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ROM #30-32Issue(s): ROM #30, ROM #31, ROM #32 Review/plot: ![]() Unfortunately, almost seconds after ROM departs, Torpedo runs into Hybrid. And just being able to see him isn't enough to help with that. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Torpedo just isn't cut out for this job. We'll come back to Hybrid further down. The main story for issue #30 has ROM facing off against the alien Metal Master, not seen since 1963. He's been using metal spiders to collect metal... ![]() ...and when he detects ROM, he sends the spiders after him. ![]() When ROM hears about the Hulk again from Metal Master, he again wonders if he'll ever get to meet the guy. ![]() The Metal Master is defeated when he tries to take control of ROM's cyborg body. A combination of ROM's metal being unearthly and it being fused with living cells causes the Master's control to fail and leaves him catatonic. ![]() ![]() Next, ROM is duped into thinking that criminals held in jails are actually slaves, so he attacks a prison in order to free the occupants. At the same time, Mystique, Rogue, and Destiny have infiltrated the prison in an attempt to rescue the Blob, Avalanche, and Pyro, who were recently transferred there. ![]() ![]() After learning of his error, ROM switches sides. ![]() ![]() Mystique abandons her male team members... ![]() ...leading Rogue to remark that they should rename themselves the Sisterhood. ROM chases after Mystique's team, leaving the prison courtyard a shambles. The Blob must regain consciousness and escape soon afterward, because we'll see him soon in Marvel Fanfare #7. The Sisterhood hole up in an old mansion that turns out to be where Hybrid has been recuperating. ![]() ![]() ROM catches up with the mutants and teams-up with them to defeat Hybrid. ![]() ![]() Mystique's plan was to let ROM get killed fighting the wraith horror, but earlier Rogue attempted to absorb ROM's powers, and in doing so she became aware of his innate goodness. ![]() It's a turning point for Rogue, surprising since it's not written by Chris Claremont. I wonder if Mantlo was aware of Claremont's plans or if this was his own decision. In any event, the Sisterhood end up helping ROM. They were also a little freaked out by how Hybrid handled the other escaped convicts. ![]() ![]() ![]() After Hybrid is banished to Limbo, the arc ends with ROM and Rogue longingly thinking of each other, which is kind of weird. ![]() The scripting is pretty bad, but the plotting isn't terrible, and there's nothing wrong with Sal Buscema's art. Quality Rating: C Chronological Placement Considerations: This has to take place after Avalanche's encounter with the Hulk in Hulk #263. But it has to take place before the Blob's encounter with the Hulk in Marvel Fanfare #7, which occurs between Hulk #268-269. Due to that, this has been pushed back to a little earlier than it's publication date. References:
Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A
CommentsI remember hearing about this issue in Linkara's "ROM-trospective"; its just sort of weird that Rogue would start her path to being a heroine and getting away from Mystique in this. (then again it is neat that there is a semi-connection between the ROM stuff and X-books, particularly with Forge coming along to create tech for the final Wraithwar that is used; it really just shows how even at this point the X-books weren't just their own little world doing ridiculous things that don't have implications with the rest of the Marvelverse) Posted by: Ataru320 | February 8, 2016 4:45 PM Were Mantlo and Claremont pretty tight? I know Claremont let him reveal some of Wolverine's past in Alpha Flight 32 as well, and I kind of got the impression that Mantlo had a hand in shaping some of the early N'Garai stories (most obvious in the his UXM 96 shoutout) Posted by: George Lochinski | October 11, 2016 5:45 AM Comments are now closed. |
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