Fungi from Gogoch

Suspicious Mines was a long time in the making - maybe fifteen years from doodle to panel?
Originally it was to have Mrs Alpha Centauri blushing at a whole lot of predictable mining/helicopter double entendres, a Nick Briggs (well before his ubiquity) introduction, and the Mandrel Brothers in the mines growing mushrooms with some maggots doing something. B.O.Y.O was going to be terrible at puzzles and may have gone mad after the Karkus accidentally solved his Rubik's cube - but there were too many elements rubbing up against each other, and not all of them were close to being good ideas. Plus, I'm a big believer in economy (if not always its most devoted adherent.) Take out the phallic alien and the story writes itself.

Oh, there's a Gorillaz line in there, too. Fun!