There’s exciting news for those who’ve been hungry to experience a lost piece of Marvel Comics history: the publisher and toy maker Hasbro are finally getting along enough that a legitimate reprint of the classic late 70s-early 80s comic ROM Spaceknight is actually happening.
There used to be a time when toy makers entered deals with comics companies to make series that were (not so) secretly meant to promote their toys. Most of them didn’t last past single digits, but one, promoting a robotic action figure called ROM, took off. Since the figure had no official story behind it, Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema were free to craft an epic storyline for the property that went on for 75 issues, several annuals and tie-ins with other Marvel books. ROM outlived the action figure it was meant to promote, and ROM himself was considered a canon part of the Marvel Universe — until he wasn’t.
When the deal with Hasbro wasn’t renewed, ROM was cancelled and his presence in the MU vanished. All future reprints of the tie-in books were scrubbed of ROM’s appearances. ROM’s enemies, the Dire Wraiths, remained property of Marvel since they were original creations. But until now, ROM was one of the only classic Marvel comics to not have a solid, official omnibus. That’s about to change!
ROM: THE ORIGINAL MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS VOLUME 1 has been announced for a January 2024 release. It will reprint ROM issues 1-29, plus for the first time since its 1978 debut, Power Man and Iron Fist #73 with all appearances from ROM restored. In addition, Marvel will also be reprinting ROM #1 as a special Facsimile Edition with all original ads intact.
Could this partnership pave the way for an actual appearance from ROM in an MCU movie? I don’t think we’re quite there yet (Hasbro earns a gazillion bucks from those Transformer movies and would probably demand a large slice of the pie were it to work with Disney — who doesn’t share their pies). But this omnibus once seemed impossible too.
