Friday night at New York Comic-Con took Aliens fans way down memory lane with a look at the franchise’s evolution over the past 35 years, to celebrate the release of Dark Horse’s new comic book event Fire and Stone and Sega’s Alien: Isolation (fans got to see the trailer). Hosted by Dark Horse publicist Aub Driver, panel guests included Joshua Williamson (Predator), Paul Tobin (Prometheus), Alex De Campi (Grindhouse), Randy Stradley (vice-president of publishing Dark Horse Comics), and Chris Mooneyham (Predator).

Here’s the list of some of the striking slideshow issues-through-the-years that produced from the audience some ooohs, some ahhhhs, one groan (maybe), and some applause:

Prometheus: Fire and Stone #1
Written by Paul Tobin
Art by Juan Ferreyra
Letters by Nate Piekos
Covers by David Palumbo
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: September 10, 2014
Cover Price: $3.50

The command ship Helios drifts through deep space on its way to LV-223. They are on a quest to find, perhaps, the origins of life on Earth. With a full crew of scientists, and soldiers, the ship lumbers towards what is supposed to be a desert moon. Much to the crew’s surprise, they land in the middle of a dense rainforest that holds terrors beyond their imagination.

There’s a problem with deep space: it’s boring. Space is huge. It’s hugely, bigly huge. Did you ever take car trips with your family, and drive through the so-called “fly-over states” and learn why they’re fly-over states? Space is one big fly-over state. Prometheus: Fire and Stone #1 is hobbled early on by the vastness in that where there is nothing to do, there is nothing to read about. The story begins near enough to the landing that we meet some of the crew, and figure out what their objective is, but there was still a lot of nothing happening. So, long review short, the beginning bit is tedious.

During a vicious xenomorph outbreak, terraforming engineer Derrick Russell leads a group of survivors onto a rickety mining vessel. They hope to escape the creatures overrunning their colony, but they’ll face horrors both in space and on the strange planet they crash on.

From critically acclaimed writer Chris Roberson and artist Patric Reynolds (Colder), Aliens: Fire And Stone #1 is the first issue in a blockbuster crossover event that ties directly into Ridley Scott’s 2012 film, Prometheus, as well as the Alien and Predator franchises.

Thanks to the fine folks at Dark Horse, we’re giving you a glimpse inside the first issue, which you can view here below. Aliens: Fire And Stone #1 is on sale September 24, 2014 and is available for pre-order now.

Before the extended “Special Edition” of Aliens was released on LaserDisc and VHS in 1992, Alan Dean Foster‘s Aliens: The Official Movie Novelization gave fans of James Cameron’s 1986 film their first look at scenes that didn’t make the final cut.

Titan Books recently reissued Aliens: The Official Movie Novelization, as well as Foster’s adaptation of Alien and Alien 3. After re-reading Aliens: The Official Movie Novelization, I thought it would be fun to explore some of the differences between the book and the film and how unused elements from the screenplay were recycled for subsequent Alien films and Ridley Scott’s 2012 prequel, Prometheus.

Continue below for 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Aliens: The Official Movie Novelization.

Today’s bonus Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon is the Alien Anthology and Prometheus Blu-ray Bundle for only $19.99 (that’s 78% off the list price of $89.99).

The bundle comes with the Alien Anthology Blu-ray Edition box set along with the Prometheus Blu-ray/DVD combo pack (which is only $4.99 sold separately right now!).

Note – this deal is valid only for today, Friday, June 13, 2014, until 11:59pm PST while supplies last.

The Alien Anthology Collection Blu-ray box set includes all four standalone Alien films, which starred Sigourney Weaver: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Resurrection. Along with the two versions of each film are two bonus discs with over 65 hours of special features, with over four hours of previously unreleased exclusive material such as original screen tests of Sigourney Weaver prior to filming the original Alien, unseen deleted scenes, thousands of still photographs from the Fox archives, the previously unseen original cut of “Wreckage and Rage: The Making of ALIEN3,” and more.

Below is an extensive list of what’s included in the Alien Anthology Collection Blu-ray box set.