So I was going through some of my boxes the other night and came across a couple of these pack-in comics Dark Horse produced for the early 1990s Aliens action figure series. They’re 16 page mini-comics, measuring about 4 1/2 by 4 inches, centered around whatever character/critter figure with which the comic was distributed.

Unfortunately, I don’t have them all…I only bought figures of the actual Aliens, and thus, alas, I do not have the full Space Marines Versus Aliens story serialized in the mini-comics. But, by God, at least I do have the Gorilla Alien: Jungle Attack comic:

That’s a swell Mark Nelson cover you’re seeing there…Nelson being the fellow who drew Dark Horse’s original six-issue Aliens mini-series way back when.

Art chores inside this particular installment were by a pre-Starman, way pre-Ex Machina Tony Harris. This is a nice shot, showing the Gorilla Aliens on the move:

And here’s a Gorilla Alien gettin’ Blown Up Real Good:

Some of the other minis had some interesting creators involved, like Dave Johnson drawing the Ripley installment, which kind of makes me wish I’d gone ahead and picked up the rest of the figures in the line. Especially since I remember seeing them on clearance racks for $2.99 a pop for a couple of years after their initial release. Ah, well…can’t buy and store everything.

I’m still in a partial Low Content Mode on the site, here…so I thought I’d show off a few buttons I’ve picked up for the collection in recent months. Above is, of course, a button for The Critic, starring Jon Lovitz. That was a generally amusing show, I thought.

Here are a couple of Presidential candidates for whom I can easily imagine the pros and cons of both:

The next button is a promo piece for the Heroes TV show:

Boy, that show went from “media/fandom darling” to “oh, that’s still on the air?” more quickly than any other show I’m aware of. It’s not a bad program, though it does have a tendency to meander. This season’s been pretty good, I think, but the “Heroes is ending!” rumor mill is going strong yet again.

Now, I’ve no idea about this next button:

I realize the answer is only a Googling away, but I find myself preferring the mystery.

So, that new DVD release of the 1988 Ruby-Spears Superman cartoon…I’ve only watched episode #1 on the first disc so far, and I’m surprised at just how…primitive it all seems, especially considering it was on the air only about four years prior to the debut of Batman: The Animated Series. I’ll get into more detail later, I think, but did want to draw attention to this bit from the opening credit sequence:

If this segment from the show’s opener was taken from an actual episode, and Titano turns up later on one of the two discs in this DVD set, I will be a very happy man. (I suppose I could check an online episode guide and find out for sure..but what’s the fun in that?)

• Blah blah blah Chris Sims blah Eugene Ahn blah blah blah new episode of the War Rocket Ajax podcast blah blah James Lucas Jones of Oni Press blah blah. So give it a listen!
• Today is the DVD release of the 1988 Ruby-Spears Superman cartoon that I remember reading about in the fan press at the time, but never saw one frame of it, aside from maybe a still here and there on the internet. I guess it’s mostly notable for being the first media adaptation that incorporated elements of the Superman comics revamp of the mid ’80s (i.e. the corrupt businessman version of Lex Luthor), and it involved comics veterans Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane, so I’m looking forward to seeing it.
• Andrew’s run of Nobody’s Favorite columns are quickly becoming everybody’s favorite, and here’s another example why, featuring a “classic” Marvel character. And you can’t tell over the internet, but I’m really sarcasta-quoting as hard as I can on “classic” there.
• A couple of other ongoing features at pals’ blogs: Dr. K’s Blackhawk Wingsday, examining Blackhawk comics of yore, and Dave’s Space Cabby Sunday, quite possibly the best comic book series about a taxi driver in space.
• Originally posted on Halloween, but I’m sure you won’t mind a little Halloween leftovers…it’s the horror webcomic “Copy Protection” by Kevin Church and Paul Horn. Good, creepy stuff.
• Oh, yeah, the cat’s out of the bag, now…I’ve been one of the contributors to this, along with some swell funny folks, so drop by and check it out.

Sadly, I have found myself occupied with a surfeit of things and stuff to accomplish, leaving me with little time to attend to my website here. Now, if it were just the things, it’d be fine, but it’s the stuff that gets you.

Anyway, I’m calling today a “Low Content Mode” day, so I will leave you with the above August 1978 issue of Teen Beat to ponder. I certainly hope that Andy chap gave Shaun back his girls, what with Shaun being ready for marriage an’ all.

That would be a Batman: The Animated Series bookmark, from 1992. Boy, these sure didn’t go over well when we first had ’em. Maybe seventeen years later, I’ll have a bit more luck moving them along.

NO, DON’T CROSS THE STREAMS

…since I’m a bit short on time and low on energy, but I just wanted to point out this new weblog that I just noticed in my referral logs: Love and Maggie, a clearinghouse of news and links for the work of the Hernandez Brothers. A very nice resource for fans of Jaime, Gilbert, Mario, and their army of characters.

The site mentions Jaime and Gilbert’s appearance at a store in Portland, OR to celebrate Wonder Woman Day…and my old friend Matt reported to me that he got to meet them there and talk about my hometown (and Matt’s former stomping ground) of Oxnard for a few minutes. And he got his Ill Repute album covers signed. So, you know, cool.

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On a completely unrelated note, reader Paul asked me why I haven’t mentioned this yet on my site, and…well, I’m not sure why, exactly. But apparently Akiva Goldsman has expressed an interest in making a new movie based on Swamp Thing. Now, Mr. Goldsman is the man who wrote Batman and Robin and you all know how much I liked that. And he wrote the Lost in Space remake, which, um, I sorta liked, kinda — DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT. But anyway, I don’t have an opinion one way or another just yet…it’s just all talk at the moment. Once a script is settled on and people start getting cast (“Rob Schneider is…SWAMP THING”) I’ll probably have more to say.

Hey, maybe they could give it to the guy who made Return of the Swamp Thing, so we could have an origin movie just as crazy that completely nuts sequel! Sure, it’d make about ten bucks in the theatres, but I’d be happy and that’s what’s important.

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One more Swamp Thing bit of media business: he gets a brief mention on a recent episode of the Colbert Report, which you can see right here (starting at about the 9:30 mark). Thanks to reader Rob for letting me know!