Strange visitor from another planet...

Happy New Year! The dawning of a New Year always seems to inspire reflection on years past, and as I am posting the last of (for now) my faux covers, I thought I would include a few thoughts relevant to the title in question, and comics in general.

Back in 1980 I was buying a lot of comic books, in January, I bought 26 Marvel comics, and 1 DC book. Looking back at what was on the stands in the months preceding and following I can see that on average I was buying 25 - 30 comics and comics magazines a month leaning heavily on the Marvel side of things. Maybe that doesn't seem like a lot, but I was 15 years old at the time, and the only form of income I had was my lunch money. So I ate what my friends didn't want (apples, tapioca pudding, date loaf, etc.) and bought comics on my way home after school.

I'd always read comics, they helped teach me to read. I would get them in my stocking at Christmas, on road trips, I'd buy them with my allowance during the summer, I'd read and trade them with my friends, but it wasn't until 1978 that I began buying comics regularly and using them as a form of escape. that was the year I became a fan-boy, and the year my parents divorced.

Similar stories abound, I've read them online, and heard them anecdotally back when I worked in a comic shop, many a Fan-Boy was born, like Batman through some form of childhood trauma and need for escape. This no doubt explains why so many social misfits make up the core of comics fandom and industry pros nowadays, to the detriment of the all.

Yeah, not a popular opinion, I know. But come on, this industry was better off when it was being run by petty criminals and pornographers, than it is now, with fat socially retarded fan-boys at the helm.
I like to think that the 60's to the early 80's are an exception of sorts, the Gangsters were retiring and the early fan-boys were just starting to creep in, and all those involved were trying to maintain a certain level of professionalism. But what do I know?

At any rate, on to the subject at hand, Rom Spaceknight. This was one of those things like G.I Joe, or Transformers, or Micronauts, that was a toy property dropped into Marvel's lap to create a backstory for, and to generate an ongoing comic series meant to promote a toy line. In the case of Rom however, it was stillborn. the one toy produced was a piece of crap, and the proposed line ended there. The comic I think ran 72 issues with stories by Bill Mantlo and art by Sal Buscema and Steve Ditko. These guys truly made lemonade out of lemons and I for one enjoyed the result. So, submitted for your approval, my fake Rom cover!