ROM (Comic Book)



ROM is a comic book series by Marvel. The titular hero of the series, ROM, is a human who merged with space armor to fight the race of Dire Wraiths, a race who absorbs their victims' memories and identities in order to rule the galaxy. The exploits of the comic book hero named ROM in Marvel Issue No. 36 through 44 with Annual No. 03 feature hypnosis and mind control techniques prominenty. With help of Brandy Clark, ROM defeats the Wraiths and return to his home world to rebuild his planet after later merging with the armor of Starshine.

Plot
Brandy is called to the grave of Starshine where she sees its ghostly form floating above the grave. When she digs it up, a man called "Doctor Dredd" (in fact a disguised wraith) persuades her to become one with the armor. When she begins floating above the ground and she merges with the armor, it is revealed to be a trap and the Wraiths assume control of her will. The Wraiths order her on a mission to kill ROM which she completes. The being Quasimodo is revealed to occupy the armor, a being who has cloned ROM into his human form. Though the cloning is incomplete, the shock of Quasimodo's death snaps Starshine out of her brainwashing and she restores ROM to normal.

Their later investigations of Wraiths in a small town lead to a surprise attack by HYBRID, a Wraith human creature. Trhough the use of hypnosis, he separates Brandy from her armor, using it to send ROM into limbo. The journey ROM makes in Limbo leads to him meeting Majik, a member of a group of young mutants who have been hypnotized by HYBRID. They return and break free with Brandy's help, allowing ROM to destroy HYBRID completely with his weapon.