The Outer Space Men

I’m a huge fan of The Outer Space Men.  If you don’t know who they are, they are some of the rarest action figures every made.  They were designed by Mel Birnkrant in 1968 and were made by Colorforms.

Sadly, I’m not lucky enough to own them but as a kid I did have the Space Warrior Colorform set (seen below).  And in the last few years I’ve bought all the new versions of the figures from Four Horsemen.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that my action figures don’t run around shooting each other anymore.  But there are other ways to play.  I decided to write a collection of short stories: one for each of the figures.

I was able to share my first story with Mel Birnkrant himself.  He had some very positive comments:

In the beginning I thought it was Swiftly heading into the World of Gulliver, infused with social commentary and parody. Then it transformed into Alpha’s explorations in the caves , a voyage of self and historical discovery. It really is a Fantasy, and really fun to read. I would like to read further adventures as well, so that tells me, this is a good thing.  One of the things I like about it was the original angles you interjected, not quite the obvious story line one might expect, but not alien to it either.  One more element that I could pick up on was a kind of contemporary edginess that makes modern graphic novels so refreshing and interesting.

I will add more stories as time allows.  If you like what you read, let me know.  It will help inspire me to write a little faster.

My Stories