Alien Worlds was published on a bi-monthly schedule by Pacific Comics from December 1982 to April 1984 for eight issues, with a single issue of spin-off 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.[2] Eclipse considered continuing the title but instead opted to create Alien Encounters with a variety of writers.[3] Instead Jones took Alien Worlds to Blackthorne Publishing, who produced a one-shot featuring reprints of stories taken from earlier issues. In 1987 Eclipse struck a deal with Jones & Campbell's new packaging operation Bruce Jones Associates for new prestige format bi-annual versions of Alien World, cancelling Alien Encounters to make room. However, only a single issue of the new format was produced.[4]
Following Eclipse's bankruptcy in 1995, the company's assets were purchased by Todd McFarlane. Believing that the deal included the names of the Jones/Campbell anthologies, he teased a series called Todd McFarlane's Alien Worlds in the 1998 one-shotTotal Eclipse; however, the comic would never appear.
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). For the most part Alien Worlds avoided the more intensely gruesome subject matter of Twisted Tales, which was being published at the same time.,[1] though part of Eclipse's reason for starting Alien Encounters was to cut down on the amount of sexual content.[2] Among the cover artists for the series were John Bolton, Dave Stevens, Frank Brunner, William Stout, and Joe Chiodo.
"The Few and the Far" (art by Al Williamson): during an intergalactic war, two creatures on an uncharted planet keep their true forms hidden from the other via “Hypno-Screen”.
"Domain" (art by Val Mayerik): the 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" (art by Nestor Redondo): robot students plot vengeance against their oppressive teacher.
"Talk to Tedi" (art by Tim Conrad: a 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
"Aurora" (art by Dave Stevens): the adventures of an intergalactic female freedom fighter.
"Vicious Circle" (art by Ken Steacy): eerie goings-on in a deep space bound space vessel.
"A Mind of Her Own" (art by Bruce Jones): three children are marooned on an alien planet and one of them has the unwanted ability to bring her horrific thoughts to life.
3
July 1983
"The Inheritors" (art by Scott Hampton): dolphin-like aliens from another world come to Earth to save the planet.
"Pi in the Sky" (art by Ken Steacy): futuristic aerial dogfights.
"Dark Passage" (art by Thomas Yeates): puppy love develops between a young boy and his robot “girlfriend”.
4
September 1983
"Princess Pam" (art by Dave Stevens): a robot protects its mistress after they crash-land on an inhospitable planet.
"Girl of my Schemes" (art by Bo Hampton): a futuristic, exotic travel agency sets the stage for a comedic love story.
"One Day in Ohio" (art by Ken Steacy): a robot and a monkey are the only survivors of an apocalyptic nuclear war.
"Deep Secrets" (art by Bruce Jones): on the dark side of Alpha Centauri, a man gets revenge on his unfaithful lover.
"Land of the Fhre (art by Al Williamson): humanity's triumph against alien invaders turns out to be the dreams of a brain dead survivor of the attack.
5
December 1983
"Lip Service" (art by John Bolton): A 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" (art by Ken Steacy): foes in a futuristic battle put aside their weapons to play card games
"Plastic" (art by Adolpho Buylla): soldiers trapped on a planet in a meaningless war meet horrific fates as they discover who the true enemy is.
"Wasteland" (art by Thomas Yeates): A man stuck in a hospital bed watches a beacon from the future on the room's television set.
6
February 1984
"Planet Perfict" (art by Jim Sullivan and Arthur Suydam): an adventurer exploring an alien world finds a beautiful but not quite perfect woman.
"The Test" (art by Roy Krenkel and Val Mayerik): A man and a woman on a boating trip find hideous undersea monsters plotting to take over the Earth.
"Pride of the Fleet" (art by Frank Brunner and Mike Mignola): the adventures of a female warrior.
7
April 1984
"The Small World of Lewis Stillman" (art by Richard Corben): the 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" (art by Brent Anderson): A tiny alien piloting a Frisbee-like flying disc helps a young boy earn some cash
"It All Fits" (art by Gray Morrow): flesh-eating creatures attack scientists in a compound on an icy planet.
"Ride the Blue Bus (art by George Pérez): after a devastating war, a specially designed bus provides cross country tours to chosen survivors to instil in them the need to rebuild civilization.
8
November 1984
"...And Miles To Go Before I Sleep" (art by Al Williamson): as a final wish, a dying space explorer has robot-replacement created to visit his elderly parents on faraway Earth.
"Soft Boiled" (art by Paul Rivoche): a Film noir-ish detective discovers his very existence is a sham created by robots.
"Collector's Item" (art by Ken Steacy): a set of trading cards reveal the mechanics of an imminent alien invasion to a young boy.
"Stoney End" (art by 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
"10 Devils" (art by Bo Hampton): soldiers fight a horde of intelligent, advanced and heavily armed gigantic ants.
"The Reading" (art by Frank Brunner): somewhere between time and space, an eerie tarot card reading reveals that the Earth no longer exists.
"Small Game" (art by Mike Hoffman): miniaturized hunters kill insects for sport.
"The Maiden and the Dragon" (art by Bo Hampton): a clever young woman slays a hideous sea serpent.
"Phony Express" (art by Thom Enriquez): a newly hired postal rider on an alien outpost finds a letter in his pouch revealing his wife's adulterous ways.
"Looking For Louie" (art by Ralph Reese): the whacky adventures of human-sized cockroach space travellers.
"Boots and Jackets" (art by Eric Shanower): an old tracker gets one last chance for adventure in the jungles of a distant planet.
"In The Meadow" (art by Mike Dringenberg): while swimming in a pond, a young teenaged girl and her dog encounter an alien hunting for trophies.
"Jupiter Rising" (art by Bill Wray): one morning a man and his house-cat repeatedly stumble backwards into prehistoric time.
"Worlds Apart" (art by Bob Fingerman): an advanced frog-like alien becomes stranded on Earth
In 2010, Jones and actor Thomas Jane announced they were writing a revival series slated for release sometime in the future.[5] As of 2024[update] no further news has emerged.
