Rom Spaceknight (1979) 1

Welcome to West Virginia Day.

Now I have to wonder how many readers are asking why the western part of Virginia is being recognized as a non-holiday.

And, it is kind of a holiday. State and other institutions do receive a paid vacation day in recognition.

Anyway, to address the question I posed; West Virginia is a separate entity from its parent state of Virginia. For those unfamiliar with the war between the states, the populace of the western portion of Virginia chose to secede from that portion of one of the original 13 colonies.

Well, Virginia had already seceded to continue with loyalties to the south, so maybe the newly minted – and rather unoriginal sounding – West Virginia was receding.

That doesn’t sound quite right, either, but you get the gist.

Rom Spaceknight (1979) 1

So, West Virginia became a state unto itself on June 20, 1863.

Now that that’s settled, let’s move along to Rom, Spaceknight.

Jeff may never have thought we could shoehorn Rom into a non-holiday, but we have.

We’re using the fictional setting of Clairton, WV, for the spaceknight’s base of operations. Or, rather, that’s what Marvel duo Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema did.

Rom began as the brainchild of Scott Dankman, Richard C. Levy and Bryan L. McCoy who sold their baby to Parker Brothers to be mass produced as a toy. The company then licensed Rom to Marvel Comics in hopes of creating more of an interest in the action figure.

Ironically, the comic book outlasted the toy. Rom ran from 1979 to 1986 chronicling the cyborg’s adventures over 75-regular floppies and four annuals.

When interest wanned on the Marvel front, the title was allowed to slip back to its original owners.

Not until 2016 would the character return to printed page. This time IDW would handle the spaceknight’s exploits. Issue zero was released as part of Free Comic Book Day May 7. The ongoing series debuted in July of that year and continued through 2018.

With all that information to digest, sit back and relax before diving into either series. Wash the reading down with a West Virginia exclusive pepperoni roll, it’s just what is sounds like, and enjoy some level footing beyond the Mountain State.