Seeing an issue of Marvel’s ROM series on the shelf in a local shop is one of the very earliest memories I have of seeing an American comic in the UK. I was fascinated, but it’d be a few years before I actually read a non-British comic book, and even longer before I read one featuring ROM.

Based on an action figure, Marvel’s ROM comic outlasted the toy for years, with the character being fully integrated into the shared universe of superheroes. Just like Transformers and GI Joe, both of which were previously long running Marvel titles (as well as being picked up by other publishers over the years), ROM is now part of Skybound’s Energon Universe comics line.

In this one-shot, which introduces ROM to an audience who are mostly likely to be unfamiliar with him or his adventures, the character begins in dire straits, missing an arm and an eye, on a mission to locate a group of missing kids. This leads to the eponymous Space Knight taking on a big monster with the help of his sentient, jellyfish-esque cape.

It’s all very slickly produced, as you’d expect from writer Robert Kirkman and his Energon Universe titles. It definitely has the visual aesthetic of his other cosmic Energon Universe comic, Void Rivals. That’s definitely not accidental, given that this one-shot leads into ROM being brought firmly into the universe, with further adventures promised in the pages of Void Rivals.

It’s beautifully illustrated by Lorenzo De Felici, with very Void Rivals-style colours by Mat Lopes.

Even if you aren’t intending to follow ROM over to Void Rivals, or check out Void Rivals itself altogether (spoiler: it started well, but I got bored with Void Rivals quite quickly), this one-shot is a great, standalone comic book with a fun story, incentive characters and great action.

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