Rom

Rom was originally an action figure created by Palitoy in the late 1970s and marketed in the UK as part of their Action Man line, an ally of the Action Man Space Ranger. The armoured, apparently alien Rom was picked up as a licensed character by America's Marvel Comics Group and given a complex backstory that revealed him to be a cyborg Spaceknight from the planet Galador engaged in an ongoing quest to defeat the sinister, shapechanging Dire Wraiths who had invaded Earth, and his US Marvel series outlasted the actual toy by several years. The only UK originated Rom strip, though, is the one below, a promotional ad strip for the toy published in 1980 which ties-in to the Action Man line (see Action Man Promotional Strips) but conspicuously does not reference any backstory for the character (the American Rom series, however, was reprinted in part in various Marvel UK titles including Forces in Combat, Future Tense and the 1982 Rom Summer Special ).