In this feature, I share with you three comic book "easter eggs." An easter egg is a joke/visual gag/in-joke that a comic book creator (typically the artist) has hidden in the pages of the comic for readers to find (just like an easter egg). They range from the not-so-obscure to the really obscure. So come check 'em all out and enjoy! Also, click here for an archive of all the easter eggs featured so far! If you want to suggest an easter egg for a future column, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com (do not post your suggestion in the comments section!).

Today we take a look at some X-Men easter eggs, including cameos from Dirty Harry, ALF, Hawkman and...John Ostrander, Jerry Bingham and Suzanne Gaffney?!?

First up, based on a suggestion by reader Richard B., we look at Uncanny X-Men #222 (by Chris Claremont, Marc Silvestri and Dan Green) where the X-Men team up with a San Francisco cop and her partner, who is clearly meant to be "Dirty" Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry series of movies (starring Clint Eastwood)...

To make it more evident later, we see Harry uses a Magnum, the same gun Dirty Harry uses (the second Dirty Harry film was even NAMED Magnum Force).

Thanks for the suggestion, Richard!

Next we have Uncanny X-Men #245 (by Chris Claremont, Rob Liefeld and Dan Green). I've already spotlighted Darth Vader and Boba Fett's cameo in this issue, but literally right next to them is ALF, Hawkman and a bunch of other alien characters (the issue is a parody of DC's then-crossover Invasion!)...

Also in the issues are two fairly random cameos by comic creators.

First up, the X-Men go to basically Munden's Bar, from John Ostrander's Grimjack comics. Claremont had already used Munden's AND Grimjack in an issue of New Mutants (which you can see here) and now he has the men of the X-Men go to a bar named Munden's and the bartender is named, of course, Ostrander!

So that's not all THAT random, as Claremont obviously had already made references to Ostrander and Munden's. Next, though, he and Liefeld portray artist Jerry Bingham as the Mayor of Sydney, Australia...

I have absolutely no idea what the connection is. Anyone?

Finally, in Uncanny X-Men #272 by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee and Scott Williams, among the many people being interviewed about the return of the X-Men (including the Punisher, Reed Richards and Sunspot's dad) is then-associate editor of Uncanny X-Men, Suzanne Gaffney...

Anyone know who Lucas Hamilton is supposed to be? It must be SOME sort of reference, but I can't place it.

Okay, that's it for this edition! If YOU have a suggestion for a future installment of Comic Book Easter Eggs, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!