#rom: spaceknight

[therobotmonster]

Most of us don't like to look down.

It's how we're kept under control. Most can't stand seeing chrome where there should be skin. The eternal near-hunger is worse in the first few weeks after the augmentation but one adapts to it quickly. There's a dozen little nudges like that that all work to push your desire toward a single overriding goal.

Reclaiming our humanity.

I want mine back, too, but my desires are still my own. In my mind I never had a body. I was a perspective with hands. My reflection never interested me. When I saw myself in my mind, I was just a abstract person-like shape, only as detailed as child's self-portrait.

Chrome, seen or unseen, doesn't bother me. Nor does my mission.

The choices in my design, however, those I resent.

The living armor would have bound to us whole. It would have functioned without making us a part of itself. The hunger and feelings of confinement could have been simply turned off with a flip of a switch.

They could have given us fingers.

The impulses that would have driven us mad in our palandanium prisons were shut off easily. I cannot feel boredom. The constant hissing of my respirator systems feels like breathing with my old lungs. My more primal passions were subdued. Why then did I still feel the need to pop joints I don't have? Why was my absent mouth always slightly dry?

The answer is obvious. They didn't want their knights to become lords. They made us to frighten demons and were shocked to find us frightening to themselves. So they made us addicted to our humanity and hold it hostage. To keep us from becoming kings they tried to make us into dogs starved for the hunt.

But in the un-boredom of deep space, I did not dream of the warm embrace of living flesh or the taste of wine in the summer as did so many of my comrades. I turned my mind inward to quiet, unseen ends.

I found my switches.

The elders engineered magnificently. Without their shackles I am the perfect machine or retribution they envisioned. The demons I once feared, on this world, now fear me.

Those cackling bloated abominations that gleefully call themselves Dire Wraiths pretended to be devils, but when unseen hands tear their witch-mother's acid barbed tongue from her mouth in front of their eyes, their truth was revealed. I saw sniveling, pathetic, fragile creatures who die in fear and confusion, no different than any other strain of talking meat.

They were not the demons I had been sent to banish. They were parasites supping at the power of greater beings, servile insects who mewled and worshiped greater evils like the vile, black star at the heart of their dark nebula. When they see power and cruelty, they worship.

I have both in excess. They see nothing else.

Yet unseen, I see their true nature and my own. I am not the king the elders feared they would create.

I am Unam.

I am the Unseen.

I was a Spaceknight of Galador.

To the Dire Wraiths on this world I am the God of Death.

What kind of god will I be when I return home?

That remains Unseen.

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Rom the Spaceknight - art by Jean Frisano (1981)

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Hark! Both Rom and the Micronauts are getting omnibus editions next year! (At least 2 have already been solicited for Rom, one for the Micronauts!) Rom's will not only include his own series, but his appearances in other titles.

She-Hulk & Pals #25 from 1970 includes this pin-up of Jen and ROM about to attend the annual Avengers Mansion Ball. Marvel put these out hoping to compete with the huge success of Archie Comics. She-Hulk & Pals #9 was the first appearance of ROM, who would go on to become Jen's boyfriend for 20 issues until she dumped him for being a bit too straightlaced. ROM appeared for a few more times when he caused drama by dating Jen's best friend Tigra. The series lasted 99 issues.

[themarvelproject]

Marvel house ad for ROM: Spaceknight #65 featuring the ultimate battle in the Wraith War (1984)

[thebestcomicbookpanels]

Same place, different comics....

X-Men #137 by Byrne and ROM Spaceknight Annual #4 by Ditko

(and the original art thrown in for kicks)

[heckcareoxytwit]

The wedding misadventures of Rick Jones and Marlo Chandler

As the wedding is about to begin, Hulk and Captain America are helping a very nervous Rick Jones into his tuxedo. While in another room, Marlo is being helped into her dress by Betty Ross and some other women. As she looks into the mirror, Marlo is frightened by the brief appearance of Mephisto reflected back at her. Before the ceremony, there were some surprising appearances such as Northstar who happens to be dating Hector (Hulk's friend from the Pantheon) as well as Rahne Sinclair, Guido Carosella and the unmasked version of ROM Space Knight.

As the wedding ceremony begins, the priest who looks like Peter David reads the book to the bride and groom when they are interrupted by the arrival of Drax the Destroyer. Everyone is surprised when Drax presents an invitation, even though he wasn't mailed one. Nonetheless, they have Drax sit next to Adam Warlock. Next, the wedding is interrupted by the supervillains - Wizard, Absorbing Man, Mister Hyde and the Living Laser. However, they have not come not as wedding crashers, but as attendees, as they too have invitations. In reality, the invitations got mixed up so they were given to the wrong people. The Hulk is about to start a fight with them anyway, however, Doc Samson convinces him to stand down. Rick Jones then agrees to allow the villains to stay for the ceremony. Things get even worse when Kree and Skrull ships arrive with more attendees. The special occasion does little to soften the relations between the two races. When one of the Kree tries to start a fight with Talos the Tamed, the Silver Surfer steps in to prevent the situation from escalating further.

Just before the ceremony is over, it is interrupted by a final surprise guest, Mephisto, who has come to claim Marlo's soul. However, he faces opposition from both the Silver Surfer and the Hulk. The Hulk resolves to handle the situation himself, and seeing a bright light in the sky, he admits his belief in the possibility of a higher power. This apparently gives the Hulk the strength to beat Mephisto back, forcing him into retreat. However, Mephisto gloats how this "defeat" is part of a much larger scheme to damn the Hulk. The wedding is quickly completed and Rick and Marlo are made man and wife. During the reception, Marlo is congratulated by the various guests including the surprising appearance of Death of the Endless, who has come to give Marlo a gift. Once Marlo accepts it, Death quickly leaves. Marlo isn't sure who the woman was, but she and Rick open the box and find a beautiful hairbrush inside.

Incredible Hulk #418, 1994

[sandmandaddy69]

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Rom Epic Collection Volume 1: ‘The Original Marvel Years’ by Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema and more. Cover by Frank Miller and Joe Rubinstein. Out in April 2025.

"At last, the classic adventures of Rom in the Marvel Universe are collected in paperback!

Learn how Rom gave his life in service to his home planet, Galador, becoming a Spaceknight sworn to protect it from the evil Dire Wraiths! Rom tracks these vile creatures across the cosmos to Earth, where they have infiltrated the highest levels – including S.H.I.E.L.D. itself! Armed with his energy analyzer, only Rom can see the true form of the Dire Wraiths – and with his neutralizer, he can blast them to Limbo! But what will Earth make of this armored invader? Will his quest be aided or hindered by encounters with the X-Men and Jack of Hearts? And can he survive deadly clashes with super villains like the Mad Thinker and the Space Phantom? Collecting ROM (1979) #1-20."

[hasbr0mniverse]

IDW Hasbroverse: Animated! Aw Yeah Revolution! Season 03 Episode 03 - Story & Art By Art Baltazar

[number-one-toku-robot-lover]

Tragic space husbands...

[browsethestacks]

Rom Spaceknight

Art by Bob Layton

[therobotmonster]

Rom: Spaceknight of Galidor, Member of the Solstar Order

Art reference for the one version of him no one can do anymore, the original Marvel Comics version that ran for 80 issues on the back of a toy that was on shelves for maybe a year.

A beautifully clumsy mix of retro-robot clunkiness and sleek superheroic design, Rom was the glue that held the Marvel Universe together for basically a decade, a the king of the crossover whose lore touched everything from Storm losing her powers to Rick Jones getting cured of cancer, and because Hasbro owns him, there's a toasterhead shaped hole in Marvel history that only a toy tie-in character can fill.

Wait till you see who he fought.

[crisisofinfinitemultiverses]

Thanos #2 (2024) variant by Taurin Clarke

[keaneoncomics]

Bronze Age Marvel fans, take note: Rom, Spaceknight and the Micronauts are getting Epic Collections in 2025!

[themarvelproject]

Marvel house ad for ROM featuring art by Sal Buscema (1979).  The House of Ideas just announced an exciting new collaboration with Hasbro that will result in brand-new collections and reprints of ROM’s original comic book adventures, including a ROM #1 Facsimile Edition and a ROM Omnibus.  

[thebestcomicbookpanels]

Ron Frenz Marvel Team-Up Spider-Man Retailer Support Poster Illustration Original Art (Marvel, 1983)