peter john rios

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

#114

Flash: Wally meets the Tornado Twins! (1996)

JLA (2005)

Man of Steel (2001)

New Titans: This issue leads into the Zero Hour issue which changes up the team. Nightwing, Starfire, Red Star, etc are all gone. Enter Minion, Mirage, Damage, Impulse, and, eventually, Kyle Rayner, Supergirl and others. (1994)

New X-Men: Grant Morrison. Frank Quitely. New X-Men. Oh yea. (2001)

Nightwing (2006)

Warlord: Skartaris meets Apokolips. (1987)

Wonder Woman (1996)

X-Factor (1995)

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And from the never read/never owned file:

Journey Into Mystery: First appearance of the Absorbing Man! (1965)

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

#133

Defenders (1984)

Flash (1998)

Hellblazer (1999)

New X-Men: First appearance of Dust. (2002)

Nightwing: It’s the start of storyline taking a look at Dick Grayson’s past after he dropped out of college and before joining the New Teen Titans. It’s by Marv Wolfman, so it should feel more important, more canonical than it actually turns out to be. Great Ryan Sook cover. Although he chose to include rat-tail costumed Nightwing over disco-color Nightwing in the reflections. Yikes! (2007)

Wonder Woman: Hippolyta is cast as the Golden Age Wonder Woman, living during the JSA heyday and basically restoring all the “Earth-2” adventures of Wonder Woman. And I was totally okay with it at the time. DC’s heroes are about legacy - and even though this means Diana is not the first Wonder Woman - it still works for me. (1998)

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From the never read/never owned file:

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Jack Kirby returns to DC after leaving Marvel setting the stages for his final lasting creations: the Fourth World. (1970)

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

#134

Defenders: Another Kevin Nowlan cover. The villain Manslaughter takes down the team - or so he thinks - in what I remember being a creepy issue. (1984)

Flash: After Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolts winds up in a pen, it is unknowingly passed on to Jakeem Thunder. This is his first appearance in a super short appearance until he shows up in Morrison’s JLA/JSA crossover and eventually in the JSA title itself. (1998)

Green Arrow: The Brotherhood of the Fist crossover story plays out across GA, Detective Comics, Nightwing and Robin. It’s a battle against Lady Shiva that marks the (debatable) claim that Connor Hawke is the greatest martial artist in the DCU. (1998)

Marvel Team-Up: Two introductions in this issue: My first exposure to Jack of Hearts - a truly offbeat character (and design) that just stuck with me - even to his four issue mini-series with that unique George Freeman artwork. And, my first exposure to the work of Ron Frenz. (1983)

New X-Men (2003)

Nightwing (2007)

Superman: Nothing outstanding in the Millennium Giants crossover story, but I enjoyed it regardless. Another Ron Frenz issue by the way. (1998)

Wonder Woman: Who is Donny Troy? Who indeed? I certainly get the premise behind this story - trying to connect Donna back to Diana as “sisters” - but it would muddy the waters for a long time after. I once did a two hour podcast trying to break down the various Donna Troy origins. I like to think I succeeded. Ha. (1998)

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From the read but never owned file:

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: The first appearance of Kirby’s greatest (?) creation: Darkseid! (1970)

Uncanny X-Men: The first appearance of Dark Phoenix in all her red and gold glory. (1980)

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

#183

Cerebus (1994)

Conan: Proof that I really was reading just about everything back in the mid-80s. This was the final issue that I picked up though at the time. I have no recollection of the interior story though. Interesting to note that Jim Owsley, otherwise known as Christopher Priest, is the writer on this issue. (1986)

Daredevil: Child’s Play. This story was originally scheduled to be released over a year earlier but the Comics Code Authority squashed it. Reworked and finally released, this story is the first meeting between DD and the Punisher. (1982)

Green Lantern: John Stewart takes over the GL cover gig for awhile (he becomes Earth’s official GL an issue earlier). Even before his time on Watchmen, Dave Gibbons did the “light source from below” thing very well (in reference to the way the shadows and light play on John Stewart’s domino mask). (1984)

Iron Man: The first IM issue I ever picked up on my own at the time of its release. It didn’t even phase me at the time that I was reading about Rhodey rather than Tony Stark. (1984)

Justice League of America: It’s another JLA/JSA team-up, this time bringing Jack Kirby’s Fourth World to the DCU in a major way. Kirby had long left the characters by this point, and although Mr. Miracle found some play here and there outside of New Gods-related titles, this is their first major interaction with the heavy hitters of the DCU. I wonder what the reaction was at the time? This also marks the final issue of artist Dick Dillon’s incredible 115 issue run. In all that time, since issue 64 in 1968, he only missed five issues. Incredible. (1980)

Superman: The final issue of the Jeph Loeb/Ed McGuinness run. I’m about to get my hands on these issues once again and I can’t wait. They were big, fun Superman books and would lead the way to the great Superman/Batman series. I’m looking forward to reading these once more. (2002)

Uncanny X-Men: Another fantastic standout issue, from the opening scene between Kitty and Colossus talking about his time on the Secret Wars planet, to the Rachel/Selene subplot to the bar fight between Colossus and Juggernaut over a misunderstanding. Characterization galore, great art, the kind of story that made the X-Men stand apart from other titles. (1984)

Wonder Woman (2002)