Issue(s): ROM #65, ROM #66
Published Date: Apr-May 85
Title: "Doomsday!" / "The day after!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Steve Ditko - Penciler
P. Craig Russell / Stephen Leialoha - Inker
Michael Higgins - Assistant Editor
Mike Carlin - Editor

Review/plot:
This is the culmination to the Dire Wraith invasion that Bill Mantlo has been building towards, arguably since issue #1 and certainly since issue #60 when we learned from Cindy Adams that the Wraiths planned to bring their planet to our solar system. On the heels of Walt Simonson's Casket of Ancient Winters saga (publication-wise), which spilled into other Marvel books and also featured tons of guest stars, it's tempting to look at this storyline as a similar phenomenon, but unfortunately it didn't get the same level of participation. There's Fantastic Four #277, the vague reference in Defenders #142, and the throwaway line in Thor #354, and that's it. As for guest appearances, just about every Marvel super-hero shows up here, except the FF (who are tangentially occupied with the Wraith War in their own book), Spider-Man (who Ditko won't draw), Dr. Strange (also in the FF book, and Ditko probably wouldn't have drawn him either), the Hulk (in another dimension), and Daredevil, Power Man, and Iron Fist (who i guess were just forgotten). But the appearances feel more like the Hulk pardoning issue of Hulk #278 than something like the Ancient Winters saga or Secret Wars. There's just too many characters, and none of them get to do anything unique.

Still, it's cool to have them all here and know they participated in this epic battle against the Dire Wraiths.

This one can be enlarged for nitpicky continuity analysis.

While the heroes are able to rescue ROM, who we saw last issue was being attacked by a group of Wraiths that turn out to be "every Wraith on Earth" (except the one in FF #277, i guess)...

Here's a different picture that is only worth seeing full-screen.

...the real resolution to the war happens in space, when ROM powers Forge's Neutralizer-amplifier, which is used to repel the Wraith's planet.

All of this is done over Henry Gyrich's spittle-flecked protests and accusations.

    

It's said that once the sorcery of Wraithworld was negated, the planet could no longer exists, and so it is "gone", and so are the sorcerous powers of all the Dire Wraiths.

In other news, Rick Jones has decided that he's in love with Brandy Clark.

P. Craig Russell is inking Ditko on issue #65 again, and it's not really helping. The crazier stuff looks cool, but you just have to look at the depictions of all the other heroes to see where the art kinda fails. Here's a nice classic looking Ditko panel, though.

Stephen Leialoha takes over the inks for issue #66, which deals with the aftermath of the Wraith War. The Wraiths are powerless, but the heroes aren't sure what to do with them.

ROM settles things by banishing them all to Limbo, clearly! Although i imagine that SHIELD managed to sneak off with a few for study.

There's a nice dialogue-free scene after the Wraiths are gone where ROM sort of takes in the idea that his war is over, and gets ready to say goodbye to his supporting cast.

He's decided to return home to head back into space.

Click for the full Ditko glory.

Brandy, Rick, and Cindy decide that they're going to stick together like a de facto family. The idea that Rick and Brandy have found some sort of affinity is a bit sudden.

Oh, and Gyrich is still a nut, ranting like a super-villain.

I'm always a sucker for a downtime issue, and while this isn't great and wastes a lot of space on retrospection, it's a fitting end to the 5+ year storyline in this series. But it's not an end to the series itself, which will last another 10 issues or so even after the major Dire Wraith menace is ended.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 5 - Wraith War. End of the Dire Wraith menace. ROM leaves Earth.

Chronological Placement Considerations: There were bound to be continuity challenges with this many heroes appearing, but there are some real doozies here. The first is Moondragon, who is wearing her old costume, including the headband that is supposed to limit her power. Defenders #142, which takes place after Moondragon's headband falls off and after she's changed costumes, makes a reference to the events leading up to these issues; there's no way Defenders #142 can take place after this. So we just have to assume that Moondragon's new costume was in the wash and she wore the headband because it's a matching set. An odder concern is the Black Knight, riding Aragorn, the winged-horse that the Valkyrie appropriated from him way back in 1973. I guess when the Avengers and Defenders bumped into each other on the way to this battle, the Knight asked if he could ride his old horse for old time's sake. He's also wearing an archaic version of his helmet but that's going to have to be another fashion choice. Captain Britain is also wearing a costume he hasn't worn since 1982, but he's so isolated from the rest of the Marvel Universe that we're able to push his entire series up in publication time as needed. Wolverine and Kitty Pryde (i mean, i guess that lady in the purple shirt is Kitty) are back with the X-Men, placing this after their return Uncanny X-Men #192. Professor X is here, meaning this probably takes place during those "some months" before Xavier is attacked at the end of issue #192, although it's worth noting he is in a wheelchair here. Captain America, the Black Knight, and the Vision and the Scarlet Witch all being with the Avengers puts this between Avengers #254-255. See Michael's note below regarding Captain Marvel. My way of rationalizing her appearance is that she was on her way out of our solar system when she saw the sun start blacking out, and she raced back to Earth to help out, and then zipped back into space again before the other Avengers could let her know that the Vision had sent her on a wild goose chase. Maybe remnants of the Wraith World's presence warped gravity in a way that allowed her to travel faster. Ridiculous, of course, but i like it a little better than having her come back to Earth during Avengers #255 after she'd already learned that her mission was a fake one and then leaving again anyway.

"Bye, guys. I'd better hurry back to Sanctuary II before the Vision gets mad!"
"Captain Marvel, waaaaiiiit....!"

Moving on, we know Beta Ray Bill appears here between panels of Thor #354. I have no guesses regarding the characters in the background of the international heroes panel (it's Arabian Night, Le Peregrine (whose name is apparently not French; it seems to mean "The Migratory"), Shamrock, Captain Britain, American Eagle, and Blitzkrieg in the front).

References:

• ROM gave up his humanity when he became a Spaceknight, depicted in ROM #1, and it was stolen from storage by the Spaceknight called Terminator and then lost when Terminator was killed while fighting Galactus in ROM #26-27.
  
• Brandy lost her Starshine powers in ROM annual #3.

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: N/A

The Avengers' appearance is a real problem. Monica Rambeau, the Black Knight and Hercules are all with the Avengers. This is difficult to squeeze in. The Black Knight doesn't rejoin the Avengers until Avengers 254- he even comments on how he hasn't seen Hercules since Avengers 100. The problem is that Monica is out in space in between Avengers 253 and Avengers 259. And in Avengers 256, the Avengers can't contact the FF because of the events of FF 278. So we have to assume that sometime during Avengers 255, Monica briefly returned to Earth and then went back to Sanctuary for some reason. It's a stretch but there's really no other explanation.

Is it possible that the Black Knight has not technically joined the Avengers at this point? Although he is drawn with them several times, he may not actually be a member (at least not anymore than Beta Ray Bill is), placing this sometime between Dr Strange 69 and Avengers 253/254. The Black Knight is, after all, riding Aragorn instead of the Valkyrie which implies he must have contacted the Defenders. Maybe it was just to visit the horse, but then the call went out so the Black Knight just took the horse and rode off, while Valkyrie stayed with the Defenders. This seems to open things up so that Captain Marvel can be with the Avengers, placing this before Avengers 252. The Black Knights comments on Hercules might just mean he never saw him in the huge mess of people (or if it did, it never registered with him because of all the chaos). I don't know if that works with all the facts as I have none of the comics with me.

The problem is that in one of the panels that fnord posted (it's the one that says click to enlarge for nitpicky continuity analysis) Dane and Herc seem to be right on top of each other. And in Avengers 254 Herc doesn't even recognize Dane since he hasn't seen him in so long.
Besides, I like fnord's "Captain Marvel- waiiit".

The embiggen picture shows the Black Knight behind Hercules in perspective, and the shadows of the Dire Wraiths can be interpreted to be between them. In the chaos of combat, it is enough reasonable doubt to say he doesn't register Hercules.

Obviously, this is not the attention at the time of publication, but since we are looking for ease of continuity placement, why not take advantage?

Yes, FNORD's commentary is humurous, but comics is serious business!

Chris, i think your suggested placement has potential, but here's my problems with it (based on a review of the issues you didn't have on hand):

The Black Knight explicitly states in DRSTR #69 that his intention is to show up at the Avengers' doorstep. BK and Strange are taking a boat across the Atlantic from England. The Defenders are based in the Rocky Mountains. It wouldn't just be a casual detour for him to make a pit stop at Warren's place.

The Vision was unprepared for the Black Knight's arrival at the mansion in Avengers #252, which would be less likely (although not impossible) if he fought alongside them recently. And since the BK's intentions are clear, it seems unlikely that he wouldn't mention his hope of rejoining the team. And where did he go after that battle? Why not go back to the mansion with the others? BK says it's "been a long time" and notes some remodeling while he's walking up the path to the Mansion in A #252.

When the Black Knight is captured, he asks the Vision where the Wasp is, and says "The last time I fought alongside the Avengers, she was group leader."

Then there's the Black Knight/Hercules recognition problem as Michael pointed out. And the important point is that it's two-way: Herc doesn't recognize BK, and BK says they only had "one meeting" with a footnote to A #100.

Aaaand i went through all that admittedly circumstantial evidence but i just found the clincher, which is the Black Knight saying in A #254 that he "just returned to the States this morning".

It's all surmountable, but it's a question of whether you'd prefer all those little incongruities vs. the big one of Captain Marvel's appearance. And i guess i'm going to go with the idea that if someone's making a detour, it's the lady that can travel at lightspeed.

That said, if Marvel published an Untold Tale where the Black Knight, upset over the loss of Valinor, traveled to New Mexico and tried to take back Aragorn from Valkyrie, i wouldn't complain too much. Your placement is a good alternative if you can't stand the idea of Captain Marvel showing up here midway through her flight to deep space.

And this is totally unintentional and wouldn't be a factor for placement, but i kind of like this occurring after the Vision's world-takeover attempt as it might help explain why Gyrich is so unhinged.

I think it's easier to reconcile minor continuity errors than big ones, but it's your chronology, not mine. But if I really want to be picky I could point out that Hercules is wearing his old costume that was destroyed by the Blood Brothers... ;)

Anyway, it's been almost 30 years, but this issue is special to me. I had begun buying comics regularly only in 1983 with GI Joe, and began buying superhero comics with Secret Wars in 1984. It was only in 1985 when I could truly say I was buying comics, and this was my only issue of ROM. I greatly enjoy this site because of nostalgia and because from your reviews, it seems we had similar tastes in comics. Stern's Avengers run is about to explode into complete awesomeness. Shooter is EiC for about another year and a half, and then he's booted out and the slow decline will begin.

Nothing wrong with picky - this whole site is picky! And Herc's costume is a real concern that i hadn't noticed. This issue is full of art/costume errors, but i've tried to account for them or provide in-story explanations, and it's therefore difficult to dismiss Herc's since it's a prominent (and fun) detail in the surrounding Avengers issues.

So now i have to find a way to rationalize the Black Knight's "The last time I fought alongside..." and "just returned to the States this morning" statements.

Anyone want to talk me off the ledge before i start shifting comics around?

If you want to go by costumes, Wonder Man is also wearing his pre-Avengers 253 costume. However, in this case, I would go by dialogue rather thsn costumes. There's so MANY characters wearing the wrong costume, it's simpler just to assume art error. The entire point of Dane's scenes in Avengers 252-254 is that this is the first time he's seen the Avengers in a long time.

How about if some of the characters in the wrong costumes are actually (male) Wraiths? Any chance of that? Or females that didn't have to kill the originals to take their forms. That's my no-prize bid.

Walter, i wouldn't go with a solution that mucks with the intention on which characters actually participated in the story unless absolutely necessary (it was done, essentially, for Nighthawk in Contest of Champions, so it's not that out of bounds).

I don't really love just going with "art error", either. In many other examples both I and the MCP have accommodated for that sort of thing. But in this case no matter where we go something's going to be off. So far i'm just going to leave this here out of inertia, but Hercules' costume is going to bug me. Thanks a lot, Chris!

Oh, I was being mostly facetious, though there is precedent for this sort of thing in the recon that made the Silver Surfer who attended Captain Mar-Vell's death a Skrull. And in a story about shapechangers there's a little plausibility to it. But no, I don't recommend it seriously, just an amusing thought.