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ROM (the original series)---explain the love, please
ChrisBeckett
Posts: 535
With all the adoration ROM gets--not only here in CGSland but on other sites and from other comic fans/pundits whom I respect--I decided to cobble together a collection of the original Marvel series and read it. Seemed a no-brainer that I would love it, or at least enjoy it (I started collecting in 1984, but read sporadically before then, and this is my "golden age"). But, I have to say, 15 issues into the series, I am just not feeling it at all. The writing by Mantlo is killing me, which I find ironic as I'm also doing a re-read of my Incredible Hulk run beginning at #300, with Mantlo writing, and though the prose is a bit purple, it is completely working, for me, with the Hulk.
So, I'm curious--have any fans of the series read it recently, and would they say it holds up? Or is the adulation for the series a combination of nostalgia and the relative scarcity of the book, since there are no collections? Or, am I wrong and it's not just for me?
Weigh in. Let me know what it is that makes you hold this series in such high regard. I am seriously interested in your opinions and would like to know why you love it so much.
-chris
So, I'm curious--have any fans of the series read it recently, and would they say it holds up? Or is the adulation for the series a combination of nostalgia and the relative scarcity of the book, since there are no collections? Or, am I wrong and it's not just for me?
Weigh in. Let me know what it is that makes you hold this series in such high regard. I am seriously interested in your opinions and would like to know why you love it so much.
-chris
Comments
Also, the variety of Space Knight design and weaponry was awesome.
But to answer the question, the only thing I ever loved about Rom were the Michael Golden covers. The stories were typical late ’70s/early ’80s Marvel comics—decent, but nothing really special. Which explains why the only two or three issues I bought all had Michael Golden covers.
Looked up Torpedo and ROM and found this: My bad.
I certainly enjoyed Rom tremendously during it's original run. I vividly remember the house ads leading up to Rom #1. You cannot discount that effect as IIRC it was a bit of a build up and I remember seeking it out. I know I did not get #1 but I certainly picked many issues off the spinner rack at 7-11 and stationary stores every time I saw it, up until the later run when I discovered Comic shops and Westfield Comics and was able to buy it consistently.
I also enjoyed the consistency of the book. Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema must have been the major creators and stayed on through most of it, I really cant picture any other artist's version other than Ditko's ( which i hated) The over arching story of the Dire Wraiths was intriguing but for me the sell was the interaction with the Marvel Universe. I first met the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Soviet Super Soldiers and other characters like that. Namor, Alpha Flight, Power Man and Iron Fist, everybody starred in this book. Also the covers were great. Some great guest artists did covers and the design of some of them were so much better than the standard fare of the time.
In reference to why it is so beloved; that is a slippery slope. Reading it now, yes it's a tough sell but is not much of what we liked 35 years ago aging poorly? Maybe some "classics" age well, in my opinion The New Teen Titans holds up pretty well through the Judas Contractand some of the Claremont/Byrne Uncanny run but on a whole something like Rom never had aspirations beyond a sci-fi/superhero hybrid that fit in, if not seamlessly, certainly sucsessfully with the Marvel Universe at the time.
On a different note, this is why I had zero interest in a new Marvel-less Rom. Not my Rom if I cant expect some B list hero pop in.
I have a complete run which I complied through E-Bay, including the Annuals and Marvel Two in One appearance and some Marvel Premieres with The Torpedo. My original issues I bound up in the relevant collections, Rom versus Terrax in my Galactus bind, Rome and Alpha Flght in my Alpha Flight bind, so and so on. The inter-connectedness of the Marvel Universe being my first love as I said before. I do not re-read the run, just the hits which I guess most of us do.
I would never recommend Rom to any one unfamiliar with Bronze Age. It is an example of the best and worst of the era. I chose to fondly remember the broad strokes.
Not too enthusiastic about the IDW revival.
YOU HEARD ME!
but those Ditko/Russell pages are lovely.
I've actually been thinking about Tom Palmer recently, since I've been reading the final Dark Horse omnibus collection of the Marvel Star Wars run (issue 86-ish to 107), and I just read a story with pencils by Tony Salmons and Inks by Palmer, and the result was the same as I saw in the link above. Which certainly had all the character likenesses on point, but which had no Salmons that I could see.
When he finally ended his Conan run in the mid-80's (after 14 years) he returned to superhero comics as a penciller on the Avengers in 1985 with #255, with Palmer on inks for 45 issues, and the Fantastic Four for several issues, and on many one-shots and adaptations. It's no wonder with so much volume and variety of work Buscema produced and the unfinished nature of doing mainly layouts, that much of his 80's work has been considered by some to be less inspired than his previous work, which was top notch and highly regarded.
I understand that there was a lot streamlining and simplicity with a shift of focus to storytelling, moving mostly to layouts in the mid to late 80's. Thankfully, he finally returned to form with the Silver Surfer graphic novel, 'Judgment Day', inked by himself and done entirely with full-page panels and when he launched the ongoing Wolverine - which finally marked a return for Buscema to doing finished pencils regularly .
For me, it started on Christmas day of 1978... when I found a ROM figure under the tree. It was the coolest toy (I still have it), and could do neat electronic stuff, with lights and sound. Not all that common up to that point in the 70's.
When I found the comic, it made the toy even cooler... providing a pretty complex and consistent story over several years. ROM was the ultimate stranger in a strange land, protecting the earth from humans that fear and hunt him. A lot of the themes in the run reminded me of the early Silver Surfer issues, with the Surfer's loneliness and homesickness always eating away at him.
I think, also, that there's something psychological at play. ROM had not face. It was easier to transpose your emotions into his character, since he could look like anyone under that helmet. A lot of people have speculated that as part of the appeal of Ditko's Spider-Man design... he is somewhat anonymous and easier to empathize with. Think Scott McCloud's triangle matrix of cartoon/realistic/abstract. ROM's design falls on the abstract end of the scale.
The art was really great, although I was less excited about the Ditko issues, and preferred the Sal Buscema stuff.