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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)

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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.

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(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.

 

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(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.

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(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.

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