peter john rios

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

#81 part 1:

Avengers West Coast (1992)

Birds of Prey (2005)

DC Comics Presents: Ambush Bug! (1985)

Firestorm (1989)

Flash: It may only be the cover, but Nightwing and Starfire drawn by Alan Davis? Yes, please. (1993)

Green Lantern: Following the events of the Final Night, the DCU holds a funeral for Hal Jordan. In attendance? John Constantine and Swamp Thing. Suddenly the ending to Brightest Day doesn’t seem so out of the blue. (1996) 

JSA: Geoff Johns run on the title comes to an end. Eventually, this series will end and turn into Justice Society of America with Johns, Dale Eaglesham (who drew this issue) and Alex Ross as the main creative team. (2006)

To be continued in part 2…

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PS/ If that GL cover looks familiar, here ya go:

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

#82 part 2

Green Lantern (1997)

JSA: Paul Levitz is new writer as the series begins to wrap up during the events of Infinite Crisis. George Perez on art, although Rags Morales will eventually take over. These issues didn’t quite live up to the previous Johns-era. (2006)

Legion of Super-Heroes (1996)

Marvel Comics Presents (1991)

New Titans: You know, even as well-versed as I am in Titans lore, I’m not sure I ever really absorbed the behind the scenes on this issues various reveals. Eventually I’ll need to go through it all again. (1992)

Superman: Superman is back! Foil cover! (1993)

X-Men (1998)

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

#85

Birds of Prey (2005)

Daredevil (2006)

Firestorm: I’m a mean ol’ Liooooon! (1989)

Green Lantern (1997)

JSA: This Perez cover piqued curiosity - mostly for Batman of Earth-2’s appearance. Technically he shouldn’t exist - and yet it was a clue to what was going on in Infinite Crisis. (2006)

Legion of Super-Heroes (1996)

New Titans (1992)

Warlord (1984)

Wolverine (1994)

X-Factor (1992)

Image limit reached:

X-Men (1999)

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

#87:

Birds of Prey: The revamp and reworking of Calculator is still one of the best things to come out of Identity Crisis. (2005)

Cerebus: This issue’s cover is an homage to Frank Miller’s cover to Dark Knight Returns 1. (1986)

Daredevil (2006)

DC Comics Presents: The issue that gave us Superboy-Prime. During the chaotic events of the Crisis, our Superman travels to Earth-Prime (where, outside of a few powered characters, the DC heroes live on in comic books) and meets Clark Kent of Earth-Prime. Eventually Kent-Prime would go on to fight in the Crisis, helping to save the Multiverse, and then would go bonkers and become a menace during the Infinite Crisis days. This is the same Superboy-Prime that showed up in the Sinestro Corps War, Countdown and Blackest Nightoftentimes acting as a metaphor for the most extreme members of comic book fandom. (1985)

Excalibur: The team is back from the Age of Apocalypse - and I start collecting this title just as I would all the X-related titles post AoA. Not that I remember much about this run outside of Pete Wisdom, the UK Hellfire Club, Carlos Pacheco, etc. (1995)

Firestorm (1989)

Green Lantern (1997)

Legion of Super-Heroes (1996)

New Titans (1992)

Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man: The first PP issue I ever picked up off the shelf. Peter wants to reveal his identity to the Black Cat but when he does, she recoils. She wants to love Spider-Man, not Peter Parker. (1984)

Image limit reached, the rest are as follows:

Warlord: That’s a skimpy ass costume! (1984)

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X-Men: Magneto gains control of Genosha in this issue. (1999)

And from the “Oops, missed one” file:

JSA: This issue marks the end of the great JSA title that started under James Robinson and David Goyer, continued with Geoff Johns and ended with Paul Levitz. A brilliant run, for the most part, full of many tributes to previous JSA titles and Earth-2 concepts. A lot of wrongs enacted on the JSA were righted in this series. Good stuff. And a Perez cover to boot. (2006)

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

#110

Birds of Prey (2007)

Flash: Jesse Quick! One of my fav JSA (or All-Star Squadron) legacy characters. I liked her in this title, really liked her in the first Titans series and then she would move on to the Justice Society of America as the new Liberty Belle. Great character. (1996)

JLA (2005)

New Titans (1994)

Nightwing (2005)

Power Man and Iron Fist (1984)

Wonder Woman (1996)

X-Men: With the recent death of Colossus, Kitty Pryde leaves the X-Men. (2001)

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And from the never read/never owned file:

Flash: Although you can’t tell by the cover, this is the first appearance of Wally ‘Kid Flash’ West! It’s also the first appearance of Flash Rogue Weather Wizard. (1959)

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

#131

Defenders (1984)

Flash (1997)

Hellblazer (1998)

New X-Men: Scott and Emma. The future begins. (2002)

Nightwing (2007)

Wonder Woman: A World War II-era JSA series by Byrne? I might’ve read that. (1998)

X-Factor (1997)

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.

#148

Flash: As much as I rank Chain Lightning lower than other Mark Waid-penned Flash stories, the cliffhanger for this issue is good: a possessed Jay Garrick leads a slew of speedsters against Wally West during his battle with Cobalt Bleh… I mean Blue. It’s a cool visual that made up for a somewhat slow story. (1999)

New X-Men (2003)

Robin: 1 Year Later comes to the title. (2006)

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And from the never read/never owned file:

Thor: With the first appearance of… the Wrecker! I mentioned this once on a podcast - but do a count of all the Marvel villains that wear Green and Purple in their costume. It’s clearly the go-to combination for evil in the Marvel Universe. (1968)