ROM Special #1: Put That in Your Blind Bag and Smoke It

Despite being a standard length of 20+ pages, there isn’t a lot of exposition, and the page layouts flow smoothly to the point that the issue is a very quick read. The storyline is a short rescue mission beginning before the first page where Rom is thrown into a prison cell alongside an “inorganic” named Kranix.

The space knight himself is an easily likable character, exemplifying the “knight” part of his epithet. Rom is kind, helpful, and self-sacrificing. His old, unique backstory of an “organic” turned into a cyborg or “inorganic” is only hinted at in the dialogue of this issue, but it clearly influences the Space Knight and how Kirkman chose to portray him.

Carpet, Rom’s strange reforming alien cape, is an odd character first appearing in this special. Carpet does have any dialogue, but their willingness to help Rom matched with their later refusal to do something scary gives them a sense of character in the story.

Lorenzo De Felici’s line art is neat throughout the issue. There is only minimal space for gutters between the panels, allowing for wider scenes that have a decent sense of perspective. That also adds to the issue’s “fast” feeling, as the scenes are not broken into countless snapshots, instead favoring fewer scenes with a bit of punch. The colors by Matheus Lopes add a sense of the alien to De Felici’s art. The red of Rom’s cyborg eye glows on the page, and Carpet has blending shades that make them feel appropriately strange.

Together the art and the colors use mostly black backgrounds, due to the lack of lighting in the dungeon-like prison, which keeps the reader focused on characters and their movement through the page.