DAMOON IN DA MOON...

Le monde des comics est parfois une jungle bien cruelle. C’est marrant l’histoire des héros de comics oubliés qui se souvient de Docteur Druid ou de Longshot ? Un cas a part que celui de Rom. Spaceknight Rom était un jouet avant tout sous licence Parker brothers et comme Marvel n’as plus les droits, et bien ce pauvre chevalier de l’espace à purement été rayé de tout l’univers marvel... effacé... détruit…Dommage, les histoires tenaient la route et les dessins de Sal Buscema souvent encré par Akin&Garvey étaient très percutants…Quand j’étais gosse, je captais pas pourquoi il n'avait pas de doigts et un lasergun énormément ridicule, mais c’était pour coller au plus prés du jouet (gros playmobil) Aucun article n’étant dispo en français la flemme de faire une synthèse, comprendra qui pourra… "Rom the Spaceknight is a fictional character, a cyborg outer space hero. Originally, the character was produced as a toy with electronic light and sound effects, by the toy company Parker Brothers. The company arranged to have the Marvel Comics company put out a comic starring the character. This comic was published between 1979 and 1985 and actually outlasted the toy by several years. The comic book version was adapted by writer Bill Mantlo, illustrated by Sal Buscema and was made a part of the Marvel Universe. In the comics, it was explained that Rom was originally a young man from Galador, a paradisical planet from the so-called Golden Galaxy, whose inhabitants closely resembled humans. Rom led a happy life until Galador was threatened by the evil, shape-changing aliens known as the Dire Wraiths. The planet's ruler, the Prime Director, called for volunteers to be transformed into cyborg warriors called 'Spaceknights' so they could defend the planet from the invaders. It was promised that their humanity (that is, the body parts that would be removed to accommodate the bionic armor) would be preserved and restored to them after the danger was over. Rom was the first one to volunteer, and was transformed into a silvery, robot-like being. He was also given Galador's greatest weapon, the Neutralizer, which, among other powers, could banish the Wraiths into the dimension known as Limbo. Inspired by his example, a total of 1,000 Galadorians volunteered and were transformed into Spaceknights, each with his or her own unique armor, powers and code names. Rom fights the X-Men in Rom #17 (April, 1981). © Marvel Comics.The Spaceknights succeeded in stopping the wraith invasion. Rom, however, decided to follow the escaping fleet of starships back to its home planet, Wraithworld, and banish them all. The wraiths, panicking, abandoned the planet and scattered in all directions through space. Rom, feeling that he was now responsible for spreading the wraith's evil across the universe, swore he would not reclaim his humanity until all the wraiths in the universe had been defeated. Again, his fellow Spaceknights swore to do the same. They then left Galador. 200 years later, Rom arrived on planet Earth. It is at this point that the Rom comic begins. He landed near Clairton, a (fictional) town in West Virginia, USA, located near where many wraiths had landed years before. The first human that Rom encountered was a girl named Brandy Clark. Brandy befriended Rom, but was forced to help him hide from the public, since the use of the Neutralizer caused onlookers to believe that Rom (whom they thought a robot) was disintegrating people (actually wraiths in human form.) Brandy's boyfriend, Steve Jackson, also helped Rom to track down the wraiths hidden in Clairton. However, as time passed, Brandy began to fall in love with the noble Rom, straining his relationship with Steve. One of the menaces they fought in Clairton was the Hybrid, a monster created from the mating of a human and a Dire Wraith. Eventually, Starshine, a female Spaceknight who was secretly in love with Rom, followed him to Earth. She died in combat, but her armor was magically transplanted onto Brandy's body by a Wraith sorcerer called Doctor Dredd, as part of a plan to use her against Rom. Brandy secretly yearned for this, since she wanted to stay by Rom's side. At one point, Rom was briefly transported to his home world, where he found that the Prime Director was now an evil Spaceknight. He was killed, but not before Rom's human body was apparently destroyed by Galactus. Rom was then transported back to Earth. With Clairton now free from wraiths, Rom and Brandy, now Starshine, left to track down more wraiths elsewhere on Earth. In the process they met many of Marvel's superheroes. Unknown to them, however, the female Dire Wraiths rebelled against their mates, whom they saw as failures. They killed all the male wraiths on Earth and then began to attack human civilization openly. Their first target was Clairton; they killed all of its inhabitants while Rom and Starshine were away, using their horrible ability to eat a person's brain, reducing their victims to slime (and gaining their memories in the process). Steve was one of their victims. Brandy was very traumatized by this event. Eventually, Rom and Starshine were able to convince the Terran authorities of the threat of the Dire Wraiths, especially after the species make the strategic blunder by breaking their cover and opening attacking the intelligence agency, S.H.I.E.L.D., at their headquarters, the helicarrier and were barely beaten off. With definite proof of the enemy, the various Earth nations directed their forces to counter it. Shortly thereafter, the Hybrid returned, using Wraith magic to separate Brandy from her armor, making her human again. Rom defeated the monster again, but he chose to leave the now-human Brandy behind, for her own sake. Soon, the Wraiths launched their master plan: they cast a spell on Earth's Sun that used its energies to draw Wraithworld across space, close to Earth, since they gained their magical abilities from it. The wraiths then attacked New York city en masse, and were resisted by an alliance of most of the city's superheroes. Rom, with help from the mutant inventor Forge, created a satellite that could boost the power of the Neutralizer, enough to banish all wraiths on Earth. But there was a danger that it would also permanently cancel the powers of all superhumans on Earth. So, Rom instead directed its effects on Wraithworld itself, banishing it to Limbo. This caused the wraiths to lose all their powers. Rom then banished the remaining wraiths as well. Afterwards, Rom left Earth and returned to Galador. Before he reached it, however, Brandy, having accidentally met the cosmic entity called the Beyonder, asked him to send her to Galador, which he did. But to her dismay, she found out that, in the absence of the original Spaceknights, a new group was created to protect Galador. But these Spaceknights felt superior to humans, and killed all the Galadorians, and destroyed all the frozen bodies as well. Rom reached Galador in time to save Brandy but not in time to prevent the massacre. With the help of the original Spaceknights, the evil ones were destroyed. Rom then found that his original humanity had actually only been hidden by Galactus. Reclaiming it, Rom, now human again, finally admitted his love for Brandy, and stayed with her on Galador, hoping to repopulate the planet. The other Spaceknights, their humanities forever lost, set out to continue protecting the universe from evil, as well as safeguarding Galador for its new inhabitants. Note: Since Marvel no longer has the rights to the character of Rom, it is unlikely that they will ever use him again, at least not in the form it had as a toy. The human version of Rom, however, has been seen in other comics after this comic's cancellation, and so have other concepts from the series, such as the Dire Wraiths, which were invented by Marvel writers.Voila, enfin le spaceknight noir dénommé The Terminator avait un pur style…Dommage qu’il soit mort (tué par Rom en plus, quel con ce Rom)…