Rio!

Rio debuted in Eclipse Monthly #1. Rio was a tough but real western hero, and best of all, he was drawn by Doug Wildey. Wildey was a master, most famous of course for designing and developing the Jonny Quest cartoon show for Hanna-Barbara. He was a comics artist off and on for decades, but made his career really in cartoons.

My first taste of a Wildey western was in some Outlaw Kid reprints from Marvel in the early 70's. The stories had a depth of character and a sense of realism not immediately evident in other more bombastic work available at the time.


When he returned to comics in a dramatic way in the 80's, he brought a sense of style and a mastery of storytelling uncommon even in those heady days when many of the masters were still in the game. The craftsmanship in a Wildey story is staggering.


Rio was a hero that Wildey would return to a few more times over the years, though the publishing trail is as varied and unpredictable as Rio's travels themselves.


The Eclipse Monthly series was collected by Comico under the simple title Rio.


The first sequel was a graphic novel from Marvel titled Rio Rides Again.



The final published Rio story came by way of Dark Horse originally as a two-part comic book limited which was eventually collected in Rio At Bay.


Doug Wildey is gone now, but as much as I adore Jonny Quest, I feel that Rio is the work by Wildey that speaks most vividly of his talent.

I've read that there are two more Rio graphic novels out there which haven't been published. It's a mystery to me, as I'd snatch them up immediately and I'm sure others would too. To have such great work possibly hidden away is tragic.

If you like Wildey read Rio. If you like westerns read Rio. If you like good comics read Rio.

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