Issue(s): ROM #52
Cover Date: Mar 84
Title: "Total war"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Sal Buscema - Penciler
Mel Candido - Inker

Review/plot:
This issue has an unusual Bill Sienkiewicz cover. Sienkiewicz is doing lots of covers at this point.

This issue makes good on the promise from last issue. ROM has outed the Dire Wraiths, so they become more bold in their attacks.

They attack and destroy "a small thriving city on America's eastern seaboard". ROM and Starshine are working with the military.

But it turns out that the unit charged with detecting and hunting down the Wraiths has itself become infiltrated.

While the Spaceknights help defeat this contingent of Wraiths, it seems to be a hopeless situation when the army can't even be sure its own members aren't dopplegangers.

Meanwhile, Starshine continues her wrathful violence..

...and in a surprise move, ROM has also switched from banishing to Limbo to killing. The reasoning seems to be that it's Starshine's world so he'll follow her lead.

I like the darker and more direct turn this series has taken.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A