peter john rios

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#208

Thursday Apr. 26th Edition:

Daredevil: One of my favorite one-off DD issues featuring a crazy night of Daredevil trying to survive a mad house of inventions and horrors. Plus it’s by Harlan Ellison and Arthur Byron. Find it. Read it. (1984)

Flash: The current Flash Family grace the cover. I know there are many Impulse fans, but if I can’t have Wally West, I’m partial to Bart as Kid Flash. (2004)

Justice League of America: Another Perez headshot border cover! (1982)

Richie Rich: Ahhh those corny Richie Rich cover gags. Love ‘em. (1981)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1975)

Superman (2004)

Uncanny X-Men (1986)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#209

Wednesday Apr. 25th Edition:

Daredevil (1984)

Flash (2004)

Justice League of America: I love “headshots in the border” covers. And this one by George Perez wrapping up a five part JLA/JSA/All Star Squadron team-up against Per Degaton. (1982)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1975)

Superman (2004)

Uncanny X-Men: X-Men vs Hellfire Club vs Nimrod! Again, one of my favorite issues. (1986)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#210

Tuesday Apr. 24th Edition:

Cerebus (1996)

Daredevil (1984)

Flash (2004)

Justice League of America: There it is. The first super-hero comic I purchased myself off the rack. Read comics before this, but they were hand me downs or bought for me. So needless to say, this issue (and two others) hold a special place in my collection. For more on that story, check out Day 1 of my 30 Day Comic Book Challenge. Also should note that this 3-part story was supposed to presented in the Treasury Size format years before its eventual publication but was shelved. Which is why Zatanna and Firestorm are absent from the story (1983)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1975)

Superman (2004)

Uncanny X-Men: It’s the start of the Mutant Massacre. Magneto is offered a place within the Hellfire Club. The mystery of X-Factor is building. All under one of my favorite X-Men covers. (1986)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#211

Monday Apr. 23rd Edition:

Cerebus (1996)

Daredevil (1984)

Flash: Not always appreciative of his work, but Michael Turner’s brief run of covers on the Flash are a guilty pleasure. (2004)

Justice League of America (1983)

Richie Rich: Yes! I still have this issue! (1982)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1975)

Superman (2005)

Uncanny X-Men: “Harpoon — make peace with your gods, little man — you are next!”. A brutal chapter in the Mutant Massacre saga. (1986)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#212

Sunday Apr. 22nd Edition:

Avengers: A random one-off in my collection. I think this issue contains some building blocks to the eventual Yellowjacket domestic trial. (1981)

Daredevil: Consider Born Again is less than twenty issues away, it would be interesting to look at this issue again featuring a Kingpin/DD team-up against a common foe. (1984)

Flash: I’m currently doing a great Grant Morrison comics marathon and this version of Mirror Master just showed up in Animal Man. I’ll have to put this issue - featuring Mirror Master’s origin - back into my collection as a tie to all that. (2004)

Justice League of America: I have a soft spot for the way Perez draws Black Canary and Batman. His early JLA work, while still evolving at the time, is some of my favorite art by him. (1983)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes: Oh Calorie Queen. You betta rock them bell-bottoms. Now there’s a cosplay I’d like to see. First appearance of the Legion of Super-Rejects! (1975)

Superman (2005)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#213

Saturday Apr. 21st Edition:

Amazing Spider-Man: This was either in my uncle’s collection or purchased for me by a relative in a bundle with other comics. I think I might have read it once. Nothing really stands out about the issue in my brain though. (1981)

Daredevil: The final DD issue purchased off the rack at the time of its release. I wouldn’t read DD again for two years or so with the start of the Born Again storyarc. It’s interesting to see David Mazzucchelli art in these early issues compared to his arc with Frank Miller. Quite a development. (1984)

Flash (2004)

Justice League of America: The oldest JLA issue still in my collection from its time of purchase. Even though my first JLA issue is coming up (210), I had to replace that copy since it was just about destroyed over the years between reading and moving. The striking Perez cover kicks off a storyarc where the Atom gets lost in an alternate Microverse… er… I mean Microcosmos. Gerry Conway and Don Heck created a whole barrage of new characters and mythos within this alternate dimension which, to my knowledge, has never been utilized again. One of those obscure cast of characters that is on my Wish Someone Would Recover From Limbo list. Interesting to note that the Perez cover is a nice primer for some of the design elements of his future Crisis… covers. (1983)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1975)

Superman (2005)

Uncanny X-Men: Scrumptious Alan Davis art under a David cover between Sabretooth and Wolverine (the X-Person shown should really be Psylocke considering the contents of the story. But all she gets is a pose in the Marvel Logo Box). It’s the somewhat out with a whimper ending of the Mutant Massacre where the X-Men finally take Psylocke in as a member. It’s after this issue that the title would dip in quality for me. (1987)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#214

Friday Apr. 20th Edition:

Flash: See the way the disembodied form of the Flash costume has its finger to its mouth as if it’s hushing the viewer? Creepy. More spillover from Identity Crisis is revealed to Wally West about Barry Allen in this issue. It was Barry’s vote that was the deciding factor behind the actions of the JLA in Identity Crisis - which, when thought about in a larger sense - is a parallel to the voting that went on in Barry Allen’s series back in issue 327 (see the post here) after he caused the death of the Reverse-Flash. Compare and contrast the stories, the reasons behind the tragic events, the way the JLA votes and it brings up some interesting characterization. (2004)

Justice League of America: Unlike the issue after and the one before, I didn’t pick this issue up at the time of its release. Had to find it a short time later. But the Perez cover and this storyarc (which begins next post) is still one of my favs. (1983)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1976)

Superman (2005)

Uncanny X-Men (1987)

Wonder Woman: This is the second part of the story that started in Flash 219 (found here). A few Identity Crisis/Infinite Crisis nuggets are dropped here and there. I suppose that’s why these two issues were a bit hot in the day. (2005)

“Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Does that answer your question? 

Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.”

(via tonguelikeelectric88)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#215

Thursday Apr. 19th Edition:

Flash: The shockwaves of Identity Crisis filter into the DCU, especially in these issues by Geoff Johns as Barry Allen’s part in all of this is revealed to Wally. (2004)

Justice League of America (1983)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1976)

Superman: I’ll talk more about the For Tomorrow arc when we hit the first chapter. (2005)

Uncanny X-Men: First appearances of the three characters on the cover: Stonewall, Crimson Commando and Super Sabre. But this is also the issue where Wolverine first catches a hint that Jean Grey might be alive! (1987)

Wonder Woman: Outside of the 1942 first issue cover of her original series, is this cover an homage to a painting as well? (2005)