In a shocking announcement, Marvel has revealed that they’ve entered right into a partnership with Hasbro to reprint the unique ’80s adventures of Rom, Spaceknight, an alien sworn to defend his homeworld of Galador.
First revealed by way of Omar of Near Mint Condition, the reprints will start in January 2024 with Rom: The Original Years Omnibus – Volume 1, accumulating the first 29 problems with the collection, together with Power Man and Iron Fist #73, which had beforehand been unavailable in collections and Marvel Unlimited.
Here’s Marvel’s official description of the first of those ‘Rom’-nibuses*:
ROM: THE ORIGINAL YEARS OMNIBUS VOLUME 1 will accumulate ROM (1979) #1-29 and POWER MAN AND IRON FIST (1978) #73. He strikes from outer area…and nothing can cease him! Marvel Comics is proud to current the enduring early adventures of the best of Spaceknights — Rom! Centuries in the past, Rom pledged his life to defend his planet, Galador, from the evil Dire Wraiths. Now, Rom has tracked these vile creatures throughout the cosmos to Earth, the place they’ve infiltrated the best ranges of energy — together with S.H.I.E.L.D. itself! Armed with his power analyzer, solely Rom can see the Wraiths’ true kind — and with his neutralizer, he can blast them into Limbo! But what’s going to Earth make of this armored invader? Will Rom’s quest be aided or hindered by encounters with the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Jack of Hearts, Nova, and Power Man and Iron Fist? And when Galactus targets Galador, can Rom and his fellow Spaceknights save their homeworld from destruction?
The omnibus will even function 4 covers by the likes of Frank Miller, Sal Buscema, and the late George Pérez.
However, prior to this preliminary quantity, September 2023 will see the discharge of a facsimile version of the first subject from 1979:
ROM #1 FACSIMILE EDITION boldly re-presents ROM (1979) #1, one of many all-time nice Marvel comedian books, in its authentic kind, adverts and all! Long in the past, Rom supplied his life to serve his planet of Galador as a Spaceknight — an armored warrior, sworn to defend his individuals from the vile alien invaders often called the Dire Wraiths. Now, his solemn vow brings him to Earth — the most recent entrance in an historical cosmic battle! The Wraiths can assume human kind, they usually’ve been worming their manner into our society. Only Rom’s trusty power analyzer can detect them — and with his highly effective neutralizer, he can banish them to Limbo! In this landmark first subject, Rom blasts his manner into the Marvel Universe, meets his future ally Brandy Clark and begins his quest to free Earth from the Dire Wraiths’ invisible infiltration!
Based on a Parker Brothers motion determine, the collection was initially revealed from 1979 to 1986, and featured Rom and his fellow Spaceknights battling the Dire Wraiths, an evil alien race spun out of the Skrulls. Bill Mantlo helmed the collection for many of its run, together with Steven Grant, Jo Duffy, Sal Buscema, Greg Larocque, and Steve Ditko.
After the collection concluded, the rights to Rom himself went again to Parker Brothers (later purchased by Hasbro), although the Spaceknights and Galador remained inside Marvel continuity. The authentic Spaceknight was surprisingly very important to a lot of in-continuity tales, together with lots of the earliest appearances of Forge of the X-Men, who used Spaceknight tech to construct the notorious energy neutralizer that sapped Storm’s powers for nearly 4 years. These tales have been lacking gaps for many years, as Marvel has been unable to reprint these points till now.
Since Marvel misplaced the rights to use Rom, the Spaceknights have made sporadic appearances in varied titles, with a sneaky Rom cameo at Rick Jones and Marlo Chandler’s marriage ceremony in Incredible Hulk #418, a Jim Starlin helmed 2000s mini collection, their use in Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning‘s Annihilators, and the destruction of Galador in 2013’s Infinity occasion. The Spaceknights even discovered an vital function in Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto‘s current Cable collection, the place a younger Cable utilized a sword often called the Light of Galador, which put him into battle with just a few knights.
Rom was briefly seen at IDW from 2016-2020, showing in his personal ongoing collection and a lot of Transformers comics. It stays to be seen what the standing of the Rom license is outdoors of those reprints. Who’s to say whether or not Marvel will function Rom and the Spaceknights in a brand new ongoing, but it surely’ll be good to find a way to lastly compensate for the newly reprinted adventures of the surprisingly impactful Spaceknight.
*I don’t take credit score for the great portmanteau that’s the ‘Rom’-nibus
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