Rom in Other Media

Media:

Doing searches for "spaceknight" on Usenet and eBay has revealed to me that Rom has appeared or been mentioned in other media outside of comic books and toys. Here are the few I know of:

Art

French Marvel Anniversary Portfolio: In 1995, Semic, who then had the license to publish Marvel comics in France, produced a portfolio of 25 prints. Each print measures 8 1/4" x 11 3/4", has a 2" white border (making the actual images 6 1/4" x 9 3/4"), and is printed on "textured paper stock" (as one seller put it). Three of the prints, all done by artist Jean Frisano and taken from an issue of a French anthology comic called Strange, feature Rom. There's one of him alone, one with him encountering Galactus, and one with him swimming alongside Namor, the Sub-Mariner. (Thanks to "buzzybean" for answering some of my questions.)

I have conflicting information on why the prints were made. Most (English) sources say they were for the 25th anniversary of Marvel comics in France. One individual known as ollien, however, tells me they were for 20 years of Jean Frisano's covers. Apparently Frisano did almost all the covers for Semic from 1972 to 1995. Regardless of why they were made, they're lovely pieces of art featuring our favorite Spaceknight.
Marvel Universe Poster: This is a huge poster made from the cover art of the first 12 issues of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe vol. 1. Since Rom was featured prominently on #9, he's featured prominently on the poster.

Films

Gary Martin, Jr. not only pointed out the appearance of Rom comics in three different films to me, he made nice images for each!

Explorers (1985): I haven't seen it, but Gary Martin, Jr. says, "the movie's chock full of space/alien/toy/comic stuff, so Rom's inclusion is most likely not a coincidence." The appearance in question is the cover of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (original edition) #9. Gary also adds, "Stretching for trivia: there's a school bully character in the movie named Steve Jackson."
The Lost Boys (1987): I've seen bits and pieces of this movie, but Gary Martin, Jr. yet again spotted an issue of Rom in a movie. This time it's Rom Annual #2.
Robocop (1987): Bing McCoy, creator of the Rom action figure, figures Robocop is a Rom knock-off. And he may be right! Obviously some of the people making it knew about Rom. Credit for spotting the copies of Rom in the convenience store (first scene below) goes to Chris Lindberg, although Gary Martin, Jr. provided the capture.

Factoid: The cover for Rom #1 was drawn by Frank Miller. He later went on to write Robocop 2.
Unbreakable (2000): I have yet to see this film, but I've heard a little about it. I think we can chalk up this appearance to coincidence, but who knows, maybe one of the set dressers was a Rom fan.
Fanboys (2008): Another film I haven't seen, but Rush Montgomery spotted an issue of Rom on the set and provided this shot.

Games

Dragon Magazine

An article entitled "Dire Invasion" appeared in Dragon #112 (published by TSR, Inc. in 1986). It gave stats for Rom, Dire Wraiths, and other related characters for the Marvel Super Heroes Role-Playing Game published by TSR, Inc. It also had some art lifted from the comic books to accompany it. I have summarized the information.

Marvel OverPower

I believe more than one person has made up their own Rom cards for the Marvel OverPower collectible card game (CCG), but now there's two official ones.

A Multipower 3 card available in the Monumental OverPower expansion. Art by Dave Meikis.
A Double Shot Tactic card available in the Classic OverPower expansion.

Click on the pictures, provided by Gary Martin, Jr., for a larger version.

[Picture of the Rom Multipower 3 OverPower card]

[Picture of the Rom Double Shot OverPower card]

Music

HB3 (May 2007): On the HB3 album, Luminosity, is a song called "Rom, Spaceknight." You can find the lyrics and some bits of the song in some videos at the HB3 web site or the full video on YouTube. The album is available at Amazon.com and iTunes. The latter lists it as a seven minute track, but the video above only clocks in at 3:48.
Wu-Tang Clan: On the Wu-Tang Clan album, Wu-Tang Forever, the song "Impossible" contains a reference to Rom.

A Spaceknight like Rom, consume planets like Unicron,
Blasting photon bombs from the arm like Galvatron
(Listen: mp3 or wav)
Thanks to Will Mendez for the lyric and the sound file! There's really not any context that goes along with this line. If you must know the entire verse, see this page from ohhla.com.

Pinball

Gamatron: I've lost the name of the person who first told me about a pinball machine with picture of a robot that looks a lot like Rom on the backglass. He didn't quite get the name right, so it was several years before I finally found it. And he was right; it certainly looks like the artist of this pinball conversion kit from Pinstar took his inspiration from Rom. Thanks to Dan Gutchess of Classic Arcade Resource for allowing me to use his backglass photo. You can find more information and photos, including one of the playfield which also includes this robotic figure, at the Internet Pinball Machine Database.

Television

My Name Is Earl: On November November 22, 2005, in the first season episode, "Cost Dad the Election," a copy of Rom #73 can be seen on a coffee table. Thanks to Lloyd Burr for the information and the capture.
Robot Chicken: On October 1, 2006, Rom appeared in a segment of the Robot Chicken episode "Metal Militia". Robot Chicken is a variety show featuring stop-motion animated action figures, toys, and other things. In the U.S., it's part of Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" programming block. Thanks to Daniel B. Hughes who not only made me aware of it, but also uploaded the clip to YouTube, which has since been removed. However, Adult Swim uploaded an official version in 2013. You can also find the actors and a transcript at Robot Chicken Wiki.
Silver Surfer: In 1998, Rom made a cameo in the background of the Silver Surfer Saturday morning cartoon shown on the Fox network. In 2001, someone finally answered my plea for a picture. According to "Ghost Rider" the plot was "Surfer was in a dream state where he thought he met Shalla Bal[.] Rom was among the many aliens in the background." As you can see, they colored Rom primarily black instead of silver, but there's no mistaking that design. Thanks for the image, GR!
South Park: On October 31, 2007, Rom made cameos in the South Park episode, "Imaginationland Episode III." South Park is an animated show for adults on Comedy Central that is not for the easily offended. Thanks to Kenny Doug of the Galador Yahoo! Group for pointing it out.