Saturday, September 9, 2017

From The Caturday Files
















 

7 comments:

Shlomo Ben Hungstien said...

sorry to go off topic here Cal but you'll find this interesting http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/RomIDW

if this is true about ROM, it raises some interesting questions. no doubt IDW will continue to use the character here and there in all sorts of Hasbroverse cross over stories in an attempt to dip back into IDW version of ROM fan base water well (shallow as it apparently is). or is IDW planning on relaunching the series in the hopes of offering up a version of ROM that fans will be more receptive to? it's not unheard of after DC's New52 they relaunched the Suicide Squad title at least 2 times, the last time getting it more in line with last year's movie version of The Squad.

but if the series is getting cancelled because of dwindling sales those aren't the biggest questions. here it is, in this new century did ROM as a property have enough wide spread appeal (with old and newer fans) to sustain a self titled series or was it because of IDW's reinterpretation of the character? when it comes to the old school ROM fans i know the vast majority of them either hated it at first sight like me or tried out the series and dropped it after a few issues or so. i'm inclined to believe the series could have had legs had it been more faithful to the original in some key ways but then again i'm hardly unbiased on the matter. according to this owner at a local comic shop who is also a ROM fan the radical armor redesign was in order to avoid any potential future legal fights with the family of the creator of the Parker Brothers toy Bing McCoy. that didn't quite make sense to me for a number of reasons but if that's true that means the legal red tape entangling the ROM property was even more fucked up then i could have ever imagined even back when marvel initially lost the rights. it's all enough to make your fucken head spin.

Jordan said...

Cal, you need to watch Ozark (first season on Netflix now).

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

People fail to see that one of the big reasons that ROM was so popular in the 80s is that his comic was often a team up book with the entire Marvel Universe to pick from. It was a great way for Marvel to show off their properties through a neophyte and I picked up many a book based on their appearance in ROM. Plus it was a thrill to see Rom interact with Alpha Flight or the X-men. His comic these days is just him with his articulated fingers. There is nothing special about him and the nostalgia is lost. I don't read the IDW book for that reason.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Hey, hey, HEY.

CATS, everyone!

Some excellent vintage images here today, Cal.

Shlomo Ben Hungstien said...

IDW lost me at the armor redesign. there's at least one guy i know who still buys the idw series in the hopes it gets better i find that especially galling.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

I ditched it after the first two because it hurt to much then went back to read my old Roms from the beginning.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

I am a big fan of that old cat art and advertising myself. Love those old first readers too.