Alien Worlds

Alien Worlds is an American science fiction anthology comic that was published by Pacific Comics and, later, Eclipse Comics, in the early 1980s. It was edited by Bruce Jones and April Campbell.

For other uses, see Alien Worlds (disambiguation).

Alien Worlds
The cover of Alien Worlds #6, art by Frank Brunner
Publication information
Publisher	Pacific Comics and Eclipse Comics
Schedule	Bimonthly
Format	Anthology
Publication date	December 1982 - January 1985
No. of issues	10
Creative team
Created by	Bruce Jones

Publication history

Alien Worlds was published on a bi-monthly schedule by Pacific Comics from December 1982 to April 1984 (eight issues, including an offshoot Three Dimensional Alien Worlds published in July 1984). After Pacific went bankrupt, two final issues were published by Eclipse Comics in November 1984 and January 1985. In 1986, Blackthorne Publishing published their own one-shot Alien Worlds, with reprints of stories taken from earlier issues. In May 1988, Eclipse issued a standalone, unnumbered edition of the title as part of its Graphic Album Series, featuring all new stories and art.

Nearly all of the stories in Alien Worlds were written by Jones, with only a few exceptions (notably Jan Strnad's "Stoney End" in Issue # 8 and Frank Brunner's "The Reading!" in Issue # 9). Jones had developed a skill for the short genre tale, often with a twist ending, during his years with Warren Publishing while writing for their Creepy and Eerie titles. He was heavily influenced by the horror and science fiction movies of the 1950s, adding graphic violence and sexuality to the mix, complete with copious female nudity; several issues sported a “Recommended For Mature Readers” warning on the cover. However, for the most part Alien Worlds avoided the more intensely gruesome subject matter of Jones' other Pacific comic, Twisted Tales, which was being published at the same time.

Front covers for the comic were by, among others, John Bolton, Dave Stevens, Frank Brunner, William Stout, and Joe Chiodo. Contributing interior artists included Bolton, Stevens, Al Williamson, Richard Corben, Roy Krenkel, Val Mayerik, and Rand Holmes, as well as two stories written and illustrated by editor Jones himself.

In 1985, soon after the cancellation of Alien Worlds, Eclipse began publishing a similar science-fiction themed anthology, Alien Encounters. The title ceased publication in 1987 after fourteen issues.

Bruce Jones and actor Thomas Jane are writing a revival series slated for release sometime in the future.

Issue guide

#	Date	Cover Artist	Story	Story Artist	Plot
1	December 1982	Joe Chiodo	The Few and the Far	Al Williamson	During an intergalactic war, two creatures on an uncharted planet keep their true forms hidden from the other via “Hypno-Screen”
			Domain	Val Mayerik	Survivors of a disabled rocket on an alien world are forced to regress to prehistoric civilization under the orders of their crazed leader
			Head of the Class	Nestor Redondo	Robot students plot vengeance against their oppressive teacher
			Talk to Tedi	Tim Conrad	Super-intelligent robotic teddy bear follows its owner home after being inadvertently left behind on a planet millions of miles from Earth
2	May 1983	Dave Stevens	Aurora	Dave Stevens	Adventures of an intergalactic female freedom fighter
			Vicious Circle	Ken Steacy	Eerie goings-on in a deep space bound space vessel
			A Mind of Her Own	Bruce Jones	Three children are marooned on an alien planet and one of them has the unwanted ability to bring her horrific thoughts alive
3	July 1983	William Stout	The Inheritors	Scott Hampton	Dolphin-like aliens from another world come to Earth to save the planet
			Pi in the Sky	Ken Steacy	Futuristic aerial dogfights
			Dark Passage	Thomas Yeates	Puppy love develops between a young boy and his robot “girlfriend”
4	September 1983	Dave Stevens	Princess Pam	Dave Stevens	Robot protects its mistress after they crash-land on an inhospitable planet
			Girl of my Schemes	Bo Hampton	Futuristic, exotic travel agency sets the stage for a comedic love story
			One Day in Ohio	Ken Steacy	A robot and a monkey are the only survivors of an apocalyptic nuclear war
			Deep Secrets	Bruce Jones	On the dark side of Alpha Centauri, a man gets revenge on his unfaithful lover
			Land of the Fhre	Al Williamson	Humanity's triumph against alien invaders turns out to be the dreams of a brain dead survivor of the attack Note- This was a rewrite of the story Savage World written by Wally wood and Al Williamson which was originally published in Witzend #1
5	December 1983	John Bolton	Lip Service	John Bolton	Federation bureaucrat assigned to a six-week assignment on a leper-colony planetoid discovers to his horror the natives’ praying mantis styled mating rituals.
			Game Wars	Ken Steacy	Foes in a futuristic battle put aside their weapons to play card games
			Plastic	Adolpho Buylla	Soldiers trapped on a planet in a meaningless war meet horrific fates as they discover who the true enemy is.
			Wasteland	Thomas Yeates	Man stuck in a hospital bed watches a beacon from the future on the room's television set
6	February 1984	Frank Brunner	Planet Perfict	Jim Sullivan and Arthur Suydam	Adventurer exploring an alien world finds a beautiful, not quite perfect woman
			The Test	Roy Krenkel and Val Mayerik	Man and woman on a boating trip find hideous undersea monsters plotting to take over the Earth
			Pride of the Fleet	Frank Brunner and Mike Mignola	Adventures of a female warrior
7	April 1984	Joe Chiodo	The Small World of Lewis Stillman	Richard Corben	Last two adult survivors of a planet-wide alien attack come out of hiding and attempt to communicate with the savage, depraved remnants of humanity that remain...all children
			Small Change	Brent Anderson	Tiny alien piloting a Frisbee-like flying disc helps a young boy earn some cash
			It All Fits	Gray Morrow	Flesh-eating creatures attack scientists in a compound on an icy planet
			Ride the Blue Bus	George Pérez	After a devastating war, a specially designed bus provides cross country tours to chosen survivors to instill in them the need to rebuild civilization
8	November 1984	John Pound	...And Miles To Go Before I Sleep	Al Williamson	As a final wish, dying space explorer has robot-replacement created to visit his elderly parents on faraway Earth
			Soft Boiled	Paul Rivoche	Film noir-ish detective discovers his very existence is a sham created by robots
			Collector's Item	Ken Steacy	A Mars Attacks-styled trading card set reveals the mechanics of an imminent alien invasion to a young boy
			Stoney End	Rand Holmes	Doomed astronauts who have crash landed on a planet attempt to temporarily “escape” the horror of their impending deaths by reading science fiction comic books
9	January 1985	John Bolton	10 Devils	Bo Hampton	Soldiers fight a horde of intelligent, advanced weapon-carrying gigantic ants
			The Reading	Frank Brunner	Somewhere between time and space, an eerie tarot card reading reveals that the Earth no longer exists
			Small Game	Mike Hoffman	Miniaturized hunters kill insects for sport
			The Maiden and the Dragon	Bo Hampton	Clever young woman slays a hideous sea serpent
NA	May 1988	William Stout	Phony Express	Thom Enriquez	Newly hired postal rider on an alien outpost finds a letter in his pouch revealing his wife's adulterous ways
			Looking For Louie	Ralph Reese	Wacky adventures of human-sized cockroach space travelers
			Boots and Jackets	Eric Shanower	Old tracker gets one last chance for adventure in the jungles of a distant planet
			In The Meadow	Mike Dringenberg	While swimming in a pond a young teenaged girl and her dog encounter an alien hunting for trophies
			Jupiter Rising	Bill Wray	One morning a man and his house-cat repeatedly stumble backwards into prehistoric time
			Worlds Apart	Bob Fingerman	Advanced frog-like alien becomes stranded on Earth