2000 AD #194

The cover of this January 1981 prog makes a bold statement right away — "1981 Is the Year of the Alien!" — and Dave Gibbons delivers on that promise with a wild crowd of extraterrestrial creatures looming over a white-robed, white-bearded old man who clutches a staff and looks genuinely overwhelmed. From a fang-filled horned beast and a bulbous blue-skulled alien to insectoid yellow creatures and a cyclopean floating eye, the assembled menagerie is gloriously strange. Inside, Alan Grant and Ezquerra kick off "The Bad Boys Bust, Part 1," making Prog 194 a fine place to dive into what the Galaxy's Greatest Comic had to offer in its fifth year.