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Jan. 19th, 2007 11:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebitterguyOddly slow day here at work, so I will write about comic books. That's how I roll.
Okay, a while back, I realized there seemed to be a fundamental disagreement between myself and another LJer on an old comics character. I liked this character while the other person, well, didn't.
Okay, I know, least important anecdote ever. But the thing was, this was a guy whose opinion I trust. Seems to be a hoopy frood with his head on straight. Kinda guy who's got his towel, right? So, maybe he was right, right? Maybe the character was lame.
Nah. He was totally out to drunk on this one.
The character in question was Rom: Spaceknight.
Okay, sure, toy based character. This is a problem how? Hama's GI Joe comics, in spite of the speedy deterioration of their 21st century renewal, were a darn good series, which had better characterization than, say, the JLA at the time. Ohhh, Vibe. Why couldn't Superboy punch HIM out of continuity?
The thing with Rom is that he also served as my gateway into comics. No, really. My first two comics were an issue of JLA with a JSA crossover, and if you can survive that you can survive anything, and an issue of Marvel Fun n' Games, a comic Marvel produced full of crosswords and brain teasers. I challenge anyone to find a copy of a single issue of that book graded over Good.
Anyway, that was it. In I went, and I started flipping through the comics racks at Pinto, IDA, and every corner store in Napanee. I slowly got deeper and deeper into the superhero genre, and stand before you a muck encrusted mockery of a human being.
But back in the day, a certain spaceknight had my heart. That Spaceknight's name was Rom. Rom acted as a sort of gateway drug into the Marvel Universe. He started out by introducing me to the X-Men. Which I'm sure is strange, since I'm probably the only human being who started reading X-Men after reading the crossover issue of the two books, instead of the other way around. Then, I got to meet Power Man & Iron Fist and the Fantastic Four, which is why Luke Cage’s FF membership is something sacred to me.
Hell, it was Rom that introduced me to Galactus! Yes, Rom Spacenight was my introduction to the Eater of Worlds, which is probably the most back asswards way to do it, but hey. It was a cool story.
So, yeah. Mantlo's no Moore or Busiek, but sometimes you don't need that. When you're an 8 year old ripping through the 50 cent masterpieces every week, is there anything better than a story about a knight, from outerspace (hence "Spaceknight") who fights evil aliens who are a McCarthyite/Roveian wet dream? Especially if he gets you into the MU feet first?
I think not.
Okay, I haven’t read it recently. And the Ditko issues near the end were, admittedly, not my style; his soft, psychedelic styled art doesn’t work for Rom, who required harsher, less organic lines.
But I’m gonna assume that Hybrid is still the creepiest mutant in marvel history, that the various Dire Wraith monsters are still creepy and terrifying, and that Brandy is still the epitome of pluck, and the good folk of Clariton WV were the most loyal friends a spaceknight could ask for, until they got eaten.
Okay, a while back, I realized there seemed to be a fundamental disagreement between myself and another LJer on an old comics character. I liked this character while the other person, well, didn't.
Okay, I know, least important anecdote ever. But the thing was, this was a guy whose opinion I trust. Seems to be a hoopy frood with his head on straight. Kinda guy who's got his towel, right? So, maybe he was right, right? Maybe the character was lame.
Nah. He was totally out to drunk on this one.
The character in question was Rom: Spaceknight.
Okay, sure, toy based character. This is a problem how? Hama's GI Joe comics, in spite of the speedy deterioration of their 21st century renewal, were a darn good series, which had better characterization than, say, the JLA at the time. Ohhh, Vibe. Why couldn't Superboy punch HIM out of continuity?
The thing with Rom is that he also served as my gateway into comics. No, really. My first two comics were an issue of JLA with a JSA crossover, and if you can survive that you can survive anything, and an issue of Marvel Fun n' Games, a comic Marvel produced full of crosswords and brain teasers. I challenge anyone to find a copy of a single issue of that book graded over Good.
Anyway, that was it. In I went, and I started flipping through the comics racks at Pinto, IDA, and every corner store in Napanee. I slowly got deeper and deeper into the superhero genre, and stand before you a muck encrusted mockery of a human being.
But back in the day, a certain spaceknight had my heart. That Spaceknight's name was Rom. Rom acted as a sort of gateway drug into the Marvel Universe. He started out by introducing me to the X-Men. Which I'm sure is strange, since I'm probably the only human being who started reading X-Men after reading the crossover issue of the two books, instead of the other way around. Then, I got to meet Power Man & Iron Fist and the Fantastic Four, which is why Luke Cage’s FF membership is something sacred to me.
Hell, it was Rom that introduced me to Galactus! Yes, Rom Spacenight was my introduction to the Eater of Worlds, which is probably the most back asswards way to do it, but hey. It was a cool story.
So, yeah. Mantlo's no Moore or Busiek, but sometimes you don't need that. When you're an 8 year old ripping through the 50 cent masterpieces every week, is there anything better than a story about a knight, from outerspace (hence "Spaceknight") who fights evil aliens who are a McCarthyite/Roveian wet dream? Especially if he gets you into the MU feet first?
I think not.
Okay, I haven’t read it recently. And the Ditko issues near the end were, admittedly, not my style; his soft, psychedelic styled art doesn’t work for Rom, who required harsher, less organic lines.
But I’m gonna assume that Hybrid is still the creepiest mutant in marvel history, that the various Dire Wraith monsters are still creepy and terrifying, and that Brandy is still the epitome of pluck, and the good folk of Clariton WV were the most loyal friends a spaceknight could ask for, until they got eaten.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 04:54 pm (UTC)Man, those Wraiths were EVIL.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 08:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 05:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 05:28 pm (UTC)Maybe it was an age thing, your eight years of age versus my "incredibly mature*" thirteen years of age.
Doug.
*I'm not incredibly mature now at forty, there's no reason to believe I was in any way mature at thirteen.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:33 am (UTC)Micronauts so ruled ROM's ass. Quite possibly my fave comic from the 80s was Micronauts, and I had all the original toys, too.
But ROM was still cool.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 08:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 03:36 pm (UTC)Those were some cool toys man... *sighs in fond remembrance*
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Date: 2007-01-19 11:36 pm (UTC)The Dire Wraiths were damn scary. Dudes that suck out people's brains through their drill-tipped tongues? Yeah.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 01:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 11:38 pm (UTC)I personally was mixed on the character. His background was interesting enough but I found the Dire Wraiths thing a little tired after so long. I mean, he essentially had 1 enemy, ever, from what I can remember.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 03:26 am (UTC)