Issue(s): ROM #70, ROM #71
Cover Date: Sep-Oct 85
Title: "The hidden god" / "Shame"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Steve Ditko - Penciler
Kim DeMulder / P. Craig Russell - Inker
Mike Carlin - Editor

Review/plot:
Issue #70 is one of my favorite issues of ROM. ROM and his two buddies that he reunited with last issue land on a planet where another Spaceknight has been detected. They find a world where a group of de-powered Dire Wraiths have been enslaved.

Their master turns out to be Unam the Unseen...

...considered (at least in his own head) to be the weakest of the Spaceknights because his only power is to become invisible. When the Wraithwar ended, he took advantage of the Wraiths' weakness and let the power go to his head. It's definitely a "homage" to Apocalypse Now (which i didn't realize when i read this in real-time) but it's done well.

The cover has ROM going hand-to-hand against a giant, monstrous Dire Wraith, but nothing like that happens in the book, unfortunately.

Inks by Kim DeMulder, continuing the successful trend of pairing Ditko with a top quality inker.

Click on this one to fully appreciate this wild scene.

In the next issue, we find that Unam is ultimately redeemable, and after his "empire" is banished to Limbo, he begs forgiveness, and the other Spaceknights accept him back.

And for contrast, issue #71 introduces shows us another Spaceknight, Raak the Breaker, who has conquered another world of Wraiths (or rather, he joined up with the Wraiths to help conquer the world).

Unlike Unam, he's irredeemable, and Unam sacrifices his life to help defeat him.

Issue #70 had all female Dire Wraiths and i was going to complain that the males have been all but forgotten just because their design isn't as cool, but they do figure into the plot of issue #71.

And it raises a good point; the females lost their sorcerers powers when Wraithworld was banished to Limbo, but the males would still have their technology. Considering the first 40 or so issues of the ROM series focused on the male threat, it's sort of dawned on me that the Wraith threat really hasn't ended at all, has it? I guess the defeat on Earth would still be considered a major blow, however.

A nitpick: on Breaker's world, the Wraiths attacked the "humans" in overt full-scale war even prior to the loss of the females' sorcery.

Considering both the males and females have the ability to infiltrate and hide among the humans, it seems like an odd choice. Of course it's just a quick flashback panel that i'm probably over-reading.

Raak the Breaker is the "master of microwaves". Don't laugh; i'm pretty much limited to pressing the "+30 seconds" button on my microwave; the rest of the buttons are beyond me.

The Spaceknights also meet Vola the Trapper on Raak's world. Unlike Raak, Vola is one of the good ones.

It's probably ironic for someone whose project involves reading all of Marvel's comics together, but i find ROM much more enjoyable when he's off of Earth.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• In ROM annual #2, ROM called Unam "the most courageous Spaceknight of all", but the message apparently didn't stick.
  
• Rick Jones takes Cindy and Brandy to a cabin in the woods that is owned by General Ross. It's not explicitly said but i assume it's the cabin that Ross was staying in circa Hulk #252.
  
• ROM keeps the fact that his human side was destroyed in ROM #27 to himself when the other Knights suggest that he reclaim it and return to Brandy.
  
• Wraithworld was destroyed in ROM #65.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A