Looking for info on a computer mag comic strip

[banjo]

I don't know if you folks can help me, but this seemed like a good place to ask. Back when I was in highschool (early-mid 90's) a friend of mine used to read a comic that was run "serial style" in a computer magazine he bought.

I'm pretty sure (but not 100%) that it was black and white, but definitely sure the story was something of a ripoff of the movie 'Aliens'. I remember this distinctly, because my friend complained that his favourite character was killed when he foolishly took his helmet off for some fresh air and got struck from behind by an 'alien' of the kind his squad had been fighting underground.

Sorry to be so obscure, but I've been looking for many, MANY years to identify this comic strip and the magazine it ran in. For years, I thought it was early issues of 'Computer & Video Games' but I recently got to read what I thought was the only comic they ran ('The Bug Hunters') and that was nothing like the comic I remember my friend reading (much more of a 2300AD style strip).

As to narrowing down which magazine...? I'd have assumed it was a UK one (imported to Australia, like most of the computer mags I used to read back then); it could have been a multi-format title like 'C&VG' or a single machine one for PC, Amiga or Amstrad or similar (this was pre-console 'boom', IIRC).

Sorry! I know this isn't a lot to go on, but I'm hoping somebody out there reads this and goes "Oh, yeah! I remember that!" They say the memory cheats, so I might be totally off on some of the above details, I'm afraid. Heck, I might be nuts and it WASN'T a computer mag (rather, some kind of Action/Eagle comic)... but I'm pretty sure it was, even if it was a rather obscure one.

Any help at all in even just narrowing down the search or knowing this really did exist would be MUCH appreciated!

[Areala]

I've never heard of this, but I'm quite intrigued. KiwiArcader is probably the best resource for this type of thing, as he's a huge collector of old Australian and UK computer magazines. We shall seek his wise input on this problem, and if satisfactory answers are not forthcoming we shall implement the "cattle prod" contingency.

Also, welcome to the site, Banjo! If nothing else, I hope you find something equally interesting among the archives.

*huggles*

Areala

[KiwiArcader]

It does sound very much like a CVG strip to be honest as they always had a black & white serialised comic in most issues. Newsfield publications on the other hand usually ran a colour strip called Terminal Man penned by Oliver Frey if I remember correctly and Argus Press didn't really run comics at all in their publications. Bug Hunters came along as a staple a little later in CVG and there were small two or three issue comic runs so maybe it is one of those? Sorry I can't be more help .... I am way, way behind in scanning my CVG issues so am a tad rusty recalling these things. If I find something I'll let you know though.

[banjo]

Thanks for the welcome, Areala (your user name had me flashing back to adolescence picking up such comics on trips to Melbourne)! I still recall reading C&VG fondly from my childhood and teenage years (as well as numerous other comics and computer mags) so I'm sure I'll find other great stuff here. Out of interest, has anyone scanned the C&VG issues around the 125-140 mark (when it was in an odd "larger format")?

KiwiArcader, thanks for the input! I've always suspected C&VG (given it's prominance over here in my childhood); my doubts are only because I only personally owned later issues that never had regular comic strips (I believe Julian Rignell and co were on staff/running it at the point I was reading). This has to have been 1989-1992, since I was in my first years of highschool, but the only mention of comics in C&VG I've seen until now was of The Bug Hunters (you can imagine my excitement on hearing the title, only to be surprised and disappointed it wasn't what I presumed!).

Any tips on roughly what issues to start looking through? I have scans and/or real issues from 1-120, and as I was reading personally around the 100+ as a kid, I know the comics must have been somewhere during the earlier part of that run... pre-70 perhaps?

Anyway, I'm grateful for the help and warm welcome... if there's anything I can do to help here myself, let me know!

[banjo]

Random extra info: I've got the strangest idea that "my friend's favourite character" who was killed in the comic (I want to say alien tail through the back of the kneck, but that seems awfully violent for a kid's computer mag comic!) I mentioned was named something like "Arcana" and may have been blonde. Might be totally off, but my memory is telling me that!

(also, how do I edit past posts to avoid multiposting like this?)

[Areala]

Yay, somebody who recognizes my avatar and username!

I think you get the edit button once you've made a certain number of posts here, but I'm not sure what the number is (5, 25, not sure...). Don't worry about doing two posts in a row though. If it was really that big of a deal, I'd join them myself.

*huggles*

Areala