Issue(s): ROM #24
Published Date: Nov 81
Title: "No place like home!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo & Mark Gruenwald - Writer
Sal Buscema - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker

Review/plot:
ROM tries to return to his home planet of Galador in the Skrull Saucer he borrowed from the Fantastic Four...

...but he winds up in Xandarian space and finding himself under attack because they quite logically think he's a Skrull.

After that's sorted out...

...we get to catch up on the Xandarian/Skrull war and the New Champions...

...but it seems that the status quo hasn't changed a bit since we've last seen them, despite the fact that it was almost two years ago, publication time. But now that we're focused on them again, things start happening. Diamondhead, who was clearly a villain all along and never attempted to hide it, betrays the Xandarians to the Skrulls...

...and the Crimebuster is killed.

Luckily, as usual, the Skrulls are too stupid to use their shapeshifting powers to actually infiltrate their enemies, so they reveal their Skrullness in the middle of the town square and the Xandarians and the New Champions and ROM cut them down.

ROM wonders if the Skrulls are at all related to the Dire Wraiths, considering they both shape change. They sure seem susceptible to his Neutralizer.

At the end of this issue, Rich Rider opts to go back to Earth, but the Xandarians strip him of his Nova powers because they must remain "where they originated". Then the Xandarian Worldmind locates Galador for ROM and sends him there.

Back on Earth, the Torpedo continues to do a terrible job of protecting the people of Clairton, West Virginia.

Gruenwald is credited with "research" for this issue, which i guess entailed having to read those horrible Marv Wolfman FFs.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - Rich Rider loses his Nova powers.

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• The New Champions formed during the Skrull/Xandarian war depicted in Fantastic Four #204-209.

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: N/A

Yet still another "disposable character" retired, probably by Shooter's orders.