Need an alien fix before the next ‘Alien’ movie release?

Are you as eager for “Alien: Covenant” as a face-hugger scuttling from its egg? As hungry for the latest “Alien” movie as a Xenomorph’s second set of jaws? Ready to explode into the theater May 19 like a chest-burster making his debut?

Then you might be a candidate for the many Alien books published by Dark Horse Comics. Here’s a quick overview of the latest offerings:

ALIENS 30TH ANNIVERSARY: THE ORIGINAL COMICS SERIES VOLUME 1

Three decades ago, Dark Horse launched “Aliens,” a new series based on what was then just the first two Aliens movies. The first six issues, now retitled “Aliens: Outbreak” was created by then newcomers Mark Verheiden (writer) and Mark Nelson (artist).

In “Outbreak, set after the movie “Aliens,” a deep-space salvage team runs across some Xenomorphs and calls for help. To the rescue come alien-fighting veterans Hicks, horribly scarred by the acid blood of the aliens, and Newt, now a teenager. Together, they …

“Wait!” you say. “Hicks and Newt were killed in ‘Alien 3!’ How can they be in this series?”

As it happens, “Outbreak” was written before “Alien 3,” which came out four years later. And, unfortunately, Verheiden was required to use them.

“When it came to plotting the series, I only remember only a few mandates,” Verheiden said in the Foreword. “One, we wanted to see the alien creatures on Earth. Two, the series would feature the Newt and Hicks characters. The third was the only one I recall being dictated by business concerns — we could not use the Ripley character.”

The story is serviceable and one of the last chances you’ll get to see Hicks and Newt. The art, rendered in the nowdefunct duotone process, is pretty stiff and clunky — except for the aliens themselves, which are outstanding.

This oversize, 200page book, presented in vibrantly restored black and white for $39.99, was released on “Alien Day” — April 26, chosen for the planet LV-426, the site of the first two movies. As bonuses, Dark Horse includes a short story named “Lucky” by the same creative team, plus covers and frontispieces from the original series, lovingly rendered by Nelson.

ALIENS 30TH ANNIVERSARY: THE ORIGINAL COMICS SERIES VOLUME 2

Back in 1988, Verheiden continued his stint on the franchise, with a second, four-issue miniseries redundantly named “Aliens,” continuing the Hicks/Newt story from the first series. In 1990, Verheiden was granted the use of Ripley, whom he reunited with Hicks and Newt for the four-issue “Aliens: Earthwar.” The first has been renamed “Aliens: Nightmare Asylum,” and the second “Aliens: Female War,” and both are included in this second volume.

“Nightmare Asylum” features everyone’s favorite genre character, the insane general who wants to use monsters for military purposes. This time the series is drawn by Den Beauvais, with a startling new feature: fullairbrush color. “Where the first Aliens story was all drippy black-andwhite horror,” Verheiden says in the Foreword, “this one was going to be Technicolor in all its gory glory.”

And while all characters and backgrounds show a Richard Corben approach, it’s depiction of the aliens that once again show the greatest love and care.

The second story is drawn by Sam Kieth, who would go on to fame with “The Maxx.” His art here is more serious, showing influences ranging from EC’s “Ghastly” Graham Ingels to the late Bernie Wrightson. Once again, it’s the look of the Xenomorphs that steal the show, who are, as Verheiden says, “just as mean and nasty as ever.”

This oversize, 220-page book shipped April 12 for $39.99.

ALIENS: DEFIANCE

The final issue of this 12-issue maxiseries ships this month, which means readers have been waiting almost a year to see whether writer Brian Wood’s flawed heroes would survive. It’s the longest Aliens story Dark Horse has ever published.

Wood, famed for works ranging from “DMZ” to “Briggs Land” (soon to be on AMC), sets his story between “Alien” and “Aliens,” when Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks discovers that her service is colluding with the WeylandYutani corporation to bring the Xenomorphs to Earth. Despite being crippled by a back injury, Zula goes AWOL and teams with renegade synthetic Davis — who affects unnecessary eyeglasses to distinguish himself from his fellow Davises — to destroy the alien specimens en route to the mother planet.

A number of artists combine to tell the tale — including Tristan Jones, Riccardo Burchielli, Tony Brescini and Stephen Thompson — but Wood’s story and characterization are strong enough to carry the reader over any bumps. Wood told io9.gizmodo.com that he deliberately steered Hendricks away from the “gung ho” stereotype of the Marine that he felt was unlike any Marine he ever knew.

“I … needed someone who could be both a Marine but also have the perspective and moral center to turn and walk away from the Marines when she needs to,” he said. “That’s the ‘defiance’ part of this story.”

The first six issues have already been collected in “Aliens: Defiance Volume 1,” which included a tie-in short story (“Aliens: Defiance — Extravehicular”) for $19.99. The second volume, collecting issues #7-12, will arrive in October.

ALIENS: DEAD ORBIT

The first issue of “Dead Orbit,” a four-issue miniseries, debuted on Alien Day. It tells the tale of an engineering officer named Wascylewski on a Weyland-Yutani way station above a gas giant in a backwater of space that is, of course, invaded by our friend the Xenomorphs.

As the series opens, it appears Wascylewski is the sole survivor — the story of the other personnel is told in flashback, and it doesn’t look good for them. Like the original film, our hero has few resources to battle growing evil in what amounts a haunted house in space.

That “house” is called the Sphacteria, in orbit around the gas giant Pylos. It’s worth noting that Sphacteria is a small island at the mouth of the bay of Pylos in Greece, one of a series of Greek references in Alien movies, novels and comics.

James Stokoe (“24Seven,” “Godzilla”) both writes and draws “Dead Orbit,” and it may be the most taut thriller in the series yet. The art is gritty, the equipment well-used, even our hero is a pretty grubby specimen.

That’s four books to latch your teeth onto before the movie arrives. Both sets of teeth, if you’ve got of ‘em.

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

HBO’s John Oliver isn’t about to let the tough net neutrality rules he helped get enacted be erased without a fight.

Three years ago, a 20-minute net neutrality segment on his HBO show “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” went viral.

It helped spur an outpouring of public comments that led the Federal Communications Commission to enact tough regulations protecting the free flow of online content.

Now, with current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai moving to dismantle the tough legal oversight behind those rules — which prohibit broadband companies from blocking websites, slowing connection speeds and charging for faster delivery of certain content — Oliver took to the airwaves again on Sunday night urging internet users to tell the agency to leave net neutrality alone.

“Every internet group needs to come together like you successfully did three years ago … gamers; YouTube celebrities; Instagram models; Tom from MySpace, if you’re still alive. We need all of you,” Oliver said.

“You cannot say you are too busy when 540,000 of you commented on Beyonce’s pregnancy announcement,” he said.

Oliver tried to rally support by portraying internet service providers as eager to block competitors’ content.

In his 2014 net neutrality piece, Oliver criticized then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, for initially pushing a compromise plan that fell short of the tough rules many consumer advocates were urging. This time, Oliver aimed much of his fire at Pai, making fun of the Republican’s giant Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups coffee mug and frequent popculture tweets.

“Ajit Pai is the kind of guy who has a fun, oversized novelty mug and he is really proud of it,” Oliver said, later hoisting an even larger Reese’s mug.

But Pai is anything but the “fun, down-to-earth nerd” he portrays himself to be, Oliver said.

Pai — who has served on the FCC since 2012 and was appointed this year by President Donald Trump to head the commission — has argued that the FCC’s decision in 2015 to subject broadband providers to the same utility-like oversight as conventional phone companies went against the light-touch regulatory approach that fueled the Internet’s growth.

He said the oversight imposed by the FCC’s Democratic majority by a 3-2 party-line vote was a political move, urged by then-President Barck Obama, that “put the federal government in control of the internet” and chilled broadband investment.

Verizon Communications Inc. and other broadband providers have promised to uphold net neutrality’s principles but object to the tougher oversight.

Oliver wasn’t buying any of that. He echoed public interest groups in disputing that broadband investment has been affected. Oliver included audio of a Verizon executive’s comments to investors in 2014 that the tougher regulatory oversight “does not influence the way we invest.”

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE