Rom, SpaceKnight!If there were ever two words that were meant to be put together then separated by a comma, more than those two words, well, I've never heard them.
And while my love for the Rom is never going to rival
Chris Sims (to whom I swiped the Free Rom Banner), I do have a lot of love for the character. And yet, we'll probably never see an
Essential Rom collection from Marvel, and that's a durn shame.
Now I'm not going to retread the sorry state of
Rom's mucked up licensing rights, but I do want to use him as a poster child for today's topic.
Comics In Limbo:Lost Gems Of The Comics World Saved by the Scanners!
Look, I know it's real easy to point you fingers of shame at all the Comic Book Scanners who week after week scan copies of
CountDown or
Iron Fist and then upload them to the internet, but let's not forget that those guys also are helping to preserve many other comics that don't have a snowball's chance of getting an Essential or Showcase.
I mean, do you really think you'll ever see a
Morlock 2001 Omnibus? Highly unlikely considering the series only ran 3 issues and probably only has 2 fans on the entire internet, but does that mean it should just be lost and forgotten? Nay, says I!
I mean who wouldn't want to read this:
The year is 2001 A.D. A time when life as we know it has become hideously transformed. A rigid totalitarian regime holds the people in an iron grip, and mankind's greatest truths have been declared "inoperative".Professor Kroschell, the "mad botanical professor" has been conducting illegal botanical experimentations when he is gunned down by the jack-booted police. They confiscate a gigantic pod that holds a male human within its leaves. Outwardly appearing human yet structurally a plant, we are introduced to Morlock !When transformed into his plant-like form his mind is clouded with the bestial preoccupation for finding food.Only to later find out that the mad scientist was planning to develop an army of Plant Men to overthrow the dictatorship, Morlock continues his fight against oppression in 2001. Beware the touch of Morlock ! He'll turn everyone into fungus creatures.
I know what you're thinking - "Jim, a half man/half plant who fights a totalitarian regime and turns into a rampaging tree creature? I've seen that a million times! There's no way you could get more than 2 issues of good comics out of that premise!"
Well, fear not, because with issue 3 they completely change the whole tone of the series, so there you go. An awesome trilogy to rival Star Wars and Lord of the Rings!
Currently, the rights to Morlock 2001 (and all the other Atlas/Seaboard characters) probably reside with Chip Goodman's heirs. I don't know that they are ever going to do anything with those characters (which just might be a good thing actually - I mean do we really want to see an Iron Jaw movie?) so it's really good that the original comics can still be found somewhere.
And the same thing is true for Rom. I sincerely doubt Marvel is ever going to be able to reprint those old Rom comics. Or their old Micronauts for that matter. Which is a durn shame because those were some great stories.
I also don't imagine that DC is going to rush out a Jerry Lewis Showcase anytime soon. Or Amethyst Princess of Gemworld for that matter (not sure what the hold up is on that one but doesn't that seem like a natural?)
So, were it not for those diligent (and slightly OCD) young men awash in the glow of their HP Scanner then such gems of comics history would be eternally lost. Or at least really, really hard to find in the the backissue bins on the floor at your local comics shop. You know which bins I'm talking about - the ones that say 4 for a $1.00 and smell sort of like dead gerbils. You spend more than an hour thumbing through those bins looking for a complete set of Justice League Task Force and your hands will stink like you cleaned a cat box with a block of moldy cheese.
In conclusion, the next time you see some goofball talking on a messageboard about how illegal comic book downloading is destroying American values, getting girls pregnant out of wedlock and turning kids to the devil weed, remind that guy about Morlock 2001, Rom, SpaceKnight and this guy...
...Hell-Rider!
Right On with the NOW Super-Hero, Indeed! :D
Thank you Scanners! Comic Fandom owes you a beer!
Extra PCDW Bonus Round:
Elfquest is going to be distributed Online Now
Thanks goes to Tech Savy Phil Looney for passing that bit of information to me!
Thanks to the diligent work of a comic scan enthusiast by the name of Phantom Stranger, we have a new listing of What's Left to Scan in the DC Universe as of Oct 1, 2009. (This is an excel doc that has been converted to web pages by me, so you know how that can make for wonky html.)
