Issue(s): ROM #24
Cover 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.

Nova and Powerhouse are on Xandar, but it's said that when the Nova Corps chased after the Skrulls, Comet, Crimebuster and Diamondhead left the New Champions to go with them.

Diamondhead, who was clearly a villain all along and never attempted to hide it, returns for this story, working with the Skrulls.

It's said that Crimebuster was killed when he discovered Diamondhead's treachery.

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 and Fantastic Four #205-209.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

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

I'm not sure Shooter had a thing for retiring characters, but in any case Crimebuster was a difficult character to justify. Lacking market appeal and being pretty much a stolen character (Lev Gleason published the stories of Chuck Chandler, Crimebuster from 1942 to 1956), it was probably not worth the trouble of running the risk of legal action due to continued use. This way they could attempt a parody/homage defense if need be.

http://www.toonopedia.com/crimebst.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimebuster_(Boy_Comics)

Incidentally, Lev Gleason also published the first Daredevil, although there is not much of a case for Matt Murdock being a rip-off from him.

There wouldn't have been a legal case anyway--Gleason went out of business in 1956, the characters hadn't been seen since, Marvel would have won due to copyright abandonment.

Hey Fnord:

I think you might have read this one a little quickly (not that I blame you).

It's not really true that the status quo for Nova and his allies hasn't changed. The rest of the New Champions had left Xandar months ago planning to hook up with the Nova Corps in pursuit of the Skrulls. Their betrayal by Diamondhead likewise was a past event, along with the subsequent ambush of the Nova Corps. Nova even says it's been "months" since the Nova Corps left.

In fact, you have Crimebuster listed as a character appearing. He doesn't, except in flashback.

Good point about the seeming idiocy of the Skrulls here, but really understandable in that their idiocy had already been matched by that of the Xandarians, who had apparently sent what little remaining military they had to escort the returning Nova Corps vessel (whereupon Powerhouse and the others were likewise ambushed). So they expected to be attacking a populace that was completely undefended except for Nova (they didn't know about Rom).

Thanks Dan. Yeah, looking at it now i don't know how i mixed things up. In my (slight) defense, the MCP also lists Crimebuster as a character appearing in the present day. Anyway, i've revised the summary.

Well, like I said I can't blame you. Even for Mantlo, this is pretty bad stuff.