Every week, I will be sharing 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 look at three, count 'em, THREE homages to Larry Niven's creations, the alien race known as Pierson's Puppeteers by John Byrne.

The Puppeteers (Pierson was the human who first encountered them) have two long snake-like heads.

The great comic book artist John Byrne is a big Larry Niven fan (as well as he should be) and he paid homage to Niven by featuring the Puppeteers a number of times over the years in his comic book work.

First, in X-Men #125...



Next, in Ganthet's Tale (made particularly special by being written BY Niven!)...



Finally, in Byrne's Star Trek prelude mini-series starring Doctor McCoy...



Awesome stuff.

Thanks to Jim Means for starting me on this path.

If you know of any other comic book easter eggs, let me know at bcronin@comicbookresources.com