ALIEN TASK FORCE
of Reality-88131
Membership: Mark
Bittner, Richardson (first name unrevealed), others (all
Reality-88131)
Purpose: To apprehend,
incarcerate and study
extraterrestrials in the USA
Aliases: None
Affiliations: US senator (name unrevealed)
Enemies: Extraterrestrials
generally (notably
Gordon Shumway (aka ALF), Rhonda, Skip), Alf
(dog), Tanner family (Brian, Eric, Kate, Lynn, Willie) (all
Reality-88131)
Base of Operations: Mobile in
the USA;
formerly a secret base in the Pacific Ocean near the
Californian coast
First Appearance: ALF#24/1 (mid-December 1989) (mentioned, simulation); ALF#27/1 (March, 1990)
History:
(ALF#27/1 (fb) - BTS) - The Alien
Task Force (ATF) was established by the US Government with direct
support from one senator. Its mission was to apprehend, incarcerate and
study extraterrestrials. A secret base was constructed in the northeast
Pacific Ocean far off the coast of California, camouflaged as a small
desert island and had room for an internal dock with a mini-submarine
and pursuit boats. The base included a small display room of alien
models based on descriptions from people who had supposedly had a close
encounter. Regular patrols were made in a mini-sub. One day, the
supportive senator visited the secret base in his boat.
(ALF#27/1) - An accident caused
Melmacian alien
refugee Gordon Shumway (aka ALF) to launch via an ejector seat from his
new home with the Tanner family in Los Angeles into sea far off the
Californian coast. He chanced upon the ATF
secret base thinking it was a desert island. He caught the passing ATF
mini-sub's periscope and hitched a ride as it went into the ATF's
docking area, stealthily sneaking away from the low-staffed docking
area. He started to explore inside the main base and hid in the nearest
room (by chance the ATF alien display room) at approaching footsteps
and hid among the alien mannequins. The ATF commander and the senator passed through. ALF fled and commandeered the
unmanned mini-sub. Thinking the controls easy, ALF pressed several
buttons, but mistakenly fired a torpedo that sank the senator's boat
and generated tremendous chaos. ALF steered away from the base,
submerged and escaped the small pursuit boats. He later abandoned the
mini-sub at a marina to go home.
(ALF#48/1 (fb)/(ALF#50/1 (fb) - BTS) - As a result of
the mayhem, the ATF had
severe budget cuts. The promising agent Mark Bittner was scapegoated
and demoted to case manager. Bittner opened old files and found
theTanner case (which included ALF) and began monitoring the Tanners.
(ALF#48/1) - Bitter at being blamed
for ALF's actions and very suspicious of the Tanners, Bittner tried to
force his way into their house. ALF attacked him and Bittner pinned him
down. To save ALF, Kate Tanner shoved an alien amnesia-inducing tablet
into Bittner's mouth and he wandered off confused.
(ALF#49) - Dazed and wandering the
streets, Bittner was picked up by police. He recovered in a cell and
furiously declared he would storm the Tanners.
(ALF#50/1) - Bittner informed the
three assigned ATF agents of his plans and regained the support of the
senator. Bittner also had sleazy journalist Randall Pendergast
cover the raid for publicity. Now resourced with an old van for
transport, the ATF made their surprise raid led by Bittner on the
Tanner household. ALF's fellow Melmacians, Rhonda and Skip,
coincidentally there too, managed to escape, their spacecraft's exhaust
adding to the chaos as everybody tumbled over each other. Meanwhile,
ALF used a holographic device that made him appear like a Tanner's new
dog Alf and Bittner was left humiliated with no apparent evidence.
Bittner led the other three agents away, although they openly doubted
he would keep his position. Pendergast pursued questioning of the
senator.
Comments: Created by Michael Gallagher, Dave Manak, Marie Severin.
The Alien Task Force (ATF) was first
mentioned and "seen" in the ALF#24/1 comic via the "Wotif Computer" in
a simulation based on "a set of circumstances and ... a movie of the
probable outcome!" The simulation is not the real ATF, but the concept
was alredy there.
The (unnamed) senator appears on the island base (ALF#27/1) and later in the Tanner raid (ALF#50/1), but his hair color has changed from blond to gray; that is, they look the same, just the hair color has changed. (You can see him with the specs and bow-tie in 2 of the images).
In the background of the alien display
room pic, ALF
recognized the central brown fuzzy bear-ish one as a Rygelian (although
he says they only have one horn; the display shows two horns), while
the one at right (in red, blue & white) he recognized as an
Alpha-Centuran, but it was wearing a holo-gramaphone helmet from "500
eons" ago. Another on display (not pictured here) was the iconic alien
from the ET the Extraterrestrial
movie.
This storyline effectively provides an ending to the cliffhanger of the final episode of the ALF TV show "Consider Me Gone" (season 4, March 1990), which had the same elements of the pursuing Alien Task Force plus Melmacians Rhonda and Skip, although the Marvel comic finale was well over a year after the TV series finale. The TV storyline was eventually wrapped up in the 1996 telemovie Project: ALF.
I'd like to see the Alien Task Force go up against the xenomorph from the Alien movie franchise! Although that'd probably be a short clip.
By sheer coincidence, in the USA, ATF also stands for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a law enforcement agency in the United States' Department of Justice, which also engages in armed raids.
Apparently the US Govt has the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), a Department of Defense office, which investigates unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP, the modern term for UFO), but found "no empirical evidence" of alien technology in a 2024 report. Gotta run faster to catch ALF! Or run smarter... or something. No problem!
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Alien Task Force has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
ALF#50/1, p12, pan4 (main image. 2 agents with alien-catching net)
ALF#27/1, p8, pan2 (ATF commander with senator)
ALF#27/1, p8, pan7 (mini-sub inside the ATF island base)
ALF#50/1, p1, pan2 (face-covering ATF helmets x3)
ALF#50/1, p8, pan5 (ATF van)
Appearances:
ALF#24/1 (mid-December 1989) - Michael Gallagher (writer), Dave Manak (pencils), Marie Severin (inks), Sid Jacobson (editor)
ALF#27/1 (March, 1990) - Michael Gallagher (writer), Dave Manak
(pencils), Jacqueline Roettcher (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
ALF#48/1 (December, 1991) - Michael Gallagher (writer), Dave Manak
(pencils), Marie Severin (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
ALF#49 (January, 1992) - Michael Gallagher (writer), Dave Manak
(pencils), Marie Severin (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
ALF#50/1 (February, 1992) - Michael Gallagher (writer), Dave Manak
(pencils), Marie Severin (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
First Posted: 10/20/2025
Last updated: 10/20/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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