Rom The Space Knight Turns 45

Today we are going to talk about Rom The Space Knight who turns 45 but has an odd beginning, not as a comic book series, but as a toy that ended up being a comic series.

Rom was first created as a toy by Scott Dankman, Richard C. Levy, and Bryan L. McCoy in 1979 later that year they sold the idea to Parker Brothers, and after the name change and redesign on the look, ( he was called Cobol and was an Egyptian wizard of sorts) and in 1979 Rom The Space Knight was released. Soon after Rom’s toy release Marvel Comics was in charge of making a comic series for the toy line of the same name and in December of 1979 Rom the Space Knight #1 was released.

The comic series told the story of Rom the Space Knight who gave up his body to become a cyborg to fight the evil Dire Wraiths who attacked his homeworld of Galador. His war would lead him to Earth where the main Marvel Universe is and he continues his war with the Dire Wraiths with some special guests from time to time.

The comic series was created by Bill Mantlo as the writer and Sal Buscema as the artist and the comic was a hit, so much so that it lasted longer than the Toyline which flopped within a year. The series ran from 1979 till its series end in 1986 and many would believe that would be it for Rom. In 2016 IDW got the licensing rights to Rom the Space Knight from Hasbro via Hasbro purchased Parker Brothers in 1991, and thus IDW released a new series entitled Rom in 2016 till its final issue in 2020. Three years later in 2023 Marvel got the license back to Rom and is reprinting the original series run via omnibus collection, the first book was released in January of 2024 and the second book was just released in June.

Rom the Space Knight is a great classic sci-fi comic series and is worth picking up to read I would like to see Marvel do a massive event with Rom in the current Marvel storyline.