Rom Spaceknight Issue #10 mini review

I received the above regular cover for issue #10, and while the artwork on the cover is OK, it has nothing to do with the story contained in this issue. This issue starts off with ROM taking Livia and Orphion to a strip mall in San Luis Obispo, CA because obviously, if you want to prove the worth of sparing humanity to hardened space warriors, you take them to an open mall in California (end sarcasm). This issue contains a lot of dialog with sprinkles of "progressive" preaching, and it proved to be a bit annoying to me.

Livia and Orphion mention more than once the futility of religion and that there is no God, and the human race is weaker because they put their trust in a religion that none of the visiting space knights buy into. To compound the lesson that this particular issue wants to teach us, the Dire Wraiths believe in a Deity of their own and do not fear death in pursuing their cause as result. To sum up the message, the 'Good' guys don't believe in a religion or in a God but the 'Bad' guys do. Also, if you didn't know already, you will learn that humans are diverse and maybe even 'enlightened' (???).

I know that I have not mentioned many specifics that occurred in the story in issue #10 to prove my observations, but I don't feel that I need to since the story is very dialog heavy and the imagery shown in the issue seemed too insignificant to describe. We do get a brief dialog heavy update to Darby and Ruan's story arc hinting at something that may give humans an advantage over the Wraiths, and we get to visit Deepwave Headquarters in Seattle, WA where Axiom gets to participate in the dialog fest going on in this issue too.

There is one 'action' scene at the very end of the story though that I felt included a small homage to the Ghostbusters, and the one hint I will give is 'don't cross the streams.' The regular ROM series has been pretty good up until this issue, so I left this issue feeling very disappointed as you can tell. It also bothers me to see the liberal/progressive propaganda that is prevalent at Marvel (which is tanking the comics industry as a whole) starting to creep into one of my favorite comic character's series, but since I am a completionist, I will stick it out until the end.

Please comment with your thoughts on the ROM series so far and what variant covers you got or liked the most.

Grade: C-
 

Rom Spaceknight Issue #9 mini review

I received the above cover for issue #9 from my LCS, which was nice since it wasn't just the regular cover this time. This issue starts with the remainder of the fight between ROM and Orphion at the oceanic oil rig station. The Spaceknights lose focus on their main objective by squabbling with each other and a new enemy wraith called the Absence is able to get the drop on them while their focus is divided.

The Absence appears to be a formidable threat for the time being since the Spaceknights look to not be able to kill something that isn't there (hence the name 'Absence'). ROM shows why he is the titular hero that we like to follow causing Orphion to eventually change his focus to align more with ROM's.

We get a small update to Darby and Ruan, but the primary focus of this issue is on the Wraiths and the Spacenights which is refreshing. The issue ends with the hint of yet a greater wraith enemy called the Presence.

I really enjoyed the artwork by Paolo Villanelli too in this issue more than I had noticed before in previous issues. The black magic wraiths look particularly, pleasingly monsterous and the Spaceknights have a very aesthetic machine like shape to how they are drawn and I love it tremendously. The story continues to keep my interest making me want more as the issue concludes, so that has to be a good sign of great writing in my opinion.

Please comment with your thoughts on the ROM series so far and what variant covers you got or liked the most.

Grade: B+
 

Rom Spaceknight Issue #8 review

I received the above regular cover for issue #8 from my LCS. This issue immediately starts off with Orphion rushing ahead of ROM and Livia towards an oceanic oil rig station. As you can guess, if Orphion is interested in anything that is of Earth, there must be some involvement with the Dire Wraiths.

While Orphion intends to destroy the Wraiths occupying the oil rig station, he also has other plans, unknown to ROM and Livia, for using the oil rig station once the Wraiths are taken care of. ROM figures out what Orphion intends to do and a 'disagreement' ensues between ROM and Orphion. Of course, attention has been taken away from the Wraiths in the oil rig station temporarily and we are introduced to the 'Absense' as a result.

Concurrent to the Spaceknights story, we see Darby connecting with an old friend named Ruan. Ruan isn't all what Darby thinks he is and without giving away any more, an interesting twist gets introduced to the ongoing series. As short as the continuation of the story in each recent issue seems to be, the current story arc is still keeping my interest and leaves me wanting more. My only disappointment is the long publishing delay between these more recent issues, and it concerns me as a ROM fan that the ongoing series may be coming to an end.

Please comment with your thoughts on the ROM series so far and what variant covers you got or liked the most.

Grade: B+
 

Rom Spaceknight Issue #7 review

I received the above regular cover for issue #7 from my LCS. This issue picks up right where the last issue left off where ROM has convinced  Livia and Orphion, for the time being, not to destroy the earth in order to eradicate the Dire Wraith infestation. Camilla Byers also looks to be rid of her Wraith infection thanks to Orphion.

G.I. Joe's Grunt and Beach Head catch up to ROM, Livia, and Orphion as the latter three are still debating the worth of sparing humanity in lieu of the sure way of wiping out the Dire Wraiths on Earth by destroying it altogether. Without spoiling what comes next, let's just say that Grunt and Beach Head will not be bothering ROM by themselves any longer.

The Wraiths on the other hand have found a way to convince humans to willingly give their lives to feed the Wraiths' power. I like this new twist to show how clever, deceiving and cunning the Wraiths' have become to accomplish their master plan, and how the Wraiths' act in complete opposition to ROM's compassion for humanity. Good and evil has become more defined at this point in the series.

The issue ends on a low note for ROM where the Wraiths' may end up gaining the upper hand on ROM's technology.

Please comment with your thoughts on the ROM series so far and what variant covers you got or liked the most.

Grade: B+