The Second Return of Rom

(That Never Happened)

The following are edited of posts of a discussion on rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe that took place in mid-November 1998. (I just deleted the quotes from previous messages that aren't needed when reading all the posts at once.) I attempted to get further details from Mr. Edkin, but he essentially repeated to me the information he had already posted.


From: "Joe Edkin" <jedkin@worldnet.(nospam)att.net>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe
Subject: Re: ROM
Date: 18 Nov 1998 03:48:07 GMT

Dan Reckoning wrote in message <3651C41F.759FB4A5@murray.fordham.edu>...
>Danny Sichel wrote:
>>
>> Mastermind wrote:
>>
>> > Does marvel have (or used to have) a hero named ROM?i remember
>> > reading this as a child but i don't remember  if it was marvel.I remember he
>> > looked like iron-man but i don't think he was human,and he had a very
>> > strange weapon.
>>
>> Yes, they did. Rom: Spaceknight was a cyborg warrior from the planet
>> Galador.
>>
>> He was also a toy adaptation, and it's possible that Marvelcorp no
>> longer has the rights to the character.
>
>Oh, yes they did. In fact, a revival was planned for 1999, until Marvel
>decided to marginalize themselves further.

Funny this came up in this way. I was the writer developing the new Rom series with Mark Bernardo as editor (we miss you, Mark!) and Leonardo Manco as artist. When Mark was laid off, Leo and I figured the series was spiked. However, we were lucky in that Ralph Macchio read and liked the proposal. The project IS NOT dead, per se. However, it WILL NOT be a Rom series. Marvel does not own Rom and as such, is not interested in pursuing a Rom series at this time. Leo and I had completely reinterpreted the character, not ignoring what had gone before, but putting an entirely new spin on it. It would have been really cool.

However, as Marvel is not interested in moving forward with the project as "Rom: Space Knight," Ralph asked me to revamp the concept and make it an entirely new character. It does mean that we've lost the histroy we were drawing upon, but on the other hand, we're free to go in any direction we choose and as we'd already completely rethough the original concept, it wasn't hard to make it completely our own. I think we have some cool ideas here and I wish you could see the design work Leo has done. It really kicks.

The project is on hold at this time as Marvel/Toy Biz firms up their publishing plan.

Wish us luck!
Joe Edkin

--
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From: Dan Reckoning <dcoyle@murray.fordham.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe
Subject: Re: ROM
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 16:46:32 GMT

Benny R. Powell, Jim Calafiore, and Peter Palmiotti would have been very surprised about that, since THEY were doing the new Rom series before Mark and Tim Tuohy got canned.

--Dan


From: "Joe Edkin" <jedkin@worldnet.(nospam)att.net>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe
Subject: Re: ROM
Date: 18 Nov 1998 19:24:46 GMT

They'd probably be just as surprised as I was to hear about their version of it. *sigh* More bizarre communication things at Marvel. (Anyone who followed my posts about the Acolytes in Quicksilver will know exactly what I mean.) All I know was that Mark Bernardo asked me to write a proposal. Leonardo Manco had done design sketches. Our proposal was on the table when Mark was laid off. I don't know who the editor for the Powell/Califiore/Palmiotti version was, but my proposal was commissioned. Perhaps Mark wasn't aware another editor was developing a Rom series. I certainly knew nothing about it! Interestingly enough, Ralph Macchio, the new editor with whom I am now working has not mentioned any other Rom project in development.

Joe Edkin
--
Who is this Joe Edkin guy anyway?
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If replying by E-mail, make sure to remove "nospam"
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