peter john rios

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

#93:

Birds of Prey (2006)

DC Comics Presents: Elongated Man, Elastic Lad, and Plastic Man all under the control of the Malleable Man? Yes please! (1986)

Excalibur (1996)

Firestorm (1990)

Legion of Super-Heroes (1997)

Marvel Comics Presents (1991)

New Titans (1992)

Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man (1984)

Teen Titans (2011)

Wolverine (1995)

Image limit reached, here’s the final issue:

Wonder Woman: This was my introduction into the Contest storyline that started a few issues earlier and introduced the character of Artemis. Replacement characters were all the rage back in the early 90s (Steel, AzBats, Kyle Rayner, Connor Hawke, etc) and it was now Wonder Woman’s turn. I actually was fond of the story, didn’t mind the Deodato artwork and, at the very least, it brought my back to Wonder Woman after having been away since Perez left the title. (1995)

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

#97 part 2:

Legion of Super-Heroes (1997)

Marvel Comics Presents: Why was I buying these issues??? (1992)

New Titans: “The Darkening begins here!”. Or, the Image-ization, you mean. Which had already been going on since Titans Hunt. (1993)

Spider-Man: Green Goblin’s new costume. Eek. (1998)

Teen Titans (2011)

Wolverine (1996)

Wonder Woman: Brian Bolland’s creepy Joker/WW mash-up. (1995)

X-Men: Part of the Twelve arc (which I actually liked), Cyclops and Apocalypse merge! (2000)

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

The great #100th edition!

Part 3!

Nightwing (2005)

Richie Rich: Success (1981)

Superman: The fourth familiar cover to celebrate a 100th issue! (1995)

Teen Titans: The final issue before the new 52 reboot. (2011)

Thunderbolts: Marvel restored the original numbering for this issue. The previous New Thunderbolts series lasted only 18 issues before the renumbering. I’ll never forgive Marvel for interrupting the original Thunderbolts run for that dreadful wrestling era. Bleh. (2006)

Walking Dead: Probably the most recent comic spotlighted in this series to date. (2012)

Wonder Woman: The final issue with the familiar 100th issue cover treatment. This is also the end of the Messner-Loebs/Deodato Jr. era that started with “the Contest” introducing the character of Artemis. (1995)

X-Men: The first of nine covers - this one by Art Adams - to announce the return of Chris Claremont to the X-Men! First appearance of the Neal Shaara/Thunderbird character. By the way, in my files, this cover is marked 100x. Appropriate! (2000)

Next up: The spiral down to #1 begins!

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

#101

Avengers West Coast: The penultimate issue of the run, although it’ll always be “West Coast Avengers” to me. (1993)

Birds of Prey (2007)

Excalibur (1996)

Green Arrow: Rather than lose an arm at the hands of Superman, shades of Dark Knight Returns, Ollie Queen goes boom! It would take another six years for his return at the hands of Kevin Smith. (1995)

Green Lantern: The X-Men have traveled from the past to a future they don’t like! Oh wait…I mean Hal Jordan! A novice, first-year Hal Jordan travels from the past to a future he doesn’t like. Sorry. I don’t know why that happened. (1998)

Marvel Comics Presents (1992)

New Titans: If ever there was a signpost along the way that dictates where a series goes wrong, this issue is it. (1993)

Nightwing: Scott McDaniel returns to the title to draw the six-part Chuck Dixon/Scott Beatty Year One storyarc! (2005)

Superman: The last consecutive issue I would pick up following all the various arcs of the Death of Superman years. From here until the Loeb run it’s all random issues, anniversaries, short arcs, etc. (1995)

Thunderbolts: Featuring artwork by Dave Ross, who, thirteen years earlier, also drew the AWC issue above. (2006)

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Limit reached, continued here:

Wolverine (1996)

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Wonder Woman: This issue kicks off the three year, two-star pantied, John Byrne run. I look back on these stories as a solid work with a few wonky tales here and there. The Donna Troy/WW connection that Byrne kicked up was never my favorite, but I really dug his restoration of a Golden Age Wonder Woman into the DC mythos. If you can find them cheap, it’s definitely worth a read. (1995)

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X-Men (2000)

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And from the never read/never owned file:

Amazing Spider-Man: First appearance of Morbius, the Living Vampire!

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Uncanny X-Men: Thirty-six years before the events of Avengers vs X-Men, the Phoenix makes her first appearance! And although it’ll be retconned ten years later, as far as readers knew at this time, Phoenix is Jean Grey. (1976)

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

#105

Birds of Prey (2007)

Green Lantern (1998)

Marvel Comics Presents (1992)

New Titans (1993)

Nightwing (2005)

Thunderbolts (2006)

Wolverine (1996)

Wonder Woman: First appearance of Cassie Sandsmark - the girl who would eventually become the new Wonder Girl. (1996)

X-Force (2000)

X-Men (2000)

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And from the never read/never owned file:

What If…?: First appearance of the May Parker/Spider-Girl! (1998)

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Flash: Ten years after the series featuring the Golden Age Flash ended, Barry Allen races over from Showcase to reignite the Flash title for the Silver Age! This issue is the first appearance of Mirror Master. (1959)

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

#113

Birds of Prey: Sean McKeever’s first issue. My last. (2008)

Flash: I have a letter in this issue in the LOC. That’s important, yes? (1996)

JLA (2005)

New Titans: A fairly standard Dick Grayson/Nightwing story with art by Bill Jaaska. Jaaska’s work was not well received but there was something about it that I actually didn’t mind. Nightwing leaves the Titans with this issue. (1994)

Nightwing: Oh look! Nighting in red! Where have I see that before? (2005)

Wonder Woman: Cassie Sandsmark becomes the new Wonder Girl. (1996)

X-Factor (1995)

X-Men (2001)

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And from the never read/never owned file:

Flash: First appearance of the Trickster! (1960)

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

#116

Cerebus (1988)

Flash (1996)

JLA (2005)

Man of Steel (2001)

New Titans (1994)

New X-Men: And she hasn’t been the same since! This is the issue where Professor Xavier outs himself as a mutant. (2001)

Nightwing (2006)

Superman: Featuring a Preview for Dan Jurgens’ Teen Titans series. (1996)

Wolverine (1997)

X-Factor (1995)

Reached the ten image limit so I’ll finish it out here with:

Wonder Woman: Champion, as seen on the cover in ice, eventually turns out to be Heracles in disguise. It’s a character/identity that I actually really liked and wanted to see more of in the WW book. (1996)

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And from the never read/never owned file:

Iron Man: David Michelinie and Bob Layton join John Romita Jr (who started in the issue prior to this) to jumpstart the title and to finally give the character a definitive run. (1978)