ROM Spaceknight Wanted For Murder Of GI Joe

09/22/2016 09:41 pm EDT

Following on the heels of the release of Revolution #1 from IDW Publishing -- the event series that teams up a number of Hasbro properties including G.I. Joe, Transformers, and ROM, Spaceknight -- the publisher has released a wanted poster (via Twitter, embedded below) indicating that ROM is wanted in connection with the murder of Joe Colton, the general who inspired G.I. Joe.

The poster gives a lot of fun identifying information about ROM, but peraps the most interesting aspect of it is that there's a phone number attached -- and yes, the phone number really works.

"You've reached the GI Joe information line," says the number when you call it. "Your help is crucial in the capture of the unidentified android responsible for the murder of General Joe Colton, the war hero who the GI Joes are named after. General Joe was gunned down in cold blood by a robotic being of unknown origin. It is unclear at this time whether Optimus Prime and his Autobots were involved. Intelligence reports the android arrived from space wearing a metallic suit of armor and is known only as ROM. GI Joe will not rest until the culprit is brought to justice and answers for this act of war."

It also asks for civilians for tips, and encourages them to pick up a "Revolution pamphlet."

The publisher, which has had the various Hasbro licenses for several years (aside from more recent acquisitions like the long-in-limbo ROM), will launch a five-issue biweekly event series in September 2016 called Revolution. The series will take the stories that IDW has already been publishing in each individual book, and bring them into a tighter-knit shared universe for the properties. Since it's comicbooks and not film, they're able to bring all of their Hasbro properties together: G.I. Joe, Transformers, Micronauts, ROM, Action Man, and M.A.S.K. will all be included in Revolution, and their new first issues on the other end of the event series will live in one cohesive world.

The series itself revolves around an "unstable version of Energon" called Ore 13 that directly affects ROM and the Micronauts, and will be the catalyst for M.A.S.K. to launch (both in the universe and as a comic). All six properties will get new first issues that now live distinctly in one universe, though that doesn't mean they'll be constantly crossing over.

"I don't want G.I. Joe orTransformers fans to feel like they have to buy every issue of everything we publish now just to get the whole story. If they do, certainly that's a nice outcome, but I still want them to read aTransformers book and have it feel like a Transformers book. It's just, now within that universe, ROM is somewhere in the background and may be drawn back in at some point," IDW Chief Chris Ryall said back when the project was announced. He compared it directly to the Marvel Universe, and how as a kid he could be reading a Spider-Man comic and see Thor fly by in the background of an issue. "He had no bearing on the story, but reminded you that there are other gods and heroes in the universe."

Revolution #2 will be on the stands in October.

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