peter john rios

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

#219

Cerebus (1997)

Flash: In the Identity Crisis to Infinite Crisis days of DC, this issue (which would continue into Wonder Woman 214) became a hot issue. It may show the power that the overarching story of the falling out between Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman had on the rest of the DCU. It’s been a number of years since I read this issue so I’m unsure what was so special about it. (2005)

Justice League of America: In this two part JLA/JSA team-up story, Black Canary’s origin is explored and a major retcon is put in place that will alter the character from here on out. For years, readers were told that Black Canary originated on the parallel world of Earth-2. In an earlier JLA/JSA team-up, Black Canary’s husband dies and she leaves the JSA to migrate to Earth-1 and join the JLA. Along the way, she somehow gains the ability of her sonic scream. In this 1983 2-part story, it’s revealed that it wasn’t the Golden Age Black Canary that crossed over, but rather the Golden Age BC’s daughter! Turns out, the Golden Age BC had a daughter who was cursed by a villain to emit a sonic scream every time it attempted to talk. This child was placed in a limbo until a cure could be found. Time passes, the child grows up in that limbo in suspended animation. During the JLA/JSA adventure that would kill her husband, Black Canary is stricken by the effects of deadly radiation. Instead of migrating from Earth-2 to Earth-1, the older BC demands to see her daughter once more in limbo. While there, Superman gets the idea to put the Golden Age BC’s memories into her young daughter’s mind, leaving the Golden Age BC, now deceased, in limbo as her final resting place. He then takes the new younger BC to Earth-1 where she now has control of her sonic cry, believes she’s the Golden Age BC and will, eventually, fall in love with Green Arrow. These two issues reveal all of this creating a Golden Age Black Canary and a Modern Age version when the daughter’s identity is eventually restored. Mother and daughter of two different teams, different eras, different worlds. Eventually that retcon would go even further with the merging of all Earths in the great Crisis… but that’s a history lesson for another day. By the way, Perez’ art of this era is definitely a favorite. It’s incredibly detailed, the inks are thick and lush and his costume attention is masterful. It almost looks like Huntress is actually wearing a mask, rather than it being part of her face. If that makes sense. Love it. (1983)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1976)

Superman: The first part of the 4-part Sacrifice story spinning out of the Omac Project mini-series during DC’s build up to Infinite Crisis. For those who didn’t read DC at the time, there was a definite air of mystery around the buildup - so much so that I just assumed, by the cover solicits, that Superman was actually rushing along to battle villain after villain in some kind of attempt to ambush him during all the chaos. Turns out that Superman was the “villain” of this storyline and it would lead to an eventual confrontation with Wonder Woman which would end in an highly controversial way. DC was great at throwing twists and surprises along the way as they led their readers through this interesting year. (2005)

Uncanny X-Men (1987)

Wonder Woman: The FINAL part of the 4-part Sacrifice story spinning out of the Omac Project mini-series during DC’s build up to Infinite Crisis. The finale and Wonder Woman’s actions would set in motion even more turmoil for the Trinity, for Wonder Woman and her supporting cast, and for the DCU in general. There weren’t many readers (if at all) that truly could guess what would be the outcome of all of this. (2005)