Doug Wildey’s Rio: The Complete Saga

I don’t always read solicitations as closely as I should. Sometimes, that practice comes back to bite me in the arse. Other times, I am pleasantly surprised, quite pleasantly surprised, indeed. When I first saw the solicitation for Doug Wildey’s Rio: The Complete Saga, I was ambivalent. On the one hand, I already own all of the originals from Eclipse/Comico, Marvel and Dark Horse; of the other, it sure would be nice to have them all between two covers. The tipping point for me was reading that the collection would include two never-before-released unfinished stories. No need to read any further, right?

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that all but 10 of the story pages were scanned from Doug Wildey’s original art! I’m glad I didn’t offer my original editions for sale or trade (as I had considered doing when I pre-ordered this collection); someday I might want to re-read them in color (although the reproduction of the original art is so gorgeous I doubt it!). Couple that with an informative introduction written by Mark Evanier, and this package is hard to beat.

My highest possible recommendation!

I finished reading this big tome about a week ago, and wow was it pretty great. The oversize nature of it, really lets you get into the detail of Doug Wildey's art. Rio runs the gamut of law man, fugitive on the run, and riding shotgun (literally). he does meet a number of historic figures, from the Wild West, but the book isn't saturated with them. which I found nice.

The last unfinished story was a bit hard to read, of course. Some panels were little more outlined figures with barely readable dialogue. It was still interesting since you see the kind of haphazard way these guys work. You would have a barely completed panel next to one with all of the background detail filled in, and all of those surrounded by finished panels. I'm sure there was a method to the madness.

The intro by Mark Evanier was almost worth the price of admission alone. He always comes out with neat stories about the creators, and gives you a good history. He always tells it in an entertaining manner.

I highly recommend this one.

Replies

Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) July 5, 2012 at 11:38am

I actually bought it based on your recommendation, but I haven't read it yet (I think it is next on my to-read list though). I did flip through it, and i thought it looked great.
Jeff of Earth-J July 5, 2012 at 11:47am

I hope you like it as much as I do! This review (http://www.comicbookdaily.com/collecting-community/bound-together/r...) suggests you might like the color version better if you’re unfamiliar with the character, but I think you are a more discerning reader than that. Let me know what you think!
ClarkKent_DC July 5, 2012 at 11:14pm

I've got some of these in their original form, but not all of them. That might be worth checking out.
Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) July 17, 2012 at 10:56am

I finished reading this big tome about a week ago, and wow was it pretty great. The oversize nature of it, really lets you get into the detail of Doug Wildey's art. Rio runs the gamut of law man, fugitive on the run, and riding shotgun (literally). he does meet a number of historic figures, from the Wild West, but the book isn't saturated with them. which I found nice.

The last unfinished story was a bit hard to read, of course. Some panels were little more outlined figures with barely readable dialogue. It was still interesting since you see the kind of haphazard way these guys work. You would have a barely completed panel next to one with all of the background detail filled in, and all of those surrounded by finished panels. I'm sure there was a method to the madness.

The intro by Mark Evanier was almost worth the price of admission alone. He always comes out with neat stories about the creators, and gives you a good history. He always tells it in an entertaining manner.

I highly recommend this one.
Jeff of Earth-J July 17, 2012 at 11:11am

Ah, good. I'm glad you liked it. (I was beginning to feel a bit uneasy.)

This reply was deleted.