Aliens – Genocide (1991)

This series sees an attempted counter-expedition to the Xenomorph home planet following the events of Aliens: Female War, orchestrated by a billionaire for dubious reasons. The series was preceded by the short story prequel Aliens: The Alien.

Terminator (1991)

This beautifully illustrated 48-page trade paperback spotlights writer James Robinson, who delivers a compelling and action-packed script which plays to Matt Wagner’s atmospheric and visually stunning renderings. Unknowingly, Kyle Reese went back in time to protect Sarah Conner from the second of two Terminators sent from the future to alter the past. In this one-shot special, we encounter the very first Terminator to be sent back through time, a female version of the 800-model, but just as deadly, if not more so. Her mission: to kill John Conner’s mother! The Sarah Conner that she finds has a mission of her own: to kill her new husband and take off with his vast wealth before ever having a baby!

Ghost (1990’s)

Ghost first appeared in Comics’ Greatest World, week three, in 1993. After a popular special in 1994, a monthly title devoted to the character began publication in 1995. It ran for 36 issues, followed by a six-month break and a second series of 22 issues. The second series was a continuation of the first with a number of changes, including new details about Ghost’s origin. The stories in both series were based in (and around) the city of Arcadia, in a self-contained fictional universe outlined in Dark Horse’s Comics’ Greatest World.

Ghost continued appearing in her own titles (and others) into the 2000s, including several crossovers unrelated to Comics’ Greatest World. Most notable among these were a two-issue crossover with Dark Horse’s Hellboy (Ghost/Hellboy), and a four-issue crossover with DC Comics’ Batgirl (Ghost/Batgirl: The Resurrection Machine). Ghost was ranked 15th on the Comics Buyer’s Guide‘s “100 Sexiest Women in Comics” list.

Star Wars: General Grievousis (2005)

Star Wars: General Grievousis a 4-part series published by Dark Horse Comics and released from March 16, 2005 through July 20, 2005. This tale of treachery and genocide leads up to the events of the record-breaking blockbuster Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Before his all-out battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi, the latest Star Wars supervillain took on an entire alien species!

John Byrne’s 2112 (1991)

The Next Men characters made a prototypical appearance as “Freaks” in a lithography plate that was published within the History of the DC Universe Portfolio in 1986. Byrne had originally pitched the series to DC Comics, but the series never surfaced there. With some changes, Byrne changed the concept to fit in with his work on the graphic novel 2112, to become the John Byrne’s Next Men series. Two characters from the “Freaks” artwork somewhat retained their physical looks and became the lead characters of the Next Men series: heroine Jasmine and villain Aldus Hilltop.

The Next Men officially debuted in a four-part storyline in Dark Horse Presents #54-57 (later reprinted, in color, as John Byrne’s Next Men #0). The series ran until issue #30 and ended with a cliffhanger. According to Byrne, he intended the series to be science-fiction that had a “sort of smell” of being a super-hero book. In addition to exploring mature topics such as sex, abortion, and child abuse, Byrne also set aside some of the more-traditional conventions of the medium, such as “thought-bubbles” and sound-effects.

Byrne had intended to conclude the story in a second series after a six-month hiatus, but the collapse of the American comic-book industry in the mid-1990s made it financially unfeasible for him to do so, and he returned to working for hire at DC Comics and Marvel Comics.

Hellboy: Makoma (2006)

Makoma (or A Tale Told by a Mummy in the New York City Explorers’ Club on August 16, 1993) tells the story of a legendary African king, told to Hellboy by a mummy. At the same time Makoma’s story parallels Hellboy’s own life.

Alien 3 (1992)

The story of the comics adaptation exactly followed the plot of the film Alien 3, scripted by David Giler, Walter Hill and Larry Ferguson. In it, Ellen Ripley crash lands on the prison planet of Fiorina 161 and must face an alien with the few remaining inmates on the planet. The series was written by Steven Grant, drawn by Christopher Taylor, inked by Rick Magyar, colored by Matt Webb, and lettered by Jim Massara, with cover art by painter Arthur Suydam.

Star Wars: Dark Empire 2 (1994)

The Empire in retreat, Luke Skywalker is on a quest to rebuild the Jedi. But before he can revive that elite corps of protectors, he must first rebuild himself! He has spent time as the Emperor’s thrall, and the taint of the dark side still tugs at his subconscious. Can he pull together the Jedi, can he pull himself together, before the New Republic loses the upper hand, or will the Empire take root once more?

Body Bags (1996)

Set in the fictional city of Terminus, Georgia (which is named after the former name for Atlanta), Body Bags follows the contract-killing exploits of a Hispanic father & daughter team of “body baggers” (assassins) Mack Delgado (aka “Clownface”), a knife-wielding veteran of the business, and his overzealous and overly-voluptuous teenage daughter, Panda. Many of their assignments come from the series’ only other recurring character, Sheriff Toni Sinn. Despite the arguing that goes on between teenager Panda and father Mack, Mack is still very protective while Panda constantly fights for her father’s respect and permission to set out on jobs with her father and his longtime body-bagging partner, Pops.

The Shaolin Cowboy: Who’ll Stop the Reign (2017)

The titular hero of the series finds that his road to hell is paved not with good intentions but old nemeses hellbent on bloody revenge . . . AGAIN!!!!

He fought an army of the shambling dead, but can the Shaolin Cowboy survive a sinister desert town filled with guns, prostitutes, and white supremacists, all run by a crustaceous mafia?

Shaolin Cowboy – Who’ll Stop the Reign #2 NM $5