Rom the Space Knight

To build interest in the toy, Parker Brothers licensed the character to Marvel Comics, which created a comic book featuring Rom. The comic expanded on the premise that Rom was a cyborg and provided the character with an origin and personality, and established the character was firmly grounded in the Marvel Universe, having regular encounters with mainstream heroes and villains.[8] Ironically the title outlasted the toy which it was created to support,[9] with 75 issues and four Annuals (double-sized issues) published from December 1979 to February 1986.

The comic was written by Bill Mantlo and initially illustrated by artist Sal Buscema.[10] Buscema stated in a 2010 interview, "I liked the character. And I liked what they did with it. I thought the concept was quite good. It was unique. It made it attractive to do. I almost hate to say this, but it was pretty easy to draw, too."[11] Buscema was the main artist for the series from its creation through 1984.

IDW Publishing licensed the character from Parker Brothers' parent company, Hasbro, and on May 7, 2016, released Rom #0 as part of Free Comic Book Day. The free issue served as a prologue to a new ongoing series which began in July 2016.[12] Rom continued to be part of the Hasbro Comic Book Universe until 2018, following the Transformers: Unicron event.

On July 18, 2019, during San Diego Comic-Con, IDW announced a new series titled Rom: Dire Wraiths, which will be written by Chris Ryall and drawn by Luca Pizzari, Guy Dorian and Sal Buscema.[13]

The original ROM toy in packaging, as released by Parker Brothers in 1979

Shown in flashback, Rom was originally human in appearance, and belonged to a utopian society on the planet Galador. When the planet was threatened by the war-like Dire Wraiths—another technologically advanced race capable of Skrull-like shapeshifting—Galador's ruler, the Prime Director, called for volunteers to be transformed into cyborg warriors called "Spaceknights." Volunteers were promised that their "humanity" (the body parts removed to accommodate the armor) would be preserved and restored to them after the danger was over.

Rom was the first to volunteer, and was transformed into a large, silver humanoid that at first glance appeared to be totally robotic. Rom was given Galador's greatest weapon, the Neutralizer, which on one setting could banish the Wraiths into the Limbo dimension forever. Inspired by his example, other Galadorians volunteered and eventually one thousand were transformed into Spaceknights - each with his or her own unique armor, powers and code names.[14] The Spaceknights succeeded in stopping the Dire Wraith invasion, although Rom decided to follow the remnants of the fleet back to their home planet, Wraithworld (which orbited a black sun). The Dire Wraiths panicked, and after a futile counter-attack abandoned the planet and scattered throughout space.[15] Unable to stop Rom, the Dire Wraiths successfully used their sorcery to trick him into allowing their escape. Rom now felt responsible for spreading the Dire Wraiths' evil across the universe, and swore he would not reclaim his humanity until all Dire Wraiths had been vanquished. Fellow Spaceknights, including comrades Starshine and Terminator, adopted the same oath and left Galador.[14]

After 200 years in space, Rom arrived on Earth, landing near the fictional town of Clairton, in West Virginia, United States. Rom befriended a local woman named Brandy Clark, who after witnessing Rom deal with the Dire Wraiths began to assist him in his mission. Those witnessing Rom's neutralizer could not see the Wraiths being banished to Limbo, leading Rom to be hunted for killing innocents. [14]

During his time on Earth, Rom fought and banished thousands of Dire Wraiths. The increasingly desperate Dire Wraiths created new foes for Rom, including Firefall, a fusion of human and Spaceknight;[16][17] the sorcerous Hellhounds;[18] and robotic Watchwraiths.[19] Two of Rom's greatest foes were Hybrid[20][21][22][23] (the result of a union between Wraith and human), and Mentus (a suit of Spaceknight armor occupied by the dark side of the Prime Director's psyche).[24] Other opponents were more traditional and hailed from the Marvel Universe proper, such as the Mad Thinker,[25] the Space Phantom,[26] and Galactus and his then-herald Terrax.[27][28] He encountered such heroes as the X-Men,[20][21] Power Man and Iron Fist,[29] the Fantastic Four,[30] Nova,[31] the Thing,[32] and the Hulk.[33] Rom was one of the many heroes transported into an arena in space for the Contest of Champions, though he was not chosen to participate.[34]

At one stage a new breed of Dire Wraith arrived on Earth, and appeared to be far deadlier than the first variety.[35] It was later revealed that these were females who relied on sorcery, as opposed to the weaker males who placed their faith in science. Unlike the males, the female Dire Wraiths chose not to act in secrecy and openly attacked Clairton while Rom was away, killing everyone (including Steve and superhero ally the Torpedo) with the exception of Brandy. Furthermore, they attacked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mobile headquarters which gave Earth authorities clear evidence of the Dire Wraiths' existence and threat. So informed, the combined nations of the world pooled their resources to counter the threat, with Rom as their resident expert and leader of field operations. The Dire Wraiths came into conflict with the Avengers[36][37] and the X-Men[38][39] as well. Rom managed to banish all Dire Wraiths on Earth to Limbo with the aid of his super-powered allies and members of the U.S. military.[40]

Rom left Earth soon after the battle and returned to Galador. Unknown to Rom, Brandy had accidentally met the entity called the Beyonder, and Brandy asked to be transported to Galador.[41] The Beyonder complied and Brandy found herself on Galador, now a war-torn world occupied by a new generation of Spaceknights. Created to defend Galador in the absence of the first Spaceknights, this next generation of cyborgs became corrupted by their power, massacred the Galadorians in a show of superiority.[42] In an act of spite, the new Spaceknights destroyed the frozen remains of the originals. Rom arrived too late and could only save Brandy.[43] Enraged, Rom summoned the original Spaceknights and together they destroyed the traitors. Rom then made a surprising discovery - his original humanity persisted within the entombed body of Terminator. Reclaiming it, Rom became human again and finally admitted his love for Brandy. The two chose to remain on Galador, with the intent of repopulating the planet. The remaining Spaceknights, their humanity now lost, set out to explore the universe, except for a few others that remained on Galador to protect Rom and Brandy.[44]

During Rick Jones's wedding to Marlo Chandler, the human Rom returned to Earth, together with Brandy, as guests at the ceremony, and Rom greeted the Hulk with a friendly handshake.[45]

In the Spaceknights miniseries (Oct. 2000 – Feb. 2001), written by Jim Starlin, it is revealed that Rom took the name Artour (a reference to Brandy's love of Arthurian legends, and perhaps in memory of his own encounter with King Arthur's ghost)[46] and that he and Brandy had two sons.[47] Rom himself is not actually seen in the series, nor is he mentioned by that name or shown in his spaceknight form (possibly to skirt the fact that Marvel no longer held the license from Parker Brothers, which had retained the copyrights on Rom's name and armored likeness); his ship is attacked off-panel just prior to the start of the story, with Rom himself missing and presumed dead.[47]

Rom plays an important role in the Hasbro Comic Book Universe by IDW Publishing.

Two hundred years ago, Rom K'atsema lived an idyllic life with his brother and mothers on the peaceful planet Elonia, a world constantly protected by a powerful planet-wide shield that blocked debris and potential invaders. Rom studied geology at the Elonia University of Arts and Sciences, and befriended Livia and Fy-Laa. One day, the three of them investigated a mysterious meteor shower that had breached Elonia's shield and discovered that the explosive meteors were of Dire Wraith origin: weapons designed to penetrate the shield in advance of a potential Wraith invasion, and ultimately responsible for killing his family. When the Space Knights of the Solstar Order intervened, Rom learned that one of his mothers had been infected by a Wraith and transformed into one of their number. Vowing to avenge his family, Rom and his friends joined the Solstar Order as Space Knights.

On his first mission, Rom would be responsible for discovering Elonia's supply of Ore-12, a miraculous liquid metal capable of "bonding" with its wielder and becoming a permanent suit of armor. Realizing that this mysterious metal was the reason why the Dire Wraiths had attacked their world, the Solstar Order would go on to mine the rest of the ore and equip the rest of their Space Knights with the substance. Soon afterwards, Rom—now a full-fledged Space Knight—left Elonia, leaving behind a beacon in memory of his family. Over the next fifty years, Rom took part in a variety of battles against the Dire Wraiths, and participated in the massive battle that saw the Wraiths' current homeworld, within the Dark Nebula, destroyed. The Space Knights spent the next few years pursuing remnant Dire Wraith forces across backwater planets within Solstar territory.

When Rom arrived on Earth, he was misjudged as Cybertronian. He killed a Dire Wraith impersonating General Joseph Colton, which later exposed the Wraith infiltration around Earth. In time, he gained new allies like the Micronauts, and together, they stopped Baron Karza and the Presence (the Wraith goddess). When Unicron arrived, it destroyed Elonia, which caused Rom to learn more about the monster and its link to the Dire Wraiths' creation. When Unicron was destroyed thanks to Optimus Prime's sacrifice, Rom and the surviving Elonians accepted Earth as their new homeworld, and Rom and Livia rekindled their previous relationship.