Busiek on Rom Reference in Avengers Forever

Fresh from Kurt Busiek's Spring.me account:

KurtBusiek responded to joltcity 22 Aug
This is a silly question about something you wrote a long while back, but: I was re-reading AVENGERS FOREVER # 1 and noticed that Rom, Spaceknight was mentioned. Was this something that had to be cleared with Hasbro? Just curious.

No, it wasn't. I was prepared to rewrite that caption if Marvel told me I couldn't even mention Rom's name, but they didn't say anything.

Maybe I should have avoided naming him and they just missed it, maybe naming him as a side-reference like that is just fine. I don't really know. But nobody made a fuss about it.

I'm thinking this isn't the first time a creator has mentioned that they received no problems from editorial when they mentioned Rom, but the other example isn't coming to me.  Nor have I found it with a quick search.

[EDIT: I'm almost positive I asked Peter David about Rom's appearance in Hulk #418 during one of his open question and answer sessions on his site and he replied, but I can't find it now! Can anyone help?]

[EDIT:]
I asked Peter David two years ago about his use of Rom in Hulk #418 and whether anyone in Marvel said anything.  He replied:

Nope. Nobody said anything, probably because I had him in human form rather than as a robot.

(A big "thank you" to Anthony Malena of the Galador mailing list for helping locate that for me!)
[END EDIT]

In general, Marvel editorial doesn't seem to care about mentioning or sometimes even showing Rom as long as it's minor.  Things like the Spaceknights limited series are obviously another matter and a story I need to share sometime.

The Other ROM Magazines

If you're a Rom fan, you're of course familiar with the above logo from his comic book. But did you know that the Marvel comic series wasn't the only periodical by the name of Rom? In fact, it wasn't even the first!

ROM: Computer Applications for Living was the first. It was a computer magazine that began publishing in 1977, two years before the comic book! However, it only lasted for nine monthly issues, meaning it folded before Marvel began even thinking about publishing theirs. This ROM was absorbed into Creative Computing, which included this ROM logo on the cover for a short time to announce it [source].

The next ROM magazine I know of came out of Canada and was "the magazine that brings the ATARI computer to life!" It started out as a rather amateur production in 1983, but improved quickly. However, it still seems to have lasted only ten issues [source 1, source 2].

The final ROM Magazine is still being published by the Royal Ontario Museum. It began its life as Rotunda in 1968, but switched to the ROM name in 2007 with the logo above [source].

Then this one in 2009.

And most recently this one in 2013. This also happens to be the museum's logo, which celebrates its centennial this year. But our beloved Spaceknight was 200 years old when he came to earth back in 1979, so he wins.

CD Covers Not on the Web

 As far as Google and Amazon seem to be concerned, the covers for these albums don't exist. Except maybe as a photo of the CD still in the case, not a proper, close up scan. Therefore, as a public service (and since I went to the trouble to scan them for myself), I present them here. Note that I did very little manipulation to make them look good, so if you're picky you might want to tweak them some more. But if you're like me and just want something to stick in iTunes, here you go. Click them to get the full-size images.

Greatest Dance Hits of the '60s (Performed by the Original Stars)

Greatest Love Songs of the '70s & '80s (Performed by the Original Stars)

Turn It Up: The Best of 80's Rock

Spectacular! (Charlie Balogh at the Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ, Organ Stop Pizza)

Berkeley! (Walter Strony at the Wurlitzer)

Happy Holidays from the Alabama Theatre

DeepSouthCon 50 Report: Day 3

[See Day 1 and Day 2, if you missed them.]

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Because Sunday was Father's Day, I had family obligations in the morning. Luckily, like the day before, the first concert wasn't until 1:00 p.m. Unfortunately, I was still a bit late and had to take a seat between two of Power Salad's songs. (I think it was the first two.)

Chris Mezzolesta of Power Salad

Power Salad is actually a writing duo, but Chris Mezzolesta, the only member present, does most of the performing. The concert went well, except for when he got to "The Fire at the Old Diploma Mill." There's a point in the song where it uses several fake names for the diploma mill's staff. Unfortunately, Chris had already performed the song at Friday night's Comedy Music Sampler Concert — See it here! — and his audience was almost entirely the same people, so we didn't chuckle nearly as loudly this second time.

After the concert, I took off the Star Wars tie I'd worn to church for Father's Day and put on a Star Trek: The Next Generation t-shirt. Thus covering both the major Star franchises in one day.

Luke and Chris do the Apothecary Sketch

Then it was to the main room for a performance by sketch comedy group Cirque du So What? The group is actually made up of four FuMP artists: Chris Mezzolesta of Power Salad, Devo Spice, Shoebox of Worm Quartet, and the great Luke Ski. As I explained in Day 2's entry, however, Devo was only present for Saturday's festivities. Therefore, either Luke's wife, Sara Trice, or Shoebox filled in for him when needed. (Not all members perform in all sketches.) Despite being on the main stage just before the closing ceremonies, the performance was sadly not well attended.

After that, the closing ceremonies moved in. All the guests of honor got to speak briefly, including Doctor Demento. And then it was over. Well, some of the dementia fans and artists hung around for a little bit, preparing to go. I believe it was during this time Luke and Sara left, giving me a farewell hug. (Sara, not Luke.) I helped Shoebox take his stuff down to Chris Mezzolesta's car. Then, after we returned to the lobby, I got to watch Shoebox encounter Howard Tayler, writer/artist of Schlock Mercenary and the con's artist guest of honor. Shoebox is the inheritor of Partially Clips from originator Rob Balder. They had mutual praise for each others' web comics, which made Shoebox most happy, as witnessed by the notes under the Partially Clips comic posted after DeepSouthCon.

Shoebox, Chris, and Rob Balder

After that, people pretty much dispersed. I did a brief hunt for Doctor Demento for reasons I now forget, but failed to find him. So it was off to home for me. I had a great time, but was so sad to see it end. Hopefully one day I will get to hang with all these fun people again.