse and Nova were left behind. Nova said that they had not heard from his former teammates since, and that he had not been to his homeworld in quite some time.
As Nova told his tale to ROM, Queen Adora commiserated, knowing that if Rider were ever to return to Earth, his Nova powers would have to remain on Xandar. Just then, another Syfon warrior entered the chamber, rushing forward to share the news that the Protector had just entered the Xandar system. Adora assumed that this meant the end of their war with the Skrulls. She commanded the warriors to share the news with the rest of the planet's citizens. The Spaceknight knew from his own experience that the struggle might not necessarily be over.
The gathering dispersed, and Nova expressed a bit of jealousy to ROM over missing out on the adventures that the ship's inhabitants experienced. The silver Spaceknight assured the hero that this meant he could return to Earth, as he had long wanted to. The Protector was one of several spaceships that returned to the Andromeda system. In one panel, we can see Comet, Diamondhead, Crimebuster, Centurion, and the Prime Thorian in the Protector.
While the people on the planet Xandar anxiously awaited their warriors' return, ROM asked if the large ship could safely land. Adora explained that the transporter platform in front of them was where the ship crews would appear. She then called for the transporter beam to be activated. In an instant, the beam carried out its function, and the crew of the Protector reached land. However, it soon became quite obvious that the heroic characters were not who they appeared to be.
The Protector's passengers quickly called for the destruction of Xandar and for its princess and its people to be enslaved. This sudden outburst led Nova to proclaim them as Skrulls, which we soon learned that they were, as their heroic guises disappeared to expose the alien Skrulls underneath. They began opening fire upon the Xandarian populace, and ROM fired his neutralizer at the invader, just moments before Nova saved his leader from a Skrull ray blast.
Nova and the silver Spaceknight then swooped down from the balcony to confront the Skrulls. They made short work of the aliens, despite being significantly outnumbered. While ROM fought on the surface, Nova flew up toward the still orbiting Protector, trying to figure out what had just happened. He deftly evaded a laser blast fired by his former companion, Diamondhead, at the urging of several Skrulls in the command section of the spaceship. Incensed at the betrayal, Richard Rider creates multiple holes in the ship, which swiftly leave the Skrull passengers gasping for air.
Diamondhead was upset over the loss of his Skrull crew, and before he could find the young hero, Nova came for him. Nova realized that Diamondback was no longer part of the Nova Corps. He also figured out that his former ally had probably used the vessel's dimensional phaser to send the rest of the corps into another dimension. Once he set Diamondback and the Skrull passengers out into space, Nova returned to the Protector and placed his left palm on the phaser screen. Momentarily, Comet, Centurion, and the Prime Thorian appeared right behind him.
The Prime Thorian went on to tell of their battles, one of which took the life of the Comet's son, Crimebuster. He explained that Diamondback had indeed betrayed the Nova Corps by letting Skrulls capture their spacecraft. He then intended to activate the signal that would summon the Nova Corps. Before that could happen, Crimebuster tried to stop the Skrulls, but was shot and killed by one of their laser weapons. Comet tried to avenge his loss, but was phased into another dimension with his corps teammates before they could retaliate. Nova apologized for what they had experienced, but told his comrades that there was another struggle with the Skrulls back on Xandar.
ROM was holding his own against the Skrulls, but with the assistance of Nova and the remaining Nova Corps members (Powerhouse, Comet, Centurion, and the Prime Thorian), the conflict was soon over. Nova Prime was impressed with the victory. The Galadorian asked why the Skrulls were allowed to leave for their home, until the Prime Thorian explained that their penalty upon returning to their homeworld would be death. Centurion was finally reunited with his beloved Adora, and Xandar was peaceful once more.
Comet preferred to remain on Xandar to honor his son's memory. Nova longed to use his powers back on Earth against the Dire Wraiths, but the Prime Thorian stressed the fact that his abilities must remain behind. ROM told Rider to look up his friends in Clairton, West Virginia, after he returned, and Rider faded from view. He soon found himself back on his street without his costume or powers, wondering what his family would think about his return.
Back on Xandar, the Prime Thorian asked ROM how they could repay his heroic deeds. The Spaceknight asked how to return to his home planet. The Prime Thorian used his information from the planet's computers to ascertain that Galador still existed, but it had been moved, along with the rest of ROM's golden galaxy. He then dispatched the Spaceknight toward that world.
In Clairton, the Torpedo headed home after another evening patrol. He was greeted by his wife Lorrain, who was convinced that there was something wrong with their three children. Brock Jones went up the stairs to find them and Doc Stennis (whom we first met during ROM's encounter with Hybrid). The doctor assured Brock that his children were fine, not noticing the white wisps of fog that had entered through the bedroom window. Brock thought it was a false alarm, but Lorrain exclaimed that the children weren't their children. The youngsters did appear to have a glazed look in their eyes as she said that.
At the home of Brandy Clark's parents, not far from the Jones household, Brandy stood next to a tree, wondering where the Spaceknight was. She didn't see the wisps of fog that suddenly enveloped her. When she turned around, her father and mother were speaking and acting as strangely as the Jones children.
Writer Bill Mantlo received a lot of criticism back in the day for removing Richard Rider's Nova powers and sending him back to Earth without them. I have all 25 issues of Nova's original series. I thought that it was a fun series (especially the issues that were drawn by ROM artist Sal Buscema), that ended too soon on a cliffhanger that was resolved in issues of the Fantastic Four and this issue. Marvel had no immediate plans for the Nova character at the time, so I was fine with how his storyline was resolved. Rider would eventually return as Nova in the New Warriors comic.
This was another fun, action-packed issue. It tied up the Nova storyline and moved ROM closer to his homeworld. I like that the incidents in Clairton were also worked in, if only for the last few pages.
Well, that's all for now. Next time, I'll write about the double-sized twenty-fifth issue of Marvel Comics' ROM: Spaceknight. In that issue, we'll see ROM back on his homeworld and learn whether or not it really was ravaged by wraith attacks. We'll also see more of the wispy menace in Clairton and be treated to a bonus story by a different creative team. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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