A big piece of news coming out of this year’s New York Comic Con is the return of legendary writer/artist Joe Quesada to DC Comics. Quesada, who was Marvel’s editor-in-chief in the early 2000s, stopped by Jim Lee’s panel on Thursday to announce his return to DC. Quesada got his big break from DC doing art and covers back in the 1990s. He is surly a welcome addition for DC, as he’s made quite the impression with Marvel over the last several decades. Let’s take a look at some of the defining moments of Joe Quesada’s career thus far.  

The Cover to Ghost Rider #21 

Quesada’s first big break came as a freelancer back in 1991 with the cover of Ghost Rider #21. Quesada knew that to be noticed, he’d have to do something that hadn’t been seen before. “It was my first maybe real foot-in-the-door at Marvel,” claimed Quesada. “This is not a typical Marvel cover, this has to get me noticed there and more work will start coming in, right?’ Well, someone must have liked it, cause the phone started ringing.” The ‘snow blinded’ cover certainly got Quesada’s foot-in-the-door for Marvel. 

Marvel Knights 

In 1998, Marvel Comics had just filed for bankruptcy. They had to make drastic changes to right the ship, so they hired Quesada to a full-time role and tasked him with a brand-new project. Thus, Marvel Knights was born. Quesada worked alongside writer/inker Jimmy Palmiotti to help revitalize Marvel Comics. They worked on low-profile heroes such as Daredevil, Punisher, Black Panther, and the Inhumans. Together, the duo created a number of standalone stories within the Marvel Knights branding. They brought in a number of new talented creators, and the books were so successful that Quesada was named editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. 

Avengers Disassembled 

In the year 2000, Joe had become editor-in-chief for Marvel comics. Under his reign in the early 2000s, Marvel was about to partake in a major change to the status quo, specifically to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The Avengers went through the biggest storyline in their history with Avengers Disassembled. What came next was a New Avengers team featuring faces nobody would have suspected. Lower-tier heroes like Spider-Woman and Luke Cage took center stage in the new comic. They teamed up with OG Avengers Iron Man and Captain America, along with fellow first-time Avengers Spider-Man and Wolverine. This hodgepodge team made the Avengers the central point to the entire Marvel Universe. This decision led to hugely successful storylines such as Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Dark Reign. Marvel Comics was reinvigorated.