Aliens, Merchandise

ALiENS VS PREDATOR ON GAMEBOY: A HANDHELD HORROR

6 Comments

A couple of years ago I bought the Alien: Isolation game for my Nintendo Switch after some friends had described just how terrifying they’d found it. They weren’t wrong. I could only play it for about an hour at a time; my heart couldn’t take any more in one sitting. Then again, playing it late at night in the dark with surround headphones on probably didn’t help.

Back in 1991 my first edition of Commodore Format included the UK version of the C64’s Aliens game on the cover tape. It’s very basic today but at the time its eerie atmosphere and sudden sound effects gave us the willies and jump scares aplenty. Now, I’ve added a game that lands somewhere in between the two time-wise to my growing Nintendo GameBoy collection (which began because of the Jurassic Park comic on this blog), Alien Vs Predator: The Last of his Clan from the 90s.

It’s the first game in my collection not to come with a box (because the cheapest complete set would’ve melted my debit card) so I had to download the manual from an online resource, but at least it’s still the original cartridge being played on an original machine, just like the rest. While I wasn’t expecting it to terrify me, the legacy of the 8-bit game I’d played decades before showed the potential of creating an atmosphere and using the player’s imagination against them.

Unfortunately, what we have here is a by-the-numbers action platform game instead. The advert published in the pages of an issue of Transformers: Generation 2 alerted me to the game’s existence and I liked the sound of it from the description. What a shame then, despite the ad showing the GameBoy box, the description is for the Super Nintendo home console version which has received many positive reviews online. So what did I think of this version?

Let’s begin with the plot. While I say “plot”, it’s more like an excuse for the gameplay but I won’t hold that against it, that was something we were used to back then. Basically, in wanting the ultimate hunt the Predator race seeded a few alien eggs on a desolate world and completely underestimated the numbers they’d produce. Now, playing the lone surviving Predator you must infiltrate the alien hive and kill the Queen to avenge your tribe’s honour. You know, instead of just leaving.

The first thing that struck me was the intricately detailed sprites of the Predator and the aliens. Or rather, alien in the singular sense as it’s the same sprite used for every xenomorph throughout. Not that it’s easy to make them out. While original GameBoy games did blur when scrolling, this one seems to do so way more than others, resulting in a right confusing mess on the screen.

What I did like straight away was the large map area, which draws as you explore and by playing close attention you’ll see differences between it and the main game screen, identifying fake walls to be walked through or blown up. However, the map is powered by energy cells, the same ones that run your invisibility cloak and the map constantly drains them. This adds a bit of strategy to proceedings as you have to use the map to find the weapon pick ups and the extra energy cells to keep it going. This and the bombs are really the only things you’ll need to think about, though.

The bombs can also be used to push your jumps further into the air to find more secrets. However, when you realise the amount of bombs you get per level is the exact amount you need to make it through to the end there’s no room for experimentation and strategy. One error and you’ll have to find an alien to kill you so you can restart the level all over again.

The shoulder cannon with its heat-seeking ammunition kills with one shot, but even having “only” 20 rounds doesn’t bring any thought to the gameplay because there won’t be that many enemies in any one zone, and you have to recollect fresh weapons at the start of every level anyway. So what does that leave us with? A game that pays lip service to having a bit of depth but which in practice is a simple shoot-first-and-ask-no-questions-because-the-aliens-won’t-understand-or-care kind of game.

Games like this are why
Jurassic Park stood out

I wouldn’t call it a “run and gun” either because as you can see our Predator friend lumbers along like he’s on his way to the office on a Monday morning. The fight button uses whatever weapon you happen to have selected, while the other makes him jump a preset height and distance. There are ladders which always seem to have annoying facehuggers or alien symbiotes at the bottom that you can’t avoid (until you get the heat seekers), cheekily damaging you without a way around them.

The aliens themselves come in from the same direction every play through so when you’ve finished a level you know exactly what’ll occur and when. Unlike their movie (and now TV) counterparts they’re not exactly smart. They just run at you blindly and you have a good enough reach that even with your wrist blades (the default weapon) you can just punch them a few times (more on later levels) to get rid of them.

Look, I know it’s a GameBoy game but that doesn’t mean it has to be this basic. In my collection so far I have games which show this machine could handle more complex game styles, such as the frantic platforming of Super Mario Land, the utterly fantastic conversion of Lemmings (the fact it works so well on the small screen with so few buttons is a masterclass!) and of course Jurassic Park which offers more play styles, more fun and a much greater challenge.

There are some elements here I do enjoy, such as finding the little secret areas only through close study of the map, the inventory management needed with the energy cells and the bombs, and the main sprites are certainly entertaining for a while, even if you can only admire them when they don’t move. The variety of weapons livens things up too, especially on later levels when I was getting tired of the same gameplay over and over. However, with each new level you have to go off and find them all over again, adding to the repetitiveness.

There are seven levels altogether over four different locations. You’ll find yourself traversing a warehouse, a vent, a cave and the final alien nest. Not exactly a thrilling selection and to be honest they all play identically despite the slight change in backgrounds. The criticisms I’ve levelled (no pun intended) at this game are pretty clichéd I have to say, because they’re the same traps a lot of licenced games fell into back in the 80s and 90s. They’re the reason why games such as Jurassic Park stood out.

In fact, if you replaced the Predator and alien sprites with those related to any other licence this could easily have been marketed as a tie-in for any movie, TV series, cartoon etc. The only part of the game that stands out is the final confrontation with the Queen. She takes up most of the display and it’s an impressive sight after the rest of the game. Even so, she’s not the most difficult end-of-game boss to defeat, it just takes a long time and can become quite monotonous.

The end sequence amounts to no more than a written congratulatory message and with the game playing exactly the same each time there’s no replay value once you’re finished. The day before this review was due on the blog I decided to record these videos and unfortunately I didn’t make it all the way to the Queen, and the thought of going through everything all over again was just too much, so here’s a screen grab from VG Junk’s Retrovania blog instead.

What there is in Aliens Vs Predator: Last of his Clan isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just that there’s not much of it. The first level feels like it should be the introduction to the basic controls before more complex levels and gameplay later, but it never develops beyond this initial experience, instead copying and pasting everything from gameplay to the enemy attacks for half a dozen levels.

It’s a shame, especially after the C64 showed what was possible with a limited 8-bit system. However, there could be more positive news ahead. Another game on the horizon for the Dark Horse International section of the blog is the GameBoy’s version of Alien³. It got rave reviews at the time across all formats, including the diminutive handheld. In fact, I’ve been collecting GB Action magazines from the 90s to help me choose games for my own personal collection and its review is stellar. (Aliens Vs Predator wasn’t in any of the issues I have so far or I could’ve saved myself £30.)

So watch out for more handheld horrors of (hopefully) the good kind next Halloween!

ALiENS MENU

Comic Promos, Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 13

2 Comments
SATURDAY 22nd OCTOBER 1988

The Real Ghostbusters tied themselves in with the free drinks offer most Marvel UK comics ran this month in 1988, the cover drawn by Martin Griffiths and in The Transformers and Visionaries Jeff Anderson’s cover foretold of dark stories to come. Exciting times! Welcome to the next Mighty Marvel UK Checklist!

Inside this edition of The Real Ghostbusters is the only place (comics or cartoon) you’ll find any kind of official origin story for their pet ghost, Slimer as we find out who he was in life. As we approach spooky season Spengler’s Spirit Guide tries to explain the origins of Halloween and how it’s when the separation between dimensions is at its weakest. While it’s very funny it completely ignores the recurring villain from the cartoon, Samhain the Spirit of Halloween. Missed a trick (and treat) there!

In The Transformers the Winter Special Collected Comics 11 is mentioned in the editorial. It was the edition of the comic that would ultimately turn me into a fan and ignite my love of these characters. This is also the issue when Megatron kills the time-travelling Cyclonus 20 years before he’s created, setting in motion the events leading to the epic Time Wars. We even see the very fabric of space begin to tear right at the end of the story here. Oh, and no, you couldn’t win a box of Ready Brek, the prize was a clock radio.

Just the four comics this week, with the latest monthly edition of Action Force tying itself in with the newly released home video of Action Force: The Movie, which famously changed the death of a character to a deep coma after the reaction of kids to Optimus Prime being killed off in The Transformers: The Movie. Also, does the Flintstones and Friends comic have any actual comic content? Judging from the checklists it’s hard to tell.

Last week I mentioned how I might just have to add the Marvel Bumper Comic to the blog’s list of real time read throughs after I found out Count Duckula had joined its ranks. In this week’s comics he also stars in an advert for his own Winter Special. Even though Duckula was a British cartoon it was Marvel US’ imprint Star Comics that produced a strip instead. In his natural home there was no regular comic with original UK content, just imports of the American strips into specials and the Bumper Comic. Surely a missed opportunity, especially given how funny the UK writing team for the Ghostbusters could be.

This blog series really seems to have fired the ol’ memory cells of readers out there because there’s been a great reaction on social media. I post the checklists and adverts there to get the conversations going, but of course you can follow along here instead where you also have access to all of the previous entries in one place. (Just click on the link below to the menu screen.) I’ll be back in seven days with even more. There’s plenty to come!

Join in the checklists conversation here or on:
Bluesky
Instagram
Facebook

TRANSFORMERS 189 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS WiNTER SPECiAL (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART TWO

WEEK 12 < > WEEK 14

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

Aliens, Comic Reviews

ALiENS #17: iT’S GOOD FOR YOU, BOY. EAT iT

Leave a comment

This cover by Robert Mentor (Sex Warrior, Star Wars, Vamperotica Magazine) is partially obscured by the latest free gift of an Aliens postcard, one half of a set showing a xenomorph facing up to a Predator. Don’t be expecting the other half next month, it was given away with a totally different comic, Total Carnage. Having linking postcards seems a bit strange. Were we meant to send them to the same person? The other postcard also marks the beginning of a new Aliens/Predator crossover strip in that comic. Why is it not in this comic where it belongs? Damn, that’s not fair. An advert for this issue also featured in Jurassic Park #5’s review.

As per usual here’s the editorial page with all of the credits for the issue and we kick things off with another short two-part story from the pages of anthology US title Dark Horse Comics. Part one of Dan Jolley’s (G.I. Joe Frontline, Vampirella, Warriors) Cargo is eight pages long and full of classic Alien atmosphere.

Gerald Coile is a smuggler who’s getting out of the game by informing to the DEA and escaping to anonymity, but he can’t help making one last run. In this universe we know this is likely to be a bad decision. He delivers his illicit cargo to a large ship and when he sees no one about he takes control of one of its cranes to get it on board so he can get paid and skedaddle. He doesn’t notice something automatically release itself and fall back into his boat.

Once his cargo is in the hold he wanders around a bit and realises he’s completely alone and the ship is powered down. He decides to go and check on the cargo he’s still to be paid for. Noticing it has a bleeping video screen his heart sinks. A video of the man he informed on pops up and Gerry’s boat explodes thanks to that earlier device. I do love the explosion picture, the bright colours against the dark shadows on the water are great, John Nadeau’s (Star Wars X-Wing, Wolverine, Colonial Marines) art compliments the atmosphere perfectly. As for Gerry, that’s not the end of his problems as the cargo he delivered opens up…

Of course this asks a lot of questions, like how Vasco got hold of an alien, what he originally wanted it for and what is the reference to its “home”. But this is a short two-part story and those answers may or may not have be answered elsewhere. It doesn’t matter though, we’re here for this tale and it’s a classic Aliens set up. I’m looking forward to seeing how (or if) Gerry gets out of this one.

There’s more of interest in the Motion Tracker news section than there has been these last few months. Not necessarily tying in with Aliens but I do love a good contemporary news article in these old comics and this one is very 90s indeed. The Difference Engine movie never got made in the end but I remember playing The Chaos Engine game on a friend’s Commodore Amiga and it was actually based on the novel. I never knew that! Penal Colony would get made but was renamed No Escape and it had a comics adaptation too.

I’ve never seen Time Cop but I remember reading about its short-lived TV show sequel in the excellent TV Zone magazine in the 90s and it seemed like fun. As for news centred around the comic’s inspiration I’d say the news Alien³ is the first of the series to make profit is probably only how the studio’s creative accounting saw it and our previous prose story Tribes won a very well deserved award.

Part five of Michael Cook’s Crusade takes up 11 pages in the middle of the comic and Christian Gorny’s art has improved immensely! The aliens and action scenes in particular are wonderful. Why was it not this good previously? It’s revealed Rani the seer is searching for her missing childhood friend Martha and her narration is a welcome addition. Coupled with the upgrade in art it makes things a lot less confusing.

This chapter is their escape from the sewer but unlike previous entries it has satisfying character development too, thanks to there only being three characters now and the art making each more distinctive. Running from the aliens, Minecorp marine Channon saves Rani and one of the male Marines (his name isn’t given here and trying to work out who he was previously was impossible) but the narration tells us they couldn’t save her in return, so they made their escape without her. We think this is because Channon is about to be killed by the alien but it’s actually a smart bit of misdirection.

Instead, she faces it down, shoots it and for once in the Alien franchise doesn’t get covered in acid, so kudos to her! However, once out of the sewer a gun is held to her face by an unknown person. Rani and the male marine are all that’s left as far as they’re concerned and we find out the missing team they were sent to find included his wife. This changes Rani’s opinion of him. She knows he’s no solider (he’s actually a company man, not a marine as its turns out) and they disagree on pretty much everything, but she respects how much he believes in his wife’s abilities to survive.

They realise the horses that birthed the aliens had been drinking from the Thames, and if that’s how they got infected then the creatures must be all over the city by now, in every river and stream. The slower, quieter moments with proper dialogue instead of the forced ‘chat’ of the earliest chapters and the upgrade in art have really surprised me, and raised Crusade’s prospects immensely.

The Technical Readout is getting less and less technical as the comic goes on, unfortunately. This month it’s about Dropship markings, nothing more than a few identical drawings of drop ships coloured differently. Much better as a feature is the next Q and Aliens, with the trickier questions from readers put to the publication’s experts.

That’s an interesting image by John Bolton and the Question of the Month has a fun answer, staying within character and defending the company, and I like that comparison to bees. But most intriguing is the mention of Skeleton Crew magazine and why its Aliens Special was withdrawn from sale. The magazine was actually created by this comic’s Dave Hughes but as it says here it’s a rare issue and the only one I can’t track down on eBay. Possibly a future special feature for the blog.

Chris Warner’s Colonial Marines is next and with their APC damaged they’re awaiting rescue from their second dropship when loads of finned aliens with fish tails instead of legs break through the surface of the kelp beds. There’s even one huge mother of an aquatic alien who clearly wants to challenge Daryl Hannah as the Queen of the mermaids.

While it should be a tense scene with nowhere to run except to sit on top of their APC and fight off hoards of aliens (why not go inside the heavily armoured vehicle?), unfortunately this usually superb strip has gone in the opposite direction of Crusade. Here, there are just too many characters who all look like each other. I can’t even tell who Lt. Henry is, who I’d been enjoying so much in previous issues, so this means I’m suddenly not as invested as I was in what happens. Eventually Vasquez arrives piloting the dropship and rescues everyone, redeeming herself after she’d previously froze on the spot mid-battle. There’s a funny reference to this on the final page and this is pretty much all we get as far as character moments go. The first disappointing chapter in this lengthy tale.

Next is a follow-up feature to the excellent alien autopsy from #11. This time, Jim Campbell’s Under the Knife cuts deep into a facehugger and its alien egg or, to give it its proper name, the ovomorph. I’ve been really looking forward to this and, as it’s once again written from the perspective of the future scientists doing the dissecting, it’s another fascinating read. For starters, I never thought of the eggs as separate lifeforms until now. It makes sense, of course.

Jim gives us a reason as to how they survived so long on LV426 before discovery in the first film, something which is key to the aliens’ survival. How the egg detects potential hosts makes these things even creepier and how it can configure a facehugger in much the same way as an alien adapts to its host is really well written. In fact, the whole feature is brilliantly written. Again.

The apparent science behind the actual face-hugging is compulsive reading, from how it’s awoken to how it samples its host’s respiratory system to determine the best way to keep them alive. Then the fact the alien is created inside the host rather than being implanted actually pairs up with the prequel movies decades later. Towards the end I did laugh at the typically horrific reasoning of the company when it reveals the only thing stopping them from carrying on their research!

Believe it or not we finish on a four-page humour strip. Not that you’d know it from the first few pages. Coming straight after the dissection feature the images on the first page instantly set me on edge. Aliens: Taste is written by Edward Martin III (a Dark Horse US editor for Dark Horse Presents, Aliens and Predator), drawn by Mark Nelson (Graphic Classics Bram Stoker, Native American Classics, Rosebud), coloured by Ray P. Murtaugh (Splatter, Star Wars, Elementals) and lettered by Willie Shubert (Legends of The Dark Knight, Deathstroke, Robin).

The narration talks about life forms dying of ennui (boredom, lethargy), then builds tension as it talks about those of us who experience bits of danger everyday, then those who like it for the adrenalin rush, those who seek it out, right up to those who actively court danger. All the while the facehugger is slipping further out of its egg until it lunges towards the reader… but a giant clawed hand grabs it before we turn to the final page below.

I didn’t expect this to be a funny strip until I actually read it and got to this page. It was certainly a surprise inside the pages of this particular comic! This many issues in and Aliens continues to shock us in terms of its horror stories and now a shock dose of humour. One of the very best all-round issues yet, it begs the question of what will #18 contain to improve upon it? We’ll find out together on Tuesday 18th November 2025.

iSSUE 16 < > iSSUE 18

ALiENS MENU

Creating OiNK, OiNK Contributors

CHATTiNG WITH TONY HUSBAND

2 Comments

I never got to meet Tony Husband before his passing in October 2023. I’d always wanted to, but we can all have good intentions to do something but never get around to it, never considering one day it could be too late. I did get to speak to him on the phone a couple of times though. On these occasions I’d sent a message to Tony asking something specific about OiNK and instead of writing back he took the time to call me and we’d chat at length about the comic.

After all these years he was still so enthusiastic about it, so eager to share stories about its making, taking every chance he could to praise those who worked on it. Some of the information Tony gave me on those calls has already found its way into posts throughout OiNK’s read through. As for everything else we chatted about I’ve now decided to sum it all up and remember what a generous man Tony was with his time.

“The rock and roll madness,” was how Tony remembered OiNK. “Mark (Rodgers, fellow editor) was the glue, he was the drummer.” He  continued, “Bob Paynter loved working with us three, there were no egos working on the comic. Basically it was rock and roll, our offices were in the same building as Happy Mondays, Dave Hassle, the Hacienda DJ was next door, downstairs were Marc (Riley) and Frank (Sidebottom). It was like being in a band.”

He described the OiNK team as “all fantastic people”, and that there were “so many ideas we could’ve had an extra comic every week.” He lavished praise on the team, describing how much he loved getting to work with mates from Punch and Private Eye, trying out different styles of strips and content for the comic. “Lew (Stringer) is one of the great comics artists in the country still,” he said. “Jeremy (Banx) was fabulous and we just let his head go wherever it led.”

Tony felt OiNK lasted
the right amount of time

Tony also told me some of the funny stories that occurred during OiNK’s time, such as when he and (fellow editor) Patrick Gallagher were invited to London to appear on a breakfast TV show. They thought they were heading down to promote OiNK because it was appealing to a new demographic of young readers. But the first question foisted upon them (in relation to a Madvertisement in the preview issue) asked if they felt joking about smashing up friends’ bicycles was the “right message to send”, spectacularly missing the point of the humour in favour of some sensationalism.

According to Tony it was worth the sudden shock and typical faux-offence from the presenters for five minutes because his and Patrick’s expenses were all paid for, including travel and a night in a 5-star hotel! But that’s not the end of the story. On the return train Tony brought out onto the table a few small bottles of booze he’d sneaked out from his hotel room’s courtesy bar, thinking they’d have a tipple on the way home, only for Patrick to empty out a plastic bag full of every single bottle from his room! By the time they hit Manchester they could barely walk off the train.

I’ve previously covered how Tony met Patrick through Mark and he elaborated on this, telling me they’d meet over several drinks between local pubs and their own flats, the immediate chemistry setting into motion what would eventually become OiNK. Graham Exton was also in those early ‘meetings’ and at one stage IPC‘s Group Editor of Humour Bob Paynter wanted to meet with the team to discuss the possibility of the comic. He wanted to do it somewhere secret to stop word getting out. The solution was to meet at Manchester airport, but it ended up being on the same day that, according to Tony, “all the cartoonists in the world” arrived on their way to Tenerife for a cartoon convention and they all recognised Tony!

Another tale Tony couldn’t help laughing along with as he told it happened not long after publisher IPC Magazines had had to deal with that famous complaint to the Press Council. After it was settled Tony received a phone call from Youth Group Managing Director John Sanders telling him, “this latest story has gone too far, we’ll have to close OiNK!” Only it wasn’t John. Patrick had got one of his mates who did accents to impersonate him! Then, the following week Tony phoned Patrick to tell him something in the comic had upset a family and John’s legal team was on it, but there were concerns they could end up in court. All nonsense of course!

The Manchester music links to OiNK couldn’t have been any clearer when you take a closer look at the comic. For example, the inclusion of contributors such as Frank and Marc (who had previously been in The Fall), or Tony’s own punk band strip, The Slugs (drawn by Les ‘Lezz’ Barton). Tony also brought in Jon Langford of The Mekons to draw some strips and full-page images and the band starred in a couple of photo stories. Then Jon’s other band, The 3 Johns also featured in OiNK on the page of Janice Pong’s (Tony’s) interview with lead singer of The Cult, Ian Astbury. In the review of that issue you’ll find out what Tony told me of that experience.

As for OiNK’s demise, Tony admitted the change to a weekly comic wasn’t their decision and it was a real strain. “Fortnightly was when it was best”, he said and I have to agree. He also wasn’t pleased with another change when Robert Maxwell’s Fleetway Publications took over as publisher: “The weekly was on shit paper.” He also explained that W.H. Smith’s nonsense with top-shelving OiNK didn’t help but once Maxwell took over, “the accountants moved in and killed it.” This was in comparison to IPC. “iPC loved the attention OiNK got in the press,” he said. “Especially the celebrity attention.”

At one point he received a phone call from Yorkshire TV who wanted to do a TV version of OiNK, but Fleetway insisted the three men pay any OiNK artists working on the show out of what they were personally paid by the TV network, all while Fleetway reaped the rewards. OiNK may have been independently produced and the contents largely remained creator-owned, but Fleetway still owned the entity called ‘OiNK’. So in the end they refused the deal and after the comic’s cancelation they took Yorkshire TV up on their offer directly, creating the award-winning (and very OiNK-like) Round the Bend.

Tony said he thought of a certain Neil Young lyric when he reminisced about OiNK. The song My My Hey Hey includes the line, “Better to burn out than fade away” and thinking back Tony felt OiNK lasted the right amount of time. While it wasn’t their decision to cancel it, he truly believed if it had carried on indefinitely it may have become tired and lost its edge; the time was right to move on and have OiNK go out while it was still on top form.

The last time I spoke to Tony he was still hard at work. He had his own music studio, he was cartooning for Private Eye and could often be seen on Countryfile on BBC One. Several years before he had also released a new book and he was still travelling around meeting and talking to others about it. Take Care Son is the tale of how dementia slowly took Tony’s dad from his family and friends. The title is a reference to the last words his dad said to him before he passed and the story is framed within a touching, moving chat between the two men.

One final little tale Tony told me to finish on. Over the years since OiNK finished he’d meet fans who would tell him how important it had been to them and he’d give away signed issues here and there, until he’d none left. In the end, much to his surprise, his wife bought the whole collection on eBay for around £300 for him! From creating it, to buying it all back from a reader.

I may never have met him in person but it didn’t feel that way on the phone. Tony was so enthusiastic, so open, so friendly and was so genuinely caring it felt like I’d known him all my life and we were having a friendly, very funny catch up on both occasions. I guess in a kind of way that’s exactly what I was doing. OiNK was such a huge part of my life (and still is) that I felt I knew Tony personally from the moment I picked up the phone.

That’s just the kind of person he was. A genuine soul. One who is greatly missed.

CREATiNG OiNK MENU

MAiN OiNK MENU

Comic Promos, Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 12

Leave a comment
SATURDAY 15th OCTOBER 1988

Were you thirsty on the morning of Saturday 15th October 1988? You could’ve grabbed a free can of Tango with your copy of Marvel UK’s The Transformers and Visionaries #188! You could’ve used it to cool yourself off from Jeff Anderson’s hot cover, or after lumping the hefty 19th issue of the publisher’s The Real Ghostbusters all the way home.

There were no extra pages behind Brian Williamson and Dave Elliott’s cover but the whole issue was printed on matte paper that had a lovely look (giving the false impression of the paper really soaking up the solid black inks) and heavier feel to it. Inside, there was a musical strip starring The Ghostie Boys backed up with a look at spiritual musical instruments in Spengler’s Spirit Guide, such as the Nullify Flute which could cancel out all music but offered “no protection against Tiffany”.

Jeff’s cover depicted a scene from Firebug, a one-off story needed for scheduling reasons but which (like most such tales in Transformers) was great. It had an original and honest-to-gosh happy ending that raised a smile, accompanied by a reader on the letters page saying such UK strips were intelligent while the American ones were stupid! Dreadwind scolds him for being harsh, “After all, we do see fit to showcase their stories in our Transformers comic.” How kind. So, what else was up for grabs?

Thundercats (already minus the Galaxy Rangers) changed up a bit, with an emphasis on appealing to younger readers with the extras first, strip second, and the beginning of what seemed like endless frequency changes. So Count Duckula joined the Marvel Bumper Comic? Now that’s yet another reason to add it to the (long) list of potential real time read throughs on the OiNK Blog.

Having now started watching Doctor Who from the (very) beginning I can better appreciate the magazine’s focus on classic tales such as Keys of Marinus here, complete with its scuba gear-wearing ‘aliens’, although an interview with my first ever Doctor would’ve sealed the deal for me anyway. I never realised Alf’s monthly lasted even this long and below is the advert of his I mentioned last week that made us giggle while not actually featuring the titular star.

This was typical of a few of the adverts for his comic which told us nothing about it but did include a surreal joke showcasing the humour we could find inside (I assume). It may sound strange nowadays, but there was no regular Marvel UK comic starring the classic Super Heroes at the time. After Spider-Man and Zoids and before The Incredible Hulk Presents fans had to make do with specials and annuals, such as the one advertised here.

Next week a new addition to the Marvel fold mentioned above gets their own winter special, and I’m aghast I never picked it up! You can find out who I missed out on when their advert appears here in seven days alongside another checklist. Until then, why don’t you let me know if you remember reading any of the issues above by leaving a comment here or on the socials below? G’wan!

Join in the checklists conversation by leaving a comment here or on:
Bluesky
Instagram
Facebook

TRANSFORMERS 188 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART TWO

WEEK 11 < > WEEK 13

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

New OiNK Material

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: HORACE (UGLY FACE) WATKiNS

2 Comments

Two years ago now we lost one of the greats. I don’t just mean one of the great OiNK cartoonists, or even one of the greatest humour cartoonists of all. I mean we also lost a great human being, OiNK co-creator Tony Husband; a wonderful man whose personal ethos would often form the basis of his cartoons. In the pages of OiNK this was felt most clearly with Horace (Ugly Face) Watkins.

Beginning with gags revolving around others’ reactions to his appearance, the stories soon became filled with teachable moments for the young readers about never judging someone by their looks and the importance of being kind. Of course, these were always wrapped up with great comedic timing, out-there plots and plenty of silliness. As a result Horace endeared himself to us and became one of those OiNK stars that fans on social media often asked for updates on.

Tony was more than happy to oblige the now-adult pig pals, drawing up sketches of Horace’s life after his slapstick-filled childhood and football star teen years. The first time I saw him since the pages of OiNK was when the original version of this blog hit its one-year anniversary. Back then I wasn’t even aware Tony was following the blog, so you can imagine my surprise when this plopped through my letterbox back in 2015. What a lovely gesture.

It was also nice of Horace and Mandy, Uncle Pigg, Kid Gangster and even Mary Lighthouse to reunite for me too.

By the 2020s Horace had long retired from football and was working as an optician. It was later revealed (we’ll get to that next) he’d set up his practice in Los Angeles and was making a mint from providing better vision to the rich and famous. Although perhaps this cartoon shows he’d have been better off letting some of his patients keep their eyesight as it was. But that’s Horace for you, putting everyone else first.

As with the rest of these images, Tony posted them to the OiNK Facebook group and I thought you might like to see them if you haven’t already. Tony even went so far as to write up a little Zoom call he had with Horace around the time that particular app was taking off during the Covid pandemic. As you’ll read for yourselves Horace is very much an adult now, his time within the world of children’s comics having long since past. The shock of that change just adds to the ludicrousness of this.

Well that’s a shame about Mandy, isn’t it? But isn’t that always the case when a TV show finishes and we get a reunion years later, or a sequel to a favourite movie? In those examples of course it’s usually because one of the two actors doesn’t want to come back. Instead, Tony just decided it’d be funnier if they’d had some awkward break up and hinted that she’s now a drug dealer. Add in the unfortunate nickname for his new partner the fact Tony went so completely in the opposite direction of a children’s comic is just so funny.

As for Mandy, Tony gave us a little bit of an update on her too. It would seem she became a bit of an anti-masker during Covid, although not for the silly conspiratorial reasons people gave at the time.

Before you get upset that Mandy went and had plastic surgery after the life-affirming messages at the heart of hers and Horace’s romance in the pages of OiNK, it looks like he’s only gone and done it too! Our last update on Mr. Watkins shows us he looks quite a bit different today, with all of that Hollywood money being used in the typical Hollywood way. Although, at least in his case he’s still recognisable and his chosen t-shirt has also got one last message for the child in all of us.

The main thing, of course, is that he’s happy. That’s the important thing. After essentially seeing him grow up in OiNK it felt like we knew this scrappily illustrated character and the sometimes cruel world he inhabited. We cheered him on and he prepared us for some of life’s lessons along the way. He’ll always have a special place in my comics-loving heart and I’m very grateful to Tony for giving us this chance to catch up with Horace and Mandy and have a few final chuckles with them.

NEW OiNK MATERiAL MENU

MAiN OiNK MENU

Comic Promos, Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 11

Leave a comment
SATURDAY 8th OCTOBER 1988

It feels like no time at all between each part of this series. The weeks are really flying in. It’s reminding me of how much I loved getting new comics every single week and this week 37 years ago was no exception, with The Real Ghostbusters #18 (cover by Brian Williamson and Dave Hine) waiting patiently at my newsagent’s. For my friends the 187th edition of The Transformers and Visionaries (cover by Andrew Wildman) provided all the entertainment they’d need that morning.

The Ghostbusters met Mother Nature this week in a nice ecological tale before three ghosts appeared in their fire station HQ to play cards with Peter. This strip included a memorable moment when the Grim Reaper said he’d go blind with this next hand… and proceeded to pick his eyes out of his sockets! Meanwhile the gigantic Metroplex made Godzilla look more like that rooster from the Kellogg’s advert as he went on a rampage after being woken up from beneath Autobot City.

There’s also a famous page in Transformers history where a conversation between Ultra Magnus and Soundwave is laid out on the page as a homage to a Batman/Joker scene from The Killing Joke. Batman fans can check it out at the link below. Also, the Visionaries began another excellent story that would be their final new comic strip, ever. An excellent week already for Marvel UK but what else was available? To begin with, Transformers fans would definitely have been making a return visit to the newsagent for what was surely an unmissable issue of Dragon’s Claws.

It was one of the very best of their run and because they were up against that Transformers comics creation, Death’s Head! The full review of that one is in both the Dragon’s Claws and Death’s Head real time read throughs on the blog. The Galaxy Rangers story sounds completely bizarre this week, even more bizarre than the millennia-spanning crossover in the pages of Flintstones and Friends, and was the content of the Alf Autumn Special originally intended as a hardback book?

In weeks four and five we saw one-page comic strip adverts for Marvel UK titles, an idea by editor Richard Starkings. The idea was that they could be reused over and over and act as a sample of the kind of strips and art prospective readers would find in their comics. While the Doctor Who Magazine advert below is enjoyable, Richard told me he felt it missed the point of the brief by producing a comical take instead of an example of the magazine’s art. Written by friend of the blog and DWM editor at the time , John Freeman and drawn by Nick Miller, it actually reminds me of a scene in OiNK’s time travel issue when Uncle Pigg comes up against the ‘Butcherleks’ as he introduces the comic to Earth’s inhabitants of the future!

The other advert was a one-off page created by the Transformers comic to promote not only the Cybertronians’ own superb annual but also those of the two cancelled comics that shared the back up strip space (not at the same time). Although, if readers had read the Visionaries comic as stated here they’d have been disappointed with the news the strip was a reprint, especially since it was only a handful of months since its original publication. Despite that, it’s still a favourite annual of mine and a jewel in my collection.

Next week that Alf special gets an advert that made us laugh even though it didn’t involve the titular alien and Thundercats would begin its confusing period of not knowing how often it wanted to appear! Do you remember any of these specific issues released this week way back in time? Did this issue of Dragon’s Claws introduce you to the freelance peace-keeping agent? Did anyone actually build Bedrock?

Join in the checklists conversation by leaving a comment here or on:
Bluesky
Instagram
Facebook

TRANSFORMERS 187 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART TWO

DRAGON’S CLAWS 5

DOCTOR WHO MAGAZiNE POSTS #135 & #147

TRANSFORMERS ANNUAL #4 (Instagram)

ViSiONARiES ANNUAL

WEEK TEN < > WEEK TWELVE

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

Oh, and just to be clear, I love that Kellogg’s advert.

Comic Promos, Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL UK CHECKLiST: WEEK TEN

Leave a comment
SATURDAY 1st OCTOBER 1988

Welcome back to the tenth week (already?) of The Mighty Marvel Checklist series here on the OiNK Blog. This week’s checklist is taken from The Real Ghostbusters, whose cover by Phil Elliott and Dave Hine doesn’t do justice to the stories inside, especially the strip drawn by Phil! Meanwhile, Andrew Wildman’s image for The Transformers and Visionaries hyped up the main story, only to have this moment reserved for the cliffhanger for next week.

Inside Ghostbusters, the first story isn’t even on the cover and that’s a shame because it’s brilliant. Remember that Looney Tunes cartoon where Daffy is at the mercy of the artist (who turns out to be Bugs)? In this story a ghost begins draining colour from the strip in a similar way in a wonderfully meta story. Then Hell Razor sees Peter chased around the firehouse by his electric razor in one of the comic’s funniest strips of its whole run.

The Transformers comic would’ve been sealed inside a plastic bag this week, what with another Panini sticker album being given away as a free gift. Just three weeks ago the ‘busting team gave theirs away and stickers for it have been popping up in various comics ever since. This time it’s the turn of the currently-MIA Action Force (G.I. Joe). It was definitely the season for playground swaps! What else did we have available to us this week?

Thomas the Tank Engine may have filled the gap of a fifth comic last week, but this time around we’ve just been given a little more information than usual about each title instead. Given how much I loved The Real Ghostbusters it’s a shame I was never a fan of Thundercats because their comic has a great creative team, it’s nearly identical in fact. If only I’d even picked up the issues with the Galaxy Rangers! Oh well.

There’s a smorgasbord of connect in the second Marvel Bumper Comic, yet more stickers and another new story for what many saw as the main stars of this apparently all-reprint title. Although, judging by the description here I think this appeared later in their own comic but was never billed as a reprint. Sneaky.

No new Marvel UK adverts this week but there’ll be two next time and a packed six-comic checklist (so glasses at the ready for a smaller font). In the meantime, as always I’d love to hear from you about your memories of the comics featured every week and if you remember any of these specific issues or stories. Join in the fun on the blog’s Instagram and Facebook and my own Bluesky anytime.

TRANSFORMERS 186 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART ONE

WEEK NiNE < > WEEK ELEVEN

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

Competitions

OiNK BLOG DOUBLES COMPETiTiON: OCTOBER 2025

Leave a comment

Last month I told you how August’s competition for a couple of issues of Dragon’s Claws had been the most popular yet and how I expected September’s to be likewise. Well, I received almost double the amount of entries again! Death’s Head is still rather popular it seems, yes? We know the characters from the comic he spun off and, apart from one or two of you, you all correctly answered the question of which God of Chaos did Death’s Head once take a psychic trip into the mind of. It was, of course, Unicron in the pages of Transformers.

Congratulations to Andy Senyszyn from Market Rasen in Lincolnshire, seen here looking ever-so-slightly pleased with himself. Andy obviously knows his chaotic gods. But who will know the answer to this month’s specially-themed competition?

Last month I promised you that as a ‘Preview’ for this month’s competition I wouldn’t ‘Toy’ with you when it came to having the perfect prize for Hallowe’en. So here it is, October’s giveaway.

It may have been a short-lived comic but Super Naturals was quality! This rare 16-page preview edition contains the origin of the characters in a suitably atmospheric tale set on the release date of #1, which just happened to be 31st October 1987. There are also a handful of brilliant marketing mini-posters for the toy range, a light-hearted Ghostlings tale and more. The comic is in as-new condition and could be yours in time for the spooky season.

All you have to do is answer the following question, which may require you to scour the blog for the name of the toy company if you don’t already know it:

Q – The toy manufacturer of Super Naturals was famous for producing toys of which type of vehicle?

You have 14 days to enter, so if (you think) you’ve got the answer you can either email it to me at oink.blog@icloud.com (all emails will be deleted after the winner has been selected), or use the contact form you can find on the right-hand side of your desktop screen or under this post on mobile. Your entry must be with me by midnight on Tuesday 14th October 2025.

After this date I’ll contact the winner to ask for their postal address. Unfortunately, due to rising costs the competitions are open to UK and Ireland readers only. If you win I’ll ask if you could take a photo of you with your prize for inclusion in next month’s competition post. You don’t have to, but you do get to show off if you do.

This is a little gem of a comic to get your hands on. Just don’t blame me if you then find yourself on eBay looking for the other issues! The next competition will be here on 1st November, just a day after the Hallowe’en festivities and it’ll continue the theme, albeit on a more humorous note. There’ll be six issues of a comic to be given away, make sure you Bust a gut to get back here on that day so you don’t miss out.

COMPETiTiONS PAGE

Comic Reviews, OiNK Contributors

BRiCKMAN #1: A SMASH HiT

3 Comments

It’s always exciting news when Lew Stringer (Tom Thug, Pete and his Pimple, Combat Colin) announces another of his self-published comics. Regular readers of the OiNK Blog will recognise the star of his latest release from Lew’s Barmy Comix and Comic Sampler collections. Starring one of his earliest creations, Brickman #1 is the first of three ‘Best Of’ comics for the spoof superhero (“Britain’s Greatest Super-Pillock”) and his alter ego, Loose Brayne.

I’ll admit I own some of the previous Brickman releases but, while there’s no new material here, if you haven’t read any before this is unmissable. Actually, even if you do own the 2005 book Brickman Begins you should check this out as it’s in a much bigger and easier to read format, the strips really shining on the high quality paper. Included is the 1985 3-page introductory strip from Swiftsure and the 20(!)-page Brickmania Caper from a one-off comic for the character back in 1986.

This first page is the perfect example of what to expect, with loads of laughs not only from the main characters (his origin story) and plot (having his secret hideout above ground and his house buried is genius) but also from all of the little background details. Check out his underwhelming chest logo, the glue-drinking copper, the reader’s thumb and even Lew’s own credit. The comic is chock full of things like this.

If you’ve read Barmy Comix you’ll have already seen Brickman meets The Mad Cobbler. That was actually the first chapter in the huge second story here (renamed and presented in Barmy as a complete strip). Here though, it’s just one small part of a much larger whole, although the chapters do work to some degree on their own. Tied altogether like this it’s a relentlessly funny read.

There are a lot of gags at the expense of Thatcher’s 80s Britain and as someone who grew up in that time and remembers the likes of Spitting Image’s jokes about the politics of the day, high unemployment, privatisation etc. a lot of this takes me right back and I had a good chuckle at the expense of the time. Hey, we had to laugh back then!

Those hidden background gems had me laughing the hardest at times, like the ‘How to Sue the Marvel Way’ book on the shelf in the above panel. Next to that you’ll also spot a mention of none other than OiNK. This strip was originally released during OiNK’s first year and Lew takes every opportunity to add in a little plug. There are quite a lot of little Easter eggs for OiNK fans actually, including a cameo or two. There are also pages drawn by some guest artists who’ll be very familiar to pig pals.

At least it wasn’t a Venezuelan boat! This is just one example of the comedy here that still feels very contemporary decades later. The page was drawn by Dave Gibbons (Ro-Busters, Rogue Trooper, Doctor Who) who drew Lew’s script for the brilliant Superhero’s Day Off in OiNK. Also contributing here are Mike Higgs, Mike Collins, Mark Farmer and the late Kevin O’Neill being very, very Kevin O’Neill! What a line up.

So what super powers does Brickman actually have? Well, chucking bricks basically. That, and just happening to have exactly the right gadget to hand, quite like how 60s Batman did, only here it’s exaggerated to even more ludicrous levels. But that brick throwing! It may be a silly comic but those brick impacts don’t half look painful! But the more painful they look the funnier they get. I’m not sure what that says about me.

A couple of years ago in the actual Batman comic Bruce Wayne found himself without his mansion and his millions, diddled out of it by the Joker. Here, all it takes is a quick visit from someone claiming to be from the Inland Revenue and Loose gives away all of his money, instantly growing stubble to heighten the broke look. It’s a perfect example of the speed of storytelling in this comic.

My personal favourite baddies are The Poker (he loves to poke people) and Man-Brick, but it’s Lew’s pitch-perfect barbs at everyday life and the world we live in that really hit home for me. Superhero movies and fandom are targets you might expect, but the (many, many) other surprising topics in here can range from unfair representation of women in media to how the press manipulates the fickle nature of humans.

It’s testament to Lew’s skill as a comedy writer that these topics are handled in such a way that we laugh along while also acknowledging the points being made. There are many more examples I could give but that would ruin the experience for you, and discovering them all for yourself is something you simply must do. There’s a joke about a certain tropical fruit that resulted in me having to stop reading just to catch my breath!

What we have here are 28 pages packed with so many gags they could fill three issues, so it’s an absolute bargain at only £5 (plus postage). You can grab your copy direct from Lew by visiting his Ko-Fi shop. On his main Ko-Fi page you’ll also see regular blog updates and other comics of his for sale, so make sure you check that out while you’re there. This is only the first issue! I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

OiNK CONTRiBUTORS’ RELEASES MENU

OiNK CONTRiBUTORS MENU

MAiN OiNK MENU

Classic Comics in Real Time