History ComicBook / RomSpaceKnight

The Wraiths have returned as well, mainly in a ComicBook/NewWarriors story arc involving Turbo, The Torpedo's successor and in the first ''Annihilators'' mini-series by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.

''Rom Spaceknight'' is a 1979 comic book from Creator/MarvelComics, based on an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILIaPluH4pc an action figure sold by the toy company Parker Brothers.]] While the toy itself soon faded into obscurity, its comic lasted until 1986. Set in the shared Franchise/MarvelUniverse, it had a small but loyal following, mostly due to the writing of Creator/BillMantlo (Another example of this can be seen in Mantlo's ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts|MarvelComics}}'' series, also a toy adaptation).

''Rom The Space Knight'' was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILIaPluH4pc an action figure sold in 1979 by the toy company Parker Brothers.]] While the toy itself soon faded into obscurity, its comic book tie-in series, put out by Creator/MarvelComics, lasted until 1986. It had a small but loyal following, mostly due to the writing of Creator/BillMantlo, who excelled in creating epic science fiction and fantasy sagas, and used his comics to expand the corners of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse (Another example of this can be seen in Mantlo's ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts|MarvelComics}}'' series, also a toy adaptation.)

2015 saw the announcement of a comic reboot of ''ROM: The Space Knight'' from Hasbro[[note]]which purchased Parker Brothers as part of Tonka in 1991[[/note]] partner Creator/IDWPublishing, and in December, it was announced that Hasbro and Creator/ParamountPictures are collaborating on a Hasbro movie-verse with the ''Franchise/GIJoe'' flicks as the starting point, and will include reimaginations of Rom, as well as the ''Toys/{{Micronauts|MarvelComics}}'', the ''WesternAnimation/{{Visionaries}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}''.

''Rom The Space Knight'' was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILIaPluH4pc an action figure sold in 1979 by the toy company Parker Brothers.]] While the toy itself soon faded into obscurity, its comic book tie-in series, put out by Creator/MarvelComics, lasted until 1986. It had a small but loyal following, mostly due to the writing of Creator/BillMantlo, who excelled in creating epic science fiction and fantasy sagas, and used his comics to expand the corners of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse (Another example of this can be seen in Mantlo's ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts}}'' series, also a toy adaptation.)

In Rom #50, in what may be a case of CreatorBreakdown (something similar happened on ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts}}'') the series took a darker turn. The female Dire Wraiths, blaming the males for their failures, killed them and took over the operation to conquer Earth (don't ask how they intended to reproduce later.) These new Wraiths were hideous, and had the ability to literally suck the brains out of people, allowing them to gain their memories. They decided to go public with their invasion, beginning by massacring everyone in Clairton, including Steve and the Torpedo. On the plus side, when these Wraiths decided to openly attack SHIELD on their helicarrier base itself, the various Earth governments finally realized the threat and threw all their support behind Rom as field leader to defeat the menace.

2015 saw the announcement of a comic reboot of ''ROM: The Space Knight'' from Hasbro[[note]]which purchased Parker Brothers as part of Tonka in 1991[[/note]] partner Creator/IDWPublishing, and in December, it was announced that Hasbro and Creator/ParamountPictures are collaborating on a Hasbro movie-verse with the ''Franchise/GIJoe'' flicks as the starting point, and will include reimaginations of Rom, as well as the ''Toys/{{Micronauts}}'', the ''WesternAnimation/{{Visionaries}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}''.

* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: The Dire Wraith who went by the name Jacob Marks just wanted to live a quiet life with his wife and son.

** To the original ''Series/TheInvadersTVSeries''.

** To the original ''Series/TheInvaders'' TV series.

* CerebusSyndrome: The comic's tone became much darker later on, with the Dire Wraiths being able to kill humans before Rom could save them becoming more common, Brandy becoming ruthless in her obsession with defeating the Dire Wraiths after becoming Starshine II and more attention being drawn to how Rom is tortured by the fact that he's given up his humanity to fight the Dire Wraiths and has seen no end in his mission for over 200 years.

* RobotWar: One of the later issues is a standalone story where Rom encounters a civilization in a civil war with its own machinery. Being part man and part machine himself, Rom tries to broker a peace, [[spoiler:but neither side will see reason and they [[DownerEnding end up destroying each other.]]]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: Issue 34 cover presents Rom being attacked by sea monster under the command of [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor.]] In reality, those sea monsters were Dire Wraiths and Namor and Rom allied themselves to fight them without any confrontation.

* FateWorseThanDeath: Rom addressed on several occasions that banishing the Dire Wraiths to Limbo is a more effective punishment for their cruelty than simply executing them, as that way they have to spend eternity being unable to cause further destruction and death.

* LegacyCharacter: After the death of Starshine, Brandy Clark becomes her successor after gaining her powers and being mystically bonded to Starshine's Space Knight armor by a Dire Wraith warlock named Dr. Dredd. A third Starshine subsequently appeared in the 2000 ''Spaceknights'' miniseries.

* CerebusSyndrome: The comic's tone became much darker later on, with the Dire Wraiths being able to kill humans before Rom could save them becoming more common and more attention being drawn to how Rom is tortured by the fact that he's given up his humanity to fight the Dire Wraiths and has seen no end in his mission for over 200 years.

* WizardsFromOuterSpace: The Dire Wraiths are aliens who use magic. Well, the female ones (and a very small number of males).

* CerebusSyndrome

* PhantomZone: Limbo

* KillAndReplace:Later in the comics' run, the Dire Wraiths start killing humans and taking on their forms to take their place.

* WizardsFromOuterSpace: The Dire Wraiths. Well, the female ones (and a very small number of males).

* CanonForeigner: Every character ''except'' Rom was created for the comic book.

* EmergencyTransformation: In the 35th issue, Namor saves Sybil from drowning by using technology to convert her into an Atlantean.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: The 32nd issue has Mystique pretend to be wounded to lure Rom into a trap.