Wednesday, March 30, 2011

ROM, the original & the re-envisioned by Joe Singleton. Plus there's even more!

Here's another good find I made on the internet. This is pretty sweet for a few reasons. First, this is some damn fine drawing. The figure composition and shading are especially good it has an almost streamline quality to it. In all my years of ROM fandom I've never seen and illustration of him brandishing both his analyzer and neutralizer at the same time so that right their makes these illustrations unique.
The revamped version of ROM is more a look for the character that Singleton apparently would have like to have seen. You'll notice features like a more organic design for his armor, less bulky accessories and new "boots". I think for me it deviates a bit too much from the classic ROM look but it's still a cool illustration on it's own merit. Lately I've been noticing how artists sign their work for some reason and this guy has a really cool way of doing his signature.

Obscure ROM related reference found. Something got me thinking of a bit of clip art I remember seeing many years ago. So I did a Google image search and found it pretty fast to my surprise considering it's obscure nature. What you see here is from an X-Men issue (#236) in which the Carol Danvers persona of Rogue's psyche takes Rogue on a "fantastic voyage" through her subconscious. There, Rogue encounters pretty much every person or thing that she has ever used her power/psyche absorbing mutant abilities on. Do you notice a certain brain sucking alien in that first panel? That's because during the Wraith War on Earth the Dire Wraiths at one point attempted to assassinate Forge because he was developing a "neo-neutralizer" for Earth's use. He was saved by the timely intervention of the X-Men. During the battle Rogue had to get a little too close for comfort with the Wraiths. See the recap of the X-Men Dire Wraiths show down here: http://siskoid.blogspot.com/2009/07/so-whats-this-about-forges-dire-wraith.html

13 comments:

  1. Gosh I loved that X-Men story arc. So much drama...so much angst. So many punk hairdos. So many soul/brain sucking aliens. It always felt a little like Chthulu meets Blade Runner to me for some reason. Don't ask for an explanation, it was just the feel of the books. That's some pretty sweet artwork up there at the top Dave. Everyone always seems to have their own ideas about what the armor "should" look like. This one isn't as bad as some of the stuff, and it helps that the dude can obviously kick the crap out of a piece of paper.

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  2. "kick the crap out of a piece of paper" i like that one. i was just looking at the latest news about those reactors in Japan. i know Firestorm would be able to handle that problem with out breaking a sweat. but i wonder if ROM's neutralizer would be able to negate the radiation from those spent fuel rods? sometimes i can't help but wonder what fictional characters could do in dealing with current real world problems and calamities like in Japan right now.

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  3. If I ever knew about this Wraith cameo, I'd forgotten. Good find! Now, what issue is it in???

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  4. the blog spot i found those panels at doesn't mention the X-Men issue it came from. i did some digging but i couldn't find out for absolute certain. however, i have good reason to believe it's from X-Men 236. that's because while looking around i realized i did have this issue at one time cause i used to collect the X-Men which is maybe why i remember that Wraith cameo. here's the url to the synopsis of the issue in which the Carol Danvers persona takes over Rogue's body to help her get out of Genoshian jail and help the other captured X-Men: http://marvel.wikia.com/Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_236

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  5. Thanks Dave, and nice new splash page. I really missed Beta Ray. Didn't realize how much until I watched "Planet Hulk" with the boy.

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  6. And I'm pretty sure you're right about the X-men issue it's in. Here's another blog about that issue that I found. I vaguely remember reading it. http://geoffklock.blogspot.com/2009/09/uncanny-x-men-236.html

    I always did like Carol Danvers. I like the Miss Marvel outfit, but Binary was pretty sweet too.

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  7. i agree. Ms. Marvel indeed has one nice outfit! i always thought that red sash was an especially nice touch: http://item.slide.com/r/1/0/i/RnHvbGQ7kQIoRECXXsF5YveigDkM0OPJ/

    and as to the splash page it is pretty sweet. my two favorite aspects of it is how Gladiator's punch completely breaks and dislocates the jaw of one of the deathwings. and then you see IKON using her Galadorian poleaxe to decapitate another. which is ironic given my most recent drawing of her doing the same to dire wraith i posted about two weeks ago.
    that whole splash page sequence is reminiscent of something out of Lord of the Rings movies in which you have knights and their allies fighting off attacking dragons or some manner of winged monsters attacking a fortress or city.

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  8. I really like that "reimagined" Rom on the right. Nice find. And Ms. Marvel will always be a favorite of mine.

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  9. The Official Index of the Marvel Universe confirms it is indeed Uncanny X-Men #236. I've added it to the Checklist and acknowledged your contribution at the end. Thanks!

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  10. Thats an awesome post - Rouge vs the Dire Wraiths now theres a fight I wanna see. I agree with Random - always did like Ms Marvel!

    Love the splashie too. Go the Silver Surfer in 2011!

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  11. well you can see some of that fight in the provided link for that part of the posting. plus, also way cool you can see how Colossus reacts to a Wraith trying to suck his brains out.

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  12. Very cool re-imaging of Rom, though I must admit I like the funky Cyborg feet he has instead of Armored boots. Too Iron Man Extremis for my taste in Rom. As for Rogue, I loved her reaction when she tried to absorb Rom into her power set. That was awesome (Rom 17-18, I think.)

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