peter john rios

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

#137

Defenders: The final issue of the series picked off the rack at the time of its release. I always felt like this title was on the margins of the Marvel U, similar to Batman and the Outsiders but even more so. I enjoyed this series at the time for its strangeness and combination of characters and I look forward to one day reading the entire series from start to finish. I read the current ongoing Defenders title by Matt Fraction but I’m too far behind on that title to talk about it. Gotta love that Kevin Nowlan cover though. (1984)

Flash (1998)

Green Arrow: The final issue before Oliver Queen returns in the acclaimed Kevin Smith/Phil Hester run. Hints are dropped about how Oliver may have returned - and Parallax may be responsible. A few issues into the Kevin Smith run, this final issue turned out to be highly sought after - and I can remember flipping it on ebay for a nice price. (1998)

Marvel Team-Up: Galactus. Aunt May as Golden Oldie. Twinkles! It can only be… Assistant Editor’s Month! And a great month it was. (1984)

New X-Men (2003)

Nightwing: Marv Wolfman’s final issue of his run, wrapping up a return of Dick Grayson’s “first” girlfriend, dropping in some Batman/New Teen Titans nuggets, etc. All that, ultimately, went nowhere. I would go on to pick up the next two Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul chapters, but that was where I ended my reading of my favorite character. (2007)

Wonder Woman (1998)

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From the read it but never owned it file:

Uncanny X-Men: I haven’t read much of the Claremont/Byrne years of UX, but I did devour the Dark Phoenix Saga in trade format. I stopped collecting comics at the end of 1987 for a little more than two years (eventually, years later, I would read comics from that period and realize that I hadn’t missed much. Power of the Atom? Yikes!). I would slowly make my way back into comics in 1990 when I came across a pile of Superman in Space comics after the events of Invasion. From there, I discovered these cool extra thick comics called… trades! And the first one I picked up in October of 1990 was X-Men: the Dark Phoenix Saga, the one that had the awesome Sienkiewicz cover on it (from there I would pick up Batman Arkham Asylum and then Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying - what? A new Robin?? Next came Titans Hunt issues and I was back in the game!). I no longer have that X-Men trade but it was the first time I dipped into that epic X-Men saga. Well, that’s not entirely true. Back in the early 80s, I did pick up that Phoenix: the Untold Story oneshot that reprinted the original ending to the Dark Phoenix Saga that had Jean Grey alive and well by the end. So I knew the original ending before I ever read the way it actually ended. Strange. And thanks to Mr. Phil for yelling at me … I mean reminding me about this issue! (1980)