Tag Archives: Chris Halls

ALiENS #18: MY MOMMY ALWAYS SAiD THERE WERE NO MONSTERS

18 November 2025 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

What’s this? A Christmas Chris Halls Aliens cover? Am I late in covering the blog’s logo with snow? Nope, that’ll happen on 24th November (six days from the day of writing) as per usual, in this case Dark Horse International editor Cefn Ridout must’ve mistimed the chilly seasonal cover somewhat. Yes, it’s the December issue but last year Chris’ superb art and pun-filled headline were part of the January issue released on 24th December. This year there’s another issue after this one just before Christmas Day.

Despite this, Cefn still takes the opportunity to wish us all a Merry Christmas and since mine starts as soon as the Christmas tree goes up in a few days I’ll take it! Anyway, there’s your obligatory editorial page with the full credits for this month’s issue.

Contrary to the blurb on the cover, the latest chapter to Michael Cook’s Crusade isn’t seasonal. The alien Queen trapped in a cathedral tower gave Chris a reason for the frosty cover and its church iconography, but in these eight pages we don’t see any aliens. From the ‘previously’ page we learn Channon is the leader of the Minecorp marines and Foston is the male company man, not that the strip itself has ever made these clear. The last survivor of the crashed survey team is Foston’s wife, hence why he’s risking it all even though he’s out of his depth.

Channon has been captured by a tribe who have constructed a whole village out of old vehicles because they don’t know what they are. Sounds interesting but unfortunately it’s just a mess on the page. The ‘jail’ is a camper van with a padlock and inside she finds Foston’s wife. They hot-wire the van and make their escape back to the survey ship where they stock up on heavy weaponry and take off down the egg-infested Thames in what is definitely too small a boat. It just feels right to have two kick-ass women in an Alien story, doesn’t it?

I certainly didn’t expect to get a huge laugh from the Motion Tracker news section! There’s a competition for a box set of VHS videos and it would’ve been right up my street. It’s a shame we don’t get a decent photograph of it, I’d really liked to have seen it closed with the face hugger wrapped around it. The comic also corrects (without mentioning it’s a correction) its previous error of stating Aliens wasn’t filmed in widescreen and I really laughed out loud when I got to the end. I hadn’t paid attention to the photo so hadn’t realised who it is until I read the question!

The 8-page first part of Renegade is written by Chris Claremont (Batman Black and White, Gen13, Wolverine), drawn by Vince Giarrano (Haywire, Terminator: Enemy Within, Manhunter), lettered by Tom Orzechowski (Thor, Ghost in the Shell, Spawn) and coloured by Greg Wright (Deathlok, Ghost Rider, The Punisher) and is taken from the American Dark Horse Comics anthology. It’s a prequel to Deadliest of the Species, a new Aliens/Predator crossover story. This is actually a little bit of Aliens history right here. Because it doesn’t feature any aliens, characters or names from the films this has remained the property of the writer and artist so it’s never been reprinted or collected since.

On a planet rich in resources lives Caleb Deschanel and his daughter, and along with Ash Parnall they’ve built a community at one with nature and it’s making a profit. In lands Commander Javier Milan and EO Moira Delgado of the Descartes Indigenous Self-Defence Forces, protectors of the natural resources, according to them. Their motto is “Unexploited resources are wasted resources”, so defending the planet means exploiting it. The broad smiles and flirting is accompanied with straight-to-the-point statements; they must stand aside or face elimination. The fact the force’s spaceship is called Ransome is a bit on-the-nose.

Caleb is ill and frail and asks Ash to deal with this given her history, whatever that is. In fact, during a conversation Javier asks her how she knows so much about military weaponry and tactics and her response is just as mysterious as this strip; she had a misspent youth and they’ve a well-stocked library. This is the second strip of the issue and the second one with no aliens. A bold move or a poor decision? Truth be told, they’ve both been interesting to read so I’ve no complaints in taking a breather for more character moments.

In the concluding half of Cargo, writer Dan Jolley and artist John Nadeau continue to play to their strengths with a superb atmosphere, even if there’s a key part of the plot that doesn’t make sense. Surely even a criminal such as Vasco wouldn’t endanger the entire planet by importing an unsecured alien just for a bit of revenge? The fact it all happens on an abandoned cargo ship far out at sea doesn’t excuse things, it would eventually run aground or be found. But that atmosphere is palpable, so let’s just go with it.

Having Gerald as the lone human on a huge vessel with one alien has the makings of a truly terrifying tale, so it’s a shame this is a short 16-page strip in total with no time to build suspense. But that’s not where this falls foul, it’s in its overly simplistic ending which amounts to tricking the alien into the mag tube, filling it with water and then electrifying it. Now, that might not sound simplistic, but the fact it all happens in less than two pages makes Gerald’s escape seem very easy. A shame, as the tension in the build up was great.

Extra Terrestrial is a four-page feature written by Terry Jones detailing the cut scenes from Ridley Scott’s original Alien movie. Ridley has never released a director’s cut, he was very happy with the finished film, although he’s released an alternate cut with some scenes and moments replaced by others. The only scenes in this feature that really would’ve added anything new to the film are those above, which for obvious reasons (after the release of Aliens) can never be put back into the film. Ridley has said he never would because James Cameron did such an amazing job with the sequel’s explanation of the eggs.

Colonial Marines is our final strip for the month, coming in at a meatier 11 pages. On Bracken’s World the kelp beds are mysteriously disappearing across the planet and we see this lovely detailed opening of a colony hub on the agricultural world by Tony Akins, Paul Guinan and Matt Hollingsworth. Lt. Henry has explained the situation to the council but they’re angry with his team for upsetting their order, only half-believing him about the aliens.

Still, they demand he help but he can’t without orders, or at least that’s what he says. He’s playing something very close to his chest since the firefight last issue but even his sergeant can’t get it out of him. He won’t tell the council he can’t establish comms with HQ, and just tells his sergeant neither the council nor she need all the facts. This is out of character for him. All we know is that he saw “something” during the fight.

We get more questions than answers when he confronts Alphatech’s supposed “glorified accountant” Beliveau about the bug men having Alphatech weaponry. Aha! He’s convinced Beliveau is a bigger player than he’s been letting on, however Beliveau counters by asking why a new multi-million dollar synth prototype has been assigned to Henry’s babysitting team. Henry has no answers. Conspiracies abound. Intriguing.

Henry buys black market remote bombs and when asked by a different council member to help even though they can’t afford it (the capitalist future of the Alien universe in full effect), Henry says that they’re there until morning, they’ll help until then. This is an interesting, suspenseful and now a mysterious story with great characters and it’s back to full strength after getting lost in a sea of too many characters at once and overblown fight scenes.

There are some moments that hint at aliens attacking ships but otherwise this is again alien-free, concentrating solely on the humans involved in fighting them. So that means three of the four strips have no visible aliens in them whatsoever. In an Aliens comic. You know what? I didn’t even notice until I went back over the issue to make notes for this review. The Alien universe has always been about more than just the xenomorphs, as the brilliant Alien Earth has been expertly proving.

On the letter’s page there’s a brief mention of a new RoboCop comic in the new year, beginning with an adaptation of the upcoming third movie. It would never appear, what with DHI going out of business a few short months later. Marvel UK had also announced a RoboCop fortnightly in the pages of Transformers back in 1990 but that never happened either. He’d eventually pop up on these shores in the pages of Havoc. However, definitely coming next month is a cover drawn by and a strip written by the legendary comics star (and one-time OiNK contributor) Dave Gibbons.

It may have been released a month too early for the Christmas-inspired cover but #18 of Aliens has been a delightful surprise. The fact the stories didn’t need much in the way of alien action for the issue to be compulsive reading (their presence always felt) has ironically made it a highlight of the run so far. I’m intrigued to see what we have in store when the first post-holidays issue hits the blog before the Big Day on Tuesday 23rd December 2025.

BACK TO iSSUE 17

ALiENS MENU

CHRiSTMAS 2025

Aliens, Comic Reviews

ALiENS #13: WE JUST GOT OUR ASSES KiCKED

24 June 2025 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

Back in the early 90s Dark Horse US published a monthly Aliens comic depicting the Earth War starring the Hicks and Newt characters from the second movie. Of course, after Alien³ this was no longer canon but the company’s UK branch was about to start publishing sequel stories anyway. I don’t know if volume one of the comic under previous publisher Trident covered the war but no spoilers please, I’ll read them eventually for the blog.

The UK exclusive strip Crusade picks up after the war but very little background is given to us. Editor Cefn Ridout seems to assume everyone knows about it already. A recap would’ve made all the difference, especially as sales were climbing with new readers coming on board. “As if the opening of London’s own Alien War in August weren’t enough” for Aliens fans? Ah the 90s, when our comics seemed to forget there were readers outside England. The editorial above shows you all the credits for the issue and then we’re launched into 12 pages of Crusade.

It’s fair to say first impressions aren’t great. Coming as it does after Paul Johnson’s artwork last issue and Chris Halls’ cover may be unfair to artist Christian Gorny (Heavy Metal, Haarmaan, Narcangel) whose work in other titles is acclaimed. Mike Cook’s (2000AD, The Real Robin Hood, Dead Meat) story doesn’t get off to a great start either. It’s confusing (not helped by the comic’s lack of background to the war) with dialogue that ’s trying too hard to make it seem conversational between friends, which has the opposite effect and comes across stilted and broken, although Woodrow Pheonix’s (Sonic the Comic, Manga Mania, Dracula) lettering does give it a nice journal feel at times.

From what I can gather London was spared from the alien infestation and the reason remains a mystery. The city is desolate, cut off from the rest of the world and inhabited by Mad Max-like tribes. Elsewhere, Colonial Marines are sent down from orbit to alien hotspots for quick hit-and-run raids. One of their recon teams has gone missing over London, which resides in a country they describe as an “A-grade shithole” that was mainly used for toxic waste before the war.

I say “from what I can gather” because it’s difficult to follow. I couldn’t tell you the name of one individual, there are no main characters standing out and their interactions all feel forced. No one feels remotely real. Instead, they’re just plot points to move things along. It doesn’t help that a lot of the time characters are seen from behind or from strange angles so you’ve no idea who’s talking anyway.

At times the art looks unfinished, such as the second two examples above. At times an interesting scenario tries to squeeze itself in, such as the fact the recon team were shot down by powerful weaponry, something the tribes simply don’t have and the aliens obviously have no need for. So there’s a mystery in there to be solved but I just don’t know if I care enough. Then it just stops. No cliffhanger, it just stops. This strip was made for this comic, it’s not like it was an American strip unceremoniously snipped in half, so there’s no excuse.

There’s still potential in this post-Earth War storyline but so far Crusade isn’t living up to it. This is harsh, I know. I pride myself on positivity on this blog and I’ve loved Aliens so far. Even the worst strips (I’m looking at you, Hive) had moments of redemption but there are none to be found here. Well, except for a moment when a sound effect seemed to indicate the TARDIS was arriving!

On to the Motion Tracker and on the first page of this month’s news we can see the early days of UK Aliens and sci-fi cons, complete with promises of star guests that they simply couldn’t fulfil, expensive tickets and low turnout. I remember those days here in Belfast after Doctor Who returned over a decade later. There’s also a column about toys which always confused me when it came to ’18’-cert films. Collectibles I can understand, but Aliens, RoboCop and Terminator all had children’s toys produced (this was before the days of the RoboCop TV series or cartoon).

What irks me is how there was less of a demand for the female characters among the mainly male buyers. Even for the Alien films?! Films rooted in their lead female characters and themes? I may be a man but geez, men can be such [censored]. On the other news page the comic has the audacity to run a competition with one question in this comic, a second question in Star Wars and the answer in Total Carnage! I wonder if anyone actually entered?

Our eight pages of Colonial Marines finally sees some alien action for our main characters as Lt. Henry and his marines enter the sun gun complex and are immediately at a disadvantage when acid dripping down from a dead alien body above melts through some of their protective suits, forcing them to strip and adding finding new ones to their plans. Henry is convinced this is a hive and thus they can’t waste time retreating to retrieve more from their ship.

This chapter is all about their slow infiltration, building tension as they inch their way inside, now knowing the xenomorphs are behind the loss of communication and instantly putting pressure on each individual member of the team. This is unfortunately undone somewhat when the motion sensor picks up movement and it ends up being a human survivor hiding in a vent. Sound familiar? There’s nothing original here but for the most part it’s executed brilliantly.

As you can see the chapter ends with Vasquez freezing on the spot after all of her previous bravado, showing she’s a different character than her sister in the film. Although, at one stage someone does ask if she’s looking forward to delivering payback for what the aliens did. But how does she know they killed her sister? Ripley, Hicks and Newt were the only survivors. Two of them died before waking up and the third not long after! And it’s not like the company would’ve let on. An oversight perhaps on the part of writer Chris Warner but nothing that spoils this enjoyable little tale.

On to more information about those aforementioned toys with a full-page advert (albeit black and white with poorly reproduced photographs) for Forbidden Planet. Again, these aren’t the kinds of collective figures you can buy today, they are actual toys. Some even sound like the kind featured in The Real Ghostbusters range also by Kenner, with Bishop having a rotating gatling gun, Hicks a mechanical arm for some reason and the A.T.A.X. is a marine in an alien bodysuit!

Moving on, back in the 90s my copy of Alien³ on VHS got a lot of screen time and so did the Alien War trailer before the film. I remember thinking it looked incredible, with James Horner’s searing soundtrack adding to the intense atmosphere. In 1993 it proven to be so successful in Glasgow it was being moved and expanded to a larger building in London. Dave Hughes chatted with its creators Gary Gillies and the appropriately-surnamed John Gorman about the experience.

Am I the only one who reads their reasoning behind halving the experience’s length and thinks it was really a way of getting more paying punters in? Unfortunately, it never became the envisioned franchise spoken about here and after it was closed following a flood in 1996 it never reopened, apart from a short stint in Glasgow again at the turn of the millennium. (Later in 2008 they opened a similar experience in Glasgow unaffiliated with the Alien films.)

Part two of Horror Show also takes up eight pages and surprisingly it concludes next issue. But… nothing’s happened! It also looks like it’ll end with no real aliens taking part, which is a waste of David Roach’s great art. Maybe the point was to introduce this virtual nightmare entertainment company for future stories? It begins with a young woman dressed in a sub-par alien costume sneaking into a nest to destroy the alien queen. Ridiculous? Well, if you’d been paying attention you’d know this is just the young woman’s nightmare.

The company managers are getting angry that all the nightmares they’re recording in their fake dream clinic always end up including the aliens, even if the original scenario had nothing to do with them. Set after the Earth War there seems to be a mass sense of guilt about those that died down on Earth while these people survived in lunar orbit.

This is interesting but unfortunately its reveal towards the end of the strip is spoiled by the recap of what happened last month telling us. Confusingly, one of the volunteers is also called Hicks (it’s not him) and two pages are printed in the wrong order. One of the doctors is sexually abusing the sleeping volunteers, while in their dreams it’s the aliens claws that are all over them. It’s a particularly creepy moment but not much else occurs.

In the next chapter of Steve Bissette’s prose story, Tribes, Rat is the most interesting character by far, albeit in a tragic way. Her job is to be captured by the aliens! She sets herself up in a small space just outside their hive and makes a noise, but she’s sealed herself off with wire-like meshes that slow the aliens down so they don’t rush to an instant kill. By the time they’ve got through to her and she hasn’t put up a fight they’ve calmed down and take her away for implantation instead.

As we know, their captives wake just before the egg placed in front of them opens, this small window of time allowing Rat to send a beacon to her teammates. All the way through this part of the story parentheses appear that act like mental flashbacks to her childhood, echoing the sexual assault she suffered at her father’s hands; a lifetime of abuse and suffering ultimately preparing her for a job no one else is capable of (or wants). It’s horrific and makes for compulsive reading.

This small but still interesting cutaway of the Colonial Marines transport ship Sulaco from Aliens is part of a two-page introductory Technical Readout, the first in a series of features from the always-fascinating Lee Brimmicombe-Wood about the spacecraft. These should make for an interesting series over the coming months. Also coming next month is the final chapter of Alien Vs Predator II, so as previously promised I’ll talk more about that next time.

It’s been a bit of a mixed bag this month. Two stories have been as entertaining as we’d expect, in fact one surpasses previous chapters. On the other hand the other two are completely missable. But this can happen in an anthology comic and with stories ending and others beginning all the time, the Marines and Tribes will see me through until the next shake up. We’ll take a step closer to new tales with the next issue on Tuesday 22nd July 2025.

iSSUE 12 < > iSSUE 14

ALiENS MENU

Aliens, Comic Reviews

ALiENS #6: HOW LONG ‘TiL iT BLOWS?

19 November 2024 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

After the rendered brilliance of last issue’s Chris Halls cover I assumed this still-brilliantly crafted front page image was one of the better American covers, but upon reading the editorial we find out it’s actually by another British artist, Pete Doherty (Judge Dredd, Millarworld, Shaolin Cowboy). The cover of Aliens #6 from Dark Horse International shows one alien being attacked by many others in Hive, which we’ll return to later in the review.

First up is part five of Mike Richardson’s movie adaptation… sorry, I mean ‘Newt’s Tale‘. Again, for this allegedly retelling the movie through the eyes of the young survivor of LV-426 she doesn’t appear at all over the first seven pages, which include another moment from the Special Edition a lot of readers may not have seen at the time. Unfortunately, the tense scene involving the ever decreasing ammo counters of the remote sentries is cut down to this one page.

The ammo counters are quickly referenced later but it doesn’t exactly convey the same amount of excitement as the restored scene in the film. We never saw the actual “shooting gallery” on screen either and it was much more tense that way. Elsewhere there’s a passing comment from Bishop that the aliens also captured the livestock to impregnate, foreshadowing Alien³ somewhat and there’s also one of the best delivered lines in the whole movie.

When Bishop tells them that one of the cooling tanks in the nuclear reactor has been damaged and it’s gone into a state of emergency venting, just when everything else already seemed so bleak and hopeless, Hicks’ line of “How long ’til it blows?” was delivered in such an understated, deflated way by actor Michael Biehn it made us laugh! It had the perfect tone of, “Of course it is.” A comic obviously can’t convey the delivery, but reading the line still made me chuckle.

The big moment here is one that finally involves Newt and it’s the scene in which she and Ripley secure themselves inside the medical facility to rest, unaware (as were the audience) that Burke had slipped in and let a facehugger loose. As this begins, penciller Jim Somerville and inker Brian Garvey produce this eerie, unnerving panel of the two characters asleep while Newt’s decapitated doll’s head seemingly looks on in terror, its mouth covered by Ellen.

As all hell breaks loose in what was a truly terrifying scene in the film, Gregory Wright’s colours come into their own as he gives certain panels a red tone, mimicking the alarm that was going off at the time without the need of large SFX lettering taking up necessary space. However, this double-page spread perfectly conveys a movie adaptation; as a comic in its own right it’s pretty damned good, but for anyone who’d already seen the film it feels rushed and a bit by-the-numbers.

This is simply because a comic adaptation can never produce the same feelings and reactions as a movie, it can never work to the same beats. The best adaptations are those that change the movie to suit the format, and unfortunately this one tries to stay too close to the source material, so overall it’s a bit lacking. This isn’t the fault of the team behind it, they were in a losing situation before it began, and the art is great.

Time for some contemporary Aliens news, pages I always look forward to every month. Well okay, only one out of the four pieces of news directly involves Aliens this month but it’s none-the-less an interesting look back in time to November 1992. Of note is writer Dave Hughes’ description of Thelma and Louise as a “role-reversal” road movie. Really? I also didn’t know it had a director’s cut. Then in the charts Warner Bros were having a great time of it but I pity the poor sods investing in the first three episodes of the weekly V series. I can sympathise. I was one of them. Not a patch on the two previous mini-series.

In the competition the question could only have been answered by those who had seen the film, even though surely those who hadn’t would want to enter, but at least it’s honest about knowing its readers would be lying about their age. Finally, that Spider-Man film sounds like the worst idea ever and at the same time like the most 90s comic movie ever.

On to my favourite strip, Mark Verheiden’s Cold War, our Predator back up and I’ve finally watched the first two movies! Having done so brings a new level of enjoyment to this, my memories of them and my imagination adding to the already gruesome art by penciller Ron Randall, inker Steve Mitchell, colourists Chris Chalenor and Rachelle Menashe, and letterer Clem Robins. The Predators are no longer stationery images on a page anymore, suddenly the still images here are accurately conveying some dynamic movements and thrills.

This is our sequel of sorts to both films and the Americans blow their way out of their entrapment from last month. A stand off occurs between them and the Soviets until Ligachev grabs Schaefer and makes a run for it, knowing both sides don’t stand a chance against the aliens, and even if they could neither side should get hold of those weapons. In the end they’re soon recaptured when the Americans’ expensive winter clothing and weaponry give out in the extreme cold.

Schaefer is in his own clothes (he’s police, not military) and soon the two leads find a ravine they agree they’d have chosen if they were the aliens, with Yashin and his men in hot pursuit and shooting to kill. At one point Schaefer puts his life on the line to shout a warning to them about the aliens but they don’t listen and one-by-one they’re taken apart – quite literally – by one lone Predator standing guard at the entrance to the ravine.

At the time Predator: Cold War may have been seen as a bit of a role reversal between the two super powers

After the build up over the past few months this issue’s chapter is great! I’m not complaining about the story building slowly, I’ve really enjoyed it in fact, and this chapter works so well thanks to everything that came before. It’s a superb pay off for the human tension, not to mention the mystery behind these creatures for this rookie reader. Schaefer’s lone wolf attitude and clichéd 80s action heroism plays off perfectly against Ligachev’s humanity, which I’m guessing at the time may have been seen as a bit of a role reversal between the two super powers.

In the end, Schaefer’s heroics almost see him die at the hands of the Predator and it’s only Ligachev emptying dozens of bullets into it at close range that saves him. Even if I hadn’t seen those movies recently this strip does a superb job of conveying the terrors they’re up against. The odds couldn’t be more stacked against them in the icy wilderness and I can’t wait for the next chapter!

The widescreen release of Alien is up for review this issue and it’s by Jim Campbell again, who is thankfully a lot more positive than he was about the Aliens Special Edition. I remember this exciting time when favourite films of mine would get director’s cuts and widescreen releases, the latter of which really appealed to me. While we didn’t have a widescreen TV for several more years, I could easily ignore the black bars and enjoy a whole new cinematic experience for the likes of Jaws and the James Bond series.

Jaws was like a whole new film than the one on the 4:3 VHS I’d almost worn out, and despite the 60s Bond movies not being all that wide I still restarted my collection. I completely agree with Jim that this was a much better way to watch movies (even on regular 4:3 screens) and on the many benefits it brought; everything from just enjoying the full picture to actually benefitting the story, characters and, for the likes of Alien and Jaws the way the director created the suspense and jump scares.

Jim says the widescreen version of Alien better represents director Ridley Scott’s vision for his film and I completely agree. But surely that’s what the Aliens Special Edition also did for James Cameron, a version that Jim said was unnecessary and gave a negative review for in #2. Of course today these points are moot since we’ve moved on from this particular transition point in home media.

Poor Max! Part six of Hive continues the worst-plan-in-a-science-fiction-story ever and on the front cover we’ve already been told there’s a traitor in amongst the aliens, so we know synthetic Norbert has somehow survived. How he did is shown to us but not explained, as you’ll see.

We kick things off with Max dead and there’s a hole in his chest, ringing bells for anyone who had seen Alien³ in the cinema by this point (although I prefer the Collector’s Edition story in this regard). In keeping with the forced tension I talked about last time, Dr. Myakovsky can’t reach Max and he’ll obviously fall deep into the hive depths if he stretches too far, but he still tries to. Because of course he would.

Sigh. I saw that coming. And then of course Julian Lish and Gill open fire when they’re not meant to bring attention to themselves. Because, you know, tension and all that. Then comes possibly the strangest part of Jerry Prosser’s story since we saw Norbert and Max playing together in #1, back when the story had so much interesting potential.

Seemingly destroyed last time,Norbert appears to be able to pull from the alien hive around him to repair himself, and even grow a gun? No explanation is given as to how this is possible, and even though the art by Kelley Jones and colouring by Les Dorscheid are great, it really could’ve done with some letters by Clem to explain what the hell this is all about. It just looks weird. It’s also a bit too handy plot-wise and they escape the hive.

Rounding off the issue is the comics checklist and The Terminator has disappeared so DHI must’ve only been finishing off the previous publisher’s run. Then on the letters page there’s a mix of positive and negative correspondence regarding Alien³. The positive ones take the time to explain their opinions, while the negative ones are just angry rants with no reasoning, claiming it’s the end of the Alien series, that it was an insult to “true fans” (that old chestnut) and one even states that since fans are spending their money on these films they should demand what stories are told. It’s like social media before social media was a thing.

Given the results of the readers’ survey (image below), the letters really do evoke a certain hell site on the internet.

With that terrifying image we come to the end and I’m really looking forward to the next issue. I’m genuinely excited by what the next chapter of Cold War could contain and we may even be getting near the end of Hive. But most of all there’s the promise of finally taking a closer look at the first of Chris Halls’ Christmas covers! Christmas in an Aliens comic! When can we expect our next bit of horror? Why, on Christmas Eve 2024, naturally. Isn’t that the best time for a little horror story?

iSSUE FiVE < > iSSUE SEVEN

ALiENS MENU

Christmas, Retrospectives

CHRiSTMAS COVERS: FESTiVE FUN

1 December 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

**Combat Colin** by *Lew Stringer* from **Transformers** #302

When I was a kid most of my comics were fortnightly so their Christmas editions arrived very close to the Big Day itself, complete with snowy logos and cheery happenings on the cover. It always felt like extra effort went into the creation of these special editions, and reading them just days before the annuals arrived from Santa was guaranteed to raise already high levels of excitement even further.

The classic Christmas comics covered so far had that same effect on me even as an adult. So I decided I wanted to do something a bit special this year with all of the seasonal covers in my collection, and to do it right at the beginning of December to kick off the excitement on the blog this year. Below you’ll find a smorgasbord of festive fun from four comics titles I’ve already covered, one I’ve been reading for the blog’s Instagram for seven years(!), another I’m reading annually, a popular title I’m still in the collecting stage of and, for the first time, I’ll reveal one of the new real time read throughs beginning in 2024 by showing you its two Christmas covers!

That’s 21 covers altogether. “Holidays Are Coming!”

#43 cover by *Ian Jackson*
#18 cover by *John Geering*
#44 cover by *Lezz*

Of course we have to kick things off with the blog’s namesake, don’t we? My very favourite comic had two special issues for my very favourite time of the year. A great spoof of our family’s traditional Christmas TV magazine (which I still buy in December) or a hilarious Ian Jackson cover, which is the best? The second of these issues is my favourite regular issue of OiNK out of its whole 68-issue run, so that particular cover always makes me smile the most.

With the New Year holiday named HOGmanay in Scotland it’d be rude not to do a themed issue in a comic called OiNK for that part of the season. Both of these celebratory issues are also some of the best the team ever produced, with covers by the legendary John Geering and Les ‘Lezz’ Barton respectively. In fact, #43 and #44 form the final two issues of what I personally saw as OiNK’s Golden Age, a run of pretty perfect comics which also included The OiNK! Book 1988.

Super Naturals’ Christmas issue is one of my favourites from this whole blog experience

There’s nothing quite like a good Christmas ghost story. So, when I began collecting Fleetway’s Super Naturals comic for the blog (after only having owned the first and last issues as a kid) I was thrilled to not only see #5 was a special Christmas issue but that it also had a simply joyous, painted Ian Kennedy cover. Inside, the team really went for the spirit of the season, with even the ongoing serials containing themes and plots centred around Christmas. My favourite issue of the run and one of my favourite issues from this whole blog experience.

**Super Naturals** #5 cover by *Ian Kennedy*

By coincidence, a year later it was also #5 of Super Naturals editor Barrie Tomlinson’s Wildcat that fell at the right time, with a somewhat memorable front page! With its ongoing serials set upon the surface of a distant world as we searched for a new home planet it was left up to the complete anthology story to tell a tale on board the Wildcat spacecraft itself which, yes, did include that image from the cover. Even more surprisingly it actually explained it!

At the time of writing this post those are all of the Christmas comics I’ve covered as part of real time read throughs on the blog so far. However, over on the Instagram account for over seven years I’ve been patiently reading Marvel UK’s superlative Transformers comic. I’m actually reaching its conclusion very soon, in January 2024. In its last December the issue on sale over Christmas was the penultimate edition so it didn’t take a break from the ongoing story for a Christmas special, meaning I’ve read all of its seasonal issues.

It’s Christmas!
“So what?”
Starscream

In fact, it was a particularly Christmassy Winter Special that began my lifelong love of the Cybertronians. By 1988 I’d enjoyed many episodes of the cartoon and owned a few of the videos so when I fell ill my mum bought me a comic to cheer me up. That comic was Transformers Collected Comics 11. It contained three reprinted Christmas stories and I loved every page! It was a revelation compared to the cartoon. Within a few days I had a regular order at the newsagent and 35 years later I’m first in line at the cinema every few years and have been enjoying Image Comic’s brand new series (which began just a few months ago).

#7 cover taken from **The Last Stand: Part One**,
pencils by *Frank Springer*, inks by *Ian Akin* & *Brian Garvey*
#41 cover by *Mike Collins* & *Mark Farmer*
#93 cover by *Robin Smith*
#145 cover by *Barry Kitson* & *Robin Bouttell*

Collected Comics #11 cover by *Robin Smith*
#198 cover & #250 wraparound by *Andrew Wildman*
#302 cover by *Stewart Johnson* & *John Burns*

That earliest issue from the comic’s first year may only pay lip service to the festivities on the cover but as you can see from then on they celebrated with some of the most fun issues they ever produced. There’s snow or holly on a couple of the logos and even Optimus Prime dressed as Santa which, much like Wildcat, is actually explained in the story and isn’t just a cover image. Although they play up to that with the next year’s Christmas card image of Galvatron, who wasn’t inside.

The issue with all the snow was actually one of my first issues back at the time. It was doubly exciting for me because it was a special issue for Christmas and had one of the toys I received that year on the cover (Slapdash, the one on the left). The celebratory 250th issue fell on just the right date and as the comic surpassed an incredible 300 editions former letter answerer Dreadwind hilariously had to answer to the ghosts of the past, present and future Transformers to hold that post.

**Big Comic Fortnightly** #14 cover by *Sid Burgon*
**Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends** #31 cover by *Tim Marwood*

Thirty-five years ago I very gratefully received The Book Comic Book 1988 for Christmas (reviewed just three days ago) and was thrilled to suddenly see a new fortnightly baring the same ‘Big Comic’ brand during the following summer. I just had to track down this fondly remembered issue for this post. Of course, the cover was a reprint too, reworked from #35 of Jackpot. Big Comic never felt like a random selection of reprints but rather a properly curated collection that made each issue unique. It even had a special Leo Baxendale issue. Its Christmas specials were similarly packed with related material.

Next to it is the second Christmas edition of Marvel UK’s Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, one of two issues I’ve kept all these years and for a very personal reason. Namely, it was the first time young me saw his name in print when my drawing of Thomas, Gordon and Percy with Santa hats was published inside. I can still remember that moment of excitement upon turning the page that year. If you want to see it, you can check out the Thomas retrospective (marking an incredible 800 issues), the link to it and all of the issues featured here can be found at the bottom of this post.

I’ve also written a five-part series about my top Christmas comics for former Marvel UK editor John Freeman’s Down the Tubes website

Moving on to a comic I wrote about for the 33rd anniversary of its first issue. I enjoyed that so much I committed to covering the comic in some fashion in the future. However, with over 190 issues to collect first it’s going to take a while. (Remember, these cost money!) What I can show you now are the first three years of festive fun. Taking advantage of its weekly schedule, The Real Ghostbusters had two celebratory issues every year, one for Christmas and one for the New Year, as you can see below.

#29 cover by *Martin Griffiths*
#30 & #82 covers by *Brian Williamson* & *Dave Harwood*
#81 cover by *Brian Williamson*, *Dave Harwood* & *Robin Bouttell*
#133 & #134 covers by *Brian Williamson*,
*Stephen Baskerville* & *John Burns*

With at least three stories (two strip and one prose) every issue we were treated to a couple of themed stories and of course Slimer’s humour strip would also join in. One of the New Year issues also contained the results of a reader survey told in comic strip form, complete with the winners at Marvel UK meeting the characters on stage!

I promised at the top of this post I’d be introducing one of 2024’s brand new real time read throughs with a preview of its two Christmas covers. It’s time to reveal the title that will finally be keeping Jurassic Park company in the Dark Horse International drop-down menu. It’s not one you’d expect to have a nice, cheerful Christmassy cover… and you’d be right. They’re not exactly the usual fluffy fare.

With the strips all being imports from the US, split into ongoing serials, I doubt there are any stories inside to match the covers but this is one of those rare occasions when covers not correlating to the contents doesn’t annoy me. The fact Aliens of all things marked the season at all (and with funny headlines to boot) is brilliant as far as I’m concerned. All of the Aliens issues I’m covering have arrived and I’m eager to start reading them next year. Listen out for the motion tracker bleeps in May 2024.

There we go, my look at all of the Christmas covers currently residing in my classic comics collection. Writing this has me wanting to read them all over again. Well, the ones I’ve already featured anyway, the last two titles will have to wait until it’s their time, that’s the rule of the blog after all.

I’ve also written a five-part series about my top Christmas comics for former Marvel UK editor John Freeman’s Down the Tubes for this festive season. Below you can see the banner John created for the series (Smudge the cat is becoming very famous these days) and links to the five individual posts from fifth place to my top Christmas comic.

No.5 – No.4 – No.3 – No.2 – No.1

If you’d like to share any of your own favourite Christmas comic memories I’ll eagerly await your stories on Instagram, Threads and Facebook.