The Synthetic Six (Vs. Mr. Universe)

 

For this, the third appearance of The Synthetic Six,  I needed an opponent to truly challenge them.  Who better to fit the bill than STF's arch super-villain, Mr. Universe, making his 17th appearance?

ROM and Batman Vs. Clayface

 

For the final part of this Three-Part Epic, we learn who has been behind the Gotham Incident all along.  I did see at least one correct guess in the comments!  I'm very interested to see what the upcoming Clayface movie will look like.  It is supposed to be a lower budget affair, but I hope that the special effects needed to bring the villain to life are not skimped on.

ROM Vs. Batman

 

In the middle chapter of this Three-Part Epic, we see that the Dark Knight has not taken kindly to the events of last issue!  But if ROM is innocent, then what is really going on here?  Make sure that you return tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!  

Batman first encountered ROM on a Lost Brave and the Bold cover, an MS Paint effort from way back in 2010...

Catwoman and ROM

 

My goodness, what has ROM done?  You just know that a situation like this is not going to sit well with certain other residents of Gotham City! Good thing that this is only Part One of a Three-Part Epic, so make sure you come back tomorrow to find out what happens next!

Blue Beetle and Rom

 

Time for another double dose of Ditko. His skilled design work extended to the various creatures that he would create. This big guy wasn't given a name, so I cam up with one for him.

Legion of Super-Heroes and ROM in: "The Durlan Wraith!"

 

Uh-oh, looks like the Dire Wraiths have infiltrated the Legion!  And if that isn't the real Chameleon Boy, then where is he?  Sounds like the makings for and exciting sci-fi mystery!

ROM first met the LSH in STF #1310...

Rom and Robin & Batgirl

 

Here's another cover which required a bit of prep work on the main image before I could add in the guest stars.  Check out a peek at the behind the scenes progress:

The Synthetic Six (Vs. Ultron)

 

I thought it would be fun to have another outing from this team of once-human heroes.  Who better to face a group with robotic forms than the most evil artificial creation ever - Ultron! The Synthetic Six first appeared in STF #3830...

ROM in Camelot 3000

 

I bet a good writer could make a cool story out of this set up.  King Arthur is always looking for a few good knights to fill out his Round Table, after all.  It only follows that a futuristic Arthur would want a space age knight for the job.  

ROM and Space Ghost

 

ROM had a great comic book tie in back in the day - so why didn't the toy become more popular than it was?  I think one major mistake was not looking to what Marvel was doing for inspiration in expanding the line.  Pretty much all you could get was ROM himself, I saw no other Spaceknights on the shelves next to him, let alone vehicles and accessories.  An even bigger issue was that you could not even purchase a toy Dire Wraith for him to battle with.  What good was that cool weapon of his if you couldn't blast his arch enemies?  That was truly a lost opportunity.

The Synthetic Six

 

I have a group of robot heroes on this blog in Robo Force, but I thought for this team I would use heroes that were once fully human, only to begin new lives in powerful artificial bodies.  I think that such a fate would drive me bonkers, so I have to admire that these characters choose to use their new forms to help others.

Green Lantern and Rom in: "Emerald Outfitter!"

From what I have read, there is still no word on what is to become of the in-development Green Lantern Corps HBO Max series.  I'm not optimistic that it will actually make it to air, as Warner Bros./Discovery seems to want to shift away from streaming series, especially expensive ones.  If it does indeed go away, I hope there are plans for a big budget theatrical Green Lantern project announced soon.

Green Lantern and ROM's last meeting was a more contentious one, in STF #3457, and they first met in a backup feature in STF #1100...

Aliens Vs. ROM

 Looking over various comics to find images, I have been struck by the gorgeous work of Jean Frisano.  Frisano illustrated the covers to many Marvel foreign reprints, and he had a unique painterly style.  I am surprised that I never saw him get some mainstream comics work, I would have been interested to see his interior artwork as well.

Metal Men and ROM in: "Building a Better Spaceknight!"

The Metal Men should have had action figures all their own, just like ROM did.  Well, maybe at least Stretch-Armstrong type toys to go along with each member of the team.  I know I would have loved to see such an offering on the toy shelves when I was a kid - but I'm guessing there weren't enough fans of the wacky robots to make it a profitable venture.

The Metal Men first encountered ROM in STF #2340...

Wildcat and ROM

 

It was pretty cool to see the live action Ted Grant Wildcat on Stargirl this season.  He looked great, but unfortunately even though he was suited up, it was only for dialogue scenes.  Hopefully if he continues to appear in flashback we will eventually see him in action as well.

Green Lantern and Rom

I paired these two together in a back up feature in STF #1100, but I felt they were worthy of having a cover all to themselves.  Certainly if there's any group that I would expect a Spaceknight to come in contact with it would be the GLC.  I can only imagine the conflict that would be caused if they allowed a Dire Wraith to wield a Power Ring!

ROM Vs. Aliens

 

If there is any race as deadly as the Dire Wraiths are, it's got to be Xenomorphs, so I can easily see this battle happening.  I am happy to use a George Perez ROM image here. I was lucky enough to pick up a trio of Perez sketches some years back:

Atari Force and ROM

 Here's a tale of two licensed properties.  Both had talented writers and artists working on their comic series, but one had a distinct difference.  Atari Force was alone with its own story and continuity, while ROM was placed squarely in the middle of the Marvel Universe, with familiar heroes and villains crossing paths with the titular hero.  Perhaps if DC had made Atari Force a pert of the DCU, their comic would have had a wider appeal than it did.

I bought it mainly for the gorgeous JL Garcia Lopez art.  Here's an original sketch of Starfire by him from my collection:

ROM Vs. Worf

 

It looks as though ROM's recent encounter with Captain Kirk was not the end of his adventures with The Federation.  Michael Dorn is famous for his portrayal of Worf, but these days his voice action work comes readily to mind as well.  I've been hearing his signature voice on cartoons for decades now, including lots of comic characters like Gorgon, Steel, Kalibak, Atrocitus, Kraven, Ronan and Bane. He is always a welcome addition.

ROM and Captain Kirk

 ROM was based on a toy, even though the actual action figure may not have been as impressive as the character as depicted in comics.  One thing I really liked about ROM was his arch enemies - the Dire Wraiths.  They had a great design, unlike the look of most aliens.  My question is - was there ever any Dire Wraith toys sold as accessories to ROM?  Thinking back I don't remember any, and that seems like a missed opportunity to me.