Spaceknight Saturdays: Rom vs. Rocketeer

No, not THAT Rocketeer.

If you remember our last issue, the Torpedo came to Clairton looking to hide his family from the Rocketeers AKA Dire Wraiths with rocket packs. Well, no rocketman escapes the Rocketeers. By my count, 13 Rocketeers dive down on sleepy Clairton, Virginia. Do they immediately go after Brock "the Torpedo" Jones or Rom "The Spaceknight"?

Why no, they've got other targets in mind.

Like the milkman!
And if that wasn't evil enough... the children are next!
Now, if you remember last Saturday, I was talking about the Torpedo's hidden power to rip his shirt open. It's not quite the insta-change yelling "Shazam" is, but it can be darned impressive sometimes:
How'd he do that?! It doesn't look possible. He's the Torpedo, that's how!

Next stop, Battleground: Clairton Elementary!
Rom comes down hard and early, leaving slim pickings for the Torpedo, but the rookie doesn't let his humanity get in the way.
Humans can fight Dire Wraiths too, I guess is what he's saying there.

Once the school grounds are covered in corpse dust, it's time to take the fighting inside. See if you can spot the hidden metaphors:
Did you catch both of them? Look again. I'll expect your reports before recess.

The kids are saved, the Rocketeers are dead or limboed, and that only leaves the head Wraith who initiated the attack.
Oh well. Amusingly, there's a comment in the letters page from a reader who only started buying Rom because the X-Men guest-starred, because he thought Rom was aimed at a younger audience. Look, kids! Suicide! Alanis Morissette should update her song.

In other letters page news: Back when I was looking at that X-Men appearance, I surmised that Bill Mantlo didn't really read the X-Men (because he needed help from Claremont to write his story). Turns out I was right! He had to call Claremont to ask who was a member of the X-Men at the time, and Claremont actually goofed, forgetting Angel. You'd never see a continuity snafu like this in comics today...

But wait, you say! What about "meanwhile, 200 years ago" with the human bodies of the Spaceknights at the mercy of Terminator? Well, he only takes Rom's and goes.
Is this a veiled ad for the action figure..?

Speaking of marketing, Rom and Wraiths are about to start showing up in a number of Marvel Comics to make sure no Essential collection is ever complete. So this week, expect a little more Rom material than usual, and once we're all caught up, get back here Saturday for our regularly-scheduled Spaceknight action!