Hi everyone,
Today, I'll be writing about the first ROM: Spaceknight annual, published by Marvel Comics in 1982. The cover shows our hero stunned as part of his armor (and apparently part of his skin) is being removed from his body by an unknown opponent. The lead story was titled "It Came From Beyond the Stars."
The story, written as always by Bill Mantlo and penciled this time by Pat Broderick, begins with the silver Spaceknight surrounded by images of human faces behind him. The splash page teases the introduction of a new character named Stardust. Several light years away in another galaxy, a celestial body sentences Turin G'ar, who had been found guilty of committing unnatural acts. The convict was summarily bound in bands of alien star stuff and sent into the cold beyond.
Eventually, the prisoner floated through outer space until he entered Earth's orbit, where he was spotted by a young boy who was in the middle of an innocent baseball game. As the mass of star stuff drew nearer, the humans on the ballfield became enamored by it, until the entity was almost on top of them. By the time many of them could even react, it was too late. The children's bodies were dispatched elsewhere, as Turin G'ar began to construct a new body for himself.
That evening, ROM happened to see a search party looking for the boys who had not returned home after their alien encounter. The Galadorian was curious, thinking that his dreaded enemies, the Dire Wraiths, might be involved in the humans' disappearance. He summoned his energy analyzer from subspace and followed its pings to locate the source of the alien energy it detected.
That source was Turin G'ar, still wrapped in his otherworldly space stuff bonds. The bodies of the children he had enraptured hovered in the air around him. He quickly analyzed the human body composition before taking the children's life essences. Not long after that, ROM entered the cave and used his cyborg vision to find the bodies. He soon learned that something had affected the molecular structures of the children who lay at his feet. The silver Spaceknight's energy analyzer was able to pick up the culprit's energy trail. ROM knew that he had to follow that trail, but not before he used a small part of his own life force to try and restore each child.
Even though the process weakened him, ROM was able to press on and carried one of the children in his arms as he made his way out of the cave. He then came across the search party and identified himself. The Galadorian then returned the child to his mother. While his parents were relieved, most of the search party was unaware that Dire Wraiths were included in the assemblage. Two of them whispered to each other, thinking that their jamming devices might have malfunctioned. They then decided to shift the blame for the children's conditions on the Spaceknight.
ROM explained that he found the children in that state and that they needed immediate medical attention. The wraiths in the crowd (still disguised as citizens) accused the Spaceknight of harming the children. ROM continued to state his case and added that he was searching for Dire Wraiths in the area. One of the wraiths threw a rock at the cyborg, which led to other people in the search party attacking the armored alien.
The silver Spaceknight had no desire to harm innocents and brought out his energy analyzer to learn if wraiths were in the crowd. Of course, humans who had never met ROM before assumed that the analyzer was a weapon that he planned to use against them. In the confusion, a wraith transformed into a bat and flew away, before encountering the being that was Turin G'ar. Now calling himself Stardust, the convict stole the wraith's life essence. He then decided that he needed another way to grow his new body, and soon came across the Carson's Glen power plant.
Wraiths had taken over the power plant, but they were no match for Stardust. He easily defeated them, no matter what appearance the wraiths took on. As he went to destroy a Dire Wraith who had taken the shape of a rat, one of Stardust's energy blasts took out the jammer that the aliens were using to keep themselves undetectable by the silver Spaceknight.
Speaking of ROM, he was still trying to convince the townspeople to stand down. One of the wraiths in the audience used his gun and fired a sonic disruptor ray at the Galadorian. ROM called for the wraiths to be revealed, and they soon were, as the jammer's destruction affected them. The silver Spaceknight swiftly summoned his neutralizer and sent the wraiths to limbo.
Not understanding what had just happened, the sheriff accused ROM of murder. He intended to bring the Spaceknight in, but ROM wasn't having any of it. He dismissed the officer and flew off to find the children. ROM soon landed in front of the power plant, where a wraith ran up to him. The wraith admitted his alien nature and asked to be banished to limbo, thinking that it would be more pleasant than the being that had just ravaged the power plant. The Galadorian granted his wish, and sent the wraith to the limbo dimension before entering the plant and finding Stardust consuming even more life essences.
ROM was impressed by the stranger's ability to remove the life essence from his mortal enemies. However, he was concerned that the alien had also removed the life essences of the children he had seen earlier. He asked the being to return those life essences. Stardust scoffed at the request and considered the one who made it to be his opponent.
The entity once known as Turin G'ar directed a bolt of star stuff at the unsuspecting Spaceknight, who was knocked out of a window by the assault, but was undaunted. ROM made his request once more and was attacked once more. Stardust resumed his quest to consume the Galadorian's life energies, while the remaining wraiths in human disguises watched. Two of them decided to leave in a nearby van, leaving their fellow Dire Wraiths behind.
Meanwhile, ROM fought on. His neutralizer ray was actually able to break Stardust's bonds, but the stardust belt soon found a new target: the silver Spaceknight. The Galadorian's cybernetic armor swiftly analyzed the belt and was able to eradicate it, and Stardust soon imploded. Afterward, ROM found himself under attack once more by the search party. He dismissed their bullets and strode confidently toward the children. He used the stardust belt around his waist to heal them. The silver Spaceknight declared the danger to be over and flew off in search of G'ar. He found his mass gathered together in the atmosphere and sent it back into space, minutes before sending the two wraiths who had escaped the power plant to limbo.
The second tale was a shorter yarn named "Traitor!" It was an untold story from ROM's past. On his homeworld of Galador, the titular character rushed to free Glorian, a Spaceknight whose intellect was only second to that of the Prime Director. ROM quickly identified his attackers as Dire Wraiths and sent the aliens to limbo with his neutralizer.
Glorian had no sooner been freed when he attacked his defender. ROM was stunned by the betrayal. He explained that he'd made a deal with their mortal enemies. While the silver Spaceknight was imprisoned, Gloriole claimed that what he did was for the good of their race. He was trying to learn more about the wraiths' mysterious sorcery.
The traitor soon came to his senses and turned against his wraith conspirators. One of their weapons wounded the Spaceknight. Gloriole would have perished right then and there if ROM had not freed himself in time to send the wraiths to limbo. Gloriole's dying words lamented his betrayal and thanked his friend for telling him the truth. ROM buried the fallen Spaceknight on a nameless asteroid, claiming that Gloriole had lost the knowledge of wraith sorcery, but in doing so, had gained so much more.
I felt that Stardust could have been a more substantial character, but unfortunately, this has been his only appearance to date. I wasn't impressed with Mike Gustovich's inks in the main story, and Pat Broderick's usually brilliant artwork was a little flat in a few places. Overall, it was a solid story with a satisfying conclusion. The second story, written by Steven Grant and penciled by Bob McLeod, was okay. It would have been nice to see more of Gloriole in this series, but this was also his first and only appearance.
Well, that's all for now. Time for me to enjoy the rest of my birthday today. Next time, I'll write about the thirty-first issue of ROM: Spaceknight. We'll see ROM's first encounter with more Marvel mutants, but probably not the ones that you'd expect. There will also be a return of another prominent character. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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