Hi everyone,
Today I'm writing about the thirty-third issue of Marvel's monthly ROM: Spaceknight title. The cover has some impressive imagery. We see a young blonde female being chased by a blue and black hound in the foreground, with a black, alien shadow and the translucent image of ROM's head in the background. The story was titled "Mine eyes have seen the glory..." The issue had a cover date of August 1982.
The story starts with a young girl standing by herself. An older lady holding the leash for a dog comes down a winding staircase, calling out for Sybil. The woman asks Sybil what she is doing by herself. The girl explains that she was down at the shore looking for her parents, who sailed away years ago and have yet to return. The wizened woman tells Sybil to waste her time. We learn that the young girl is blind, and the dog named Conquistador leads her back to the house on the hill.
Aunt Mara has been Sybil's guardian since her parents' disappearance. Although she kept her safe all those years, Sybil still hoped that her knight in shining armor would come and save her. We then get a glimpse of a familiar character who could grant that wish.
As ROM soars in the air above his adopted hometown of Clairton, West Virginia, several residents notice his appearance in the skies. Some sing his praises, while others have other concerns. Steve Jackson and Brandy Clark stand together. Jackson notes that other towns may be menaced by Dire Wraiths. Clark laments the Spaceknight's solitude and states that she has loved him since first setting eyes on him (in issue #1). Jackson comments that the two of them were supposed to be engaged. Clark walks off, not wanting to talk about that, and expressing her desire to be reunited with the Galadorian she loves. Steve notes that ROM isn't a man, to which Brandy replies that she'll have to find some way not to be a woman.
Inside the local newspaper office, Mack Killburn stops typing for a moment to wish the Spaceknight well before resuming his new job. Brock Jones and his family wish ROM well as he soars by. Brock wishes he could join them as the Torpedo, but his wife reminds him that he's still healing (from injuries inflicted during his recent battle with Hybrid) and that he has four other priorities, namely his wife and children, right beside him.
Outside the city limits, the silver Spaceknight stops to ponder his purpose. He thinks about the wraith threat that has moved from his home galaxy to this one. He stands resolute, firing his neutralizer's ray into the air above him while reaffirming his commitment to purge Earth of the wraith menace, or die in the process. He takes some time to think about the why. He wonders if he has stayed on Earth. After all, there's nothing left for him to return to on Galador, because the remaining half of his humanity perished there (which had been stolen by the fallen Spaceknight Terminator who perished during their battle with Galactus). He reminisces about his humanity before the wraith war began, and longs to hold Clark in his arms and declare his love for her before pressing onward.
Meanwhile, at the residence known as Cliff House, young Sybil hugs a beloved large teddy bear, thinking about happier days with her mother and father as a child, before they and her sight were taken from her, and Aunt Mara entered her life. She said that doctors postulated that the shock of losing her parents caused her blindness, and wondered if her parents still loved her, and asked once more why they hadn't returned.
Unbeknownst to the child, an otherworldly gathering was about to take place. Mara opened the door to a half dozen members of her wraith brethren. After they entered, Sybil heard the commotion and ventured down the stairs to learn more, noting that her aunt never had guests. She crept up to the closed doors, and the wraiths talked about their use of the island as a base after killing its former owners years ago. One wraith asked Mara why she kept the girl alive. She explained that Sybil would eventually serve a larger purpose, much like the dog before, who had been transformed into a telepathic hellhound. Until then, they had never converted humans, but Mara suggested that the girl would be their first experiment.
Shocked by what she had overheard, Sybil rushed from her hiding place. As she attempted to flee, she inadvertently knocked over a vase. The crash alerted the wraiths in the other room, and the hellhound leapt after her. The dog, whom Sybil knew as her faithful companion Conquistador, phased through the set of doors in hot pursuit. Sybil was unable to open the door by herself.
Just then, the door suddenly opened from the outside. ROM stood in front of young Sybil and quickly fended off the hellhound's attack. He smashed the dog to the ground and advised the girl to run for safety. Sybil and her companions noticed the silver Spaceknight and went after him, just after the hellhound phased through the ground where he had just rested.
Several wraiths transformed into other creatures and attacked the Galadorian from behind, along with the hellhound. The hellhound was on ROM's back and was about to bite when he turned a dial on his armor and emitted a solar charge, which knocked his assailant backward. The hound charged once more, but this time, ROM summoned his neutralizer from subspace and eliminated the wraith sorcery. The dog was still in mid-flight and soared over the Spaceknight into the deep waters below, apparently to its demise.
ROM lamented the animal's unnecessary loss, but soon found him self up against a wraith High Witch. The being formerly known as Sybil's Aunt Mara tried to enthrall the Galadorian, but ROM's neutralizer swiftly sent her to limbo. Afterward, the silver Spaceknight raced off to the moors to aid the young girl. By the time he arrived, he found Sybil hunched up against a tree. She was frightened but unharmed. ROM then learned that the wraiths who had pursued her had met their own grisly fate in the moors, which knew how to protect their own kind.
This was another one of the first ROM issues that I ever read, and I was impressed by the art and storytelling. My one regret was that Sybil didn't become a more prominent supporting character after the multi-part story ended. It also set up Brandy Clark's future for the rest of the series' run.
Well, that's all for now. Next time, I'll write about the thirty-fourth issue of Marvel's ROM: Spaceknight. In that issue, ROM will meet a very well-known Marvel hero that's been around for decades. It also features the appearance of someone who hasn't been around since the old Tales to Astonish title was being published. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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