peter john rios

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

#164

Cerebus: The Roach turns into Swoon - a parody of Vertigo’s Sandman. (1992)

Conan: Sideboob and asscheeks cover by Armando Gil. Heads would asplode today. (1984)

Fantastic Four: George Perez does his first F4 interiors. This issue is the first appearance of Frankie Raye who, years later during the Byrne run, would turn into the Galactus Herald known as Nova. This, and the next issue, also features the return of 50s Atlas hero Marvel Boy and his Quantum Bands. Called Crusader in this two-part story, he seemingly perishes and his Bands would eventually wind up in the hands of the hero known as Quasar. Agents of Atlas would later retcon that Crusader wasn’t the original Marvel Boy and that he was still alive and well. And, to make it all confusing, this has nothing to do with Grant Morrison and JG Jones’ amazing version of Marvel Boy. And to think Marvel says its continuity is not confusing. Sheesssssh. (1975)

Marvel Tales (1984)

Superman: Lex Luthor is about to become the President of the United States! (2001)

Wonder Woman: It’s the start of the Phil Jimenez run. The first four issues cleverly mix and match the cast of WW counterpointed against the cast of Batman. For example: Wonder Woman/Batman, Donna Troy/Nightwing, Tim Drake/Cassie Sandsmark, Artemis/Huntress - even the villains: Phobos the God of Fear/Scarecrow, Deimos the God of Terror/Joker, etc etc etc. It was an interesting play on identities at the start of what would be an interesting run on the title, all with a loving tribute to George Perez in art and story. One of Jimenez’ strongest works. (2001)

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

#167

Cerebus: Dave Sim parodies the Endless with his version called the Clueless. (1993)

Conan: Michael Kaluta cover! (1985)

Marvel Tales: Two great Steve Ditko co-creations meet in this reprint from Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2! (1984)

Robin (2007)

Superman: Jeph Loeb sends Lois and Clark to “Krypton” (in quotes because I can’t exactly remember how that was possible) where they meet Clark’s Kryptonian parents. And by the end of the four parts, we get a new superpowered Krypto! (2001)

Wonder Woman (2001)

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

#352

Superman: If you’re a reader of Gaiman’s Sandman series, you might know that most of the supporting cast were longtime DC characters who acted as hosts in their various horror titles: House of Mystery (Cain), House of Secrets (Abel), the Witching Hour (The Three), Tales of Ghost Castle (Lucien), Secrets of Sinister House (Eve), the Unexpected (The Fashion Thing), Jack Kirby’s Sandman (Brute and Glob), Swamp Thing (first appearance of Matthew Cable, who was a supporting cast member, not a host, and who would later become Matthew the Raven), etc. One of the seven Endless, the brothers and sisters of Sandman, also was a longtime DC character. Destiny is the only member of the Endless that isn’t an original Gaiman creation first appearing in 1972 created by Marv Wolfman and Bernie Wrightson as a host for Weird Mystery Tales 1 and later appearing in Secrets of Haunted House. He would appear with other DC hosts and even the Phantom Stranger in DC Super-Star Holiday Special (1980). But it’s this Superman issue, written by Marv Wolfman, that puts Destiny squarely into the main DC Universe. A bit of a backissue find if you come across it in the bins.

Uncanny X-Men: Some kind of Operation Zero Tolerance aftermath story, but it’s been too long and I no longer have the issue at hand to check it out.

Thor: The penultimate chapter in the Surtur Saga. If you haven’t read this run, you really need to.