The other day I was thinking about subject matter for another illustration.
Like a lot of kids my age, I got my start scratching the art itch by trying to emulate the drawings I saw in Comic books. (I sometimes call them graphic novels today, because it maybe maintains just a little bit of the illusion that I'm a well adjusted middle aged guy, rather than a boy who has refused to grow up entirely!)
Enter ROM. Back in the summer of 1980, I could be found at 'Tosa Pharmacy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, annoying the store clerk by rifling through all of the comics on the spinning wire rack. You had to do that, because unlike the comic stores I frequent today, there just wasn't the real estate on that rack at 25 cents per, to give each title it's own basket. So, sometimes the latest issue of John Byrnes' masterful Fantastic Four , might be hidden behind (egad!) some Archie comic or other. During one of these treasure hunts I came across a cover that immediately caught my interest. It was 'ROM the Space-knight' Issue #3. I had heard of ROM, but through a toy ad in another comic. At that time, there was some marketing experimentation with creating a toy, and then creating a comic to support the product, rather than the other way around ala 'Star Wars'.
ROM was one of two titles like this that Marvel was putting out. The other was “Micronauts”- based on a REALLY popular toy in the late 70's. The actual ROM toy was neat because it had flashing red LED eyes and made some cool electronic sounds. He had a few attachments that you plugged into him , and then those would light up and make their own cool sounds. The three attachments were the Neutralizer, the Energy Analyzer, and the Translator. Apart from the lights and the sounds, ROM was a really lousy action figure. His head was comically out of proportion with the rest of his body. He had maybe 4 points of articulation, he was one color. One. This ugly metallic gray. I don't believe ROM was a huge seller, but I get the sense that Parker Brothers had a significant initial investment in the toy and were pretty motivated to make it a success, thus the Marvel comic.
Marvel took Rom seriously. The cover of ROM issue #3 was drawn by Frank Miller. It portrayed a ROM that had a family resemblance to the toy, but was clearly re-imagined by somebody who understood what made a cool looking hero. In a dynamic pose, full of movement, ROM was using his ‘Neutralizer' on a DIre Wraith. The Neutralizer appeared to a bystander, to shred its target and turn the wraith to ash, but it was in fact opening up a portal to another dimension called Limbo. Limbo is a construct similar to the Phantom Zone in Superman comics. It's a prison that holds the wraiths forever without forcing the Space-knight to commit murder in order to rid the galaxy of these treacherous beings.
ROM had me from the first read. Apparently ROM is from a planet called Galador. Galador was home to a highly advanced culture that valued science, art and music and peace above all. However they were not to be F-d with. At some point they were infiltrated by a race of beings who could change their shape at will. They used this ability to infiltrate and enslave cultures throughout the galaxy, until the day they tried it on Galador. The Galadorians got wise almost immediately and -starting with ROM, the first to volunteer- began enlisting their young men and women to fight for their home. Galadorian science had discovered how to physically graft someone to indestructible cybernetic armor, making them into fighting machines that the Dire Wraiths were no match for. Each Spac-knight had his/her own individual customized armor and weapons. ROM’s armor has the appearance of polished chrome. He doesn’t have to carry anything because his armor can- in an instant- summon his equipment from hyperspace!
Amongst Rom’s tools are his Neutralizer which I’ve already described, His Energy Analyzer, that he summons when he has a hunch that some Wraiths are masquerading as people and needs to be sure, and finally his ‘Translator’. I think I saw him use the translator once or twice as he hunted Wraiths on different continents and worlds.
ROM could see things that others couldn’t see. Ahhh the paranoia. He could see these creatures for what they actually were ( evil deceitful creatures bent on domination and enslavement) beyond what they appeared to be (a watchful drugstore clerk or a teacher handing out detentions maybe). It explained so much! Ha!
Thinking back on it, part of the tragedy of becoming a space-knight is that you get this cool armor, but you also forfeit your humanity. Unfortunately, the Wraiths managed to kill all of Galador’s scientists at some point while the Space-knights were away and now those young men and women found themselves stuck inside of this armor. I thought this was a really poignant allegory, as America was beginning to grapple with the way veterans of America’s Vietnam war were left. After answering the call to fight for a world they were told was slipping away, they too were left scarred by a reality they couldn’t un-see. They too were misunderstood by American culture and found themselves mostly alone.
That’s a pretty astounding accomplishment for a comic that existed purely to promote a toy. Of all the comics I’ve ever collected I only have the entire series of one. ROM made a run of 75 issues. As a tribute to the creative spirit of creators Sal Buscema, and Bill Mantlo I offer today’s Illustration…