If you’re of a certain age then The Stainless Steel Rat will forever be considered as much an essential part of a golden era of 2000 AD as Judge Dredd, the ABC Warriors, Strontium Dog and Blackhawk (and we’ll mute anyone who disagrees with us on the last one!). News from Rebellion today about a collection of those Harry Harrison sci-fi novel adaptations that ran through the very late ’70s to the mid-’80s.
When the law finally catches up with “Slippery” Jim DiGriz, the charming con-man is given a choice – join up or get sent down!
Rebellion is pleased to announce a new collection of The Stainless Steel Rat, 2000 AD’s comic book adaptation of Harry Harrison’s acclaimed classic pulp sci-fi novels.
Out of print for almost a decade, the new collection will include the three adaptations written by Kelvin Gosnell and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra between 1979 and 1985, and – for the first time – will feature the colour centre spreads as they originally appeared in 2000 AD.
The gorgeous 208-page paperback collection will retail at £24.99 and hit shelves and digital on 19 August 2021.
A limited hardcover ‘Deluxe Edition’ will also be available to pre-order exclusively from the 2000 AD webshop in the new year.
Catch Me if You Can meets Star Wars, this landmark comic space opera series was a major hit in the early days of 2000 AD, its success helped in no small part by the extraordinary energy and humour of Ezquerra’s artwork, with the Spanish artist basing DiGriz’s likeness on the legendary actor James Coburn.
Originally created by Harrison in 1961, DiGriz is a guileful rogue who claims he turned to crime as a deliberate act of rebellion against the regimented and dull authoritarian society around him. Despite being an accomplished thief and master of disguise, DiGriz is caught by the ruthless elite law-enforcement agency known as the Special Corps. Discovering that all the Corps’ top agents are reformed criminals, DiGriz is given a simple choice – join up or spend your life in jail!
Never quite able to suppress his urge for lawbreaking, DiGriz escapes from the Corps before meeting and falling in love with the psychotic Angelina – another master criminal, although she is a lot more murderous than the laid-back DiGriz!
The stories included in this collection:
- ‘The Stainless Steel Rat’ (2000 AD Progs 140–151, 1979-1980)
- ‘The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World’ (2000 ADProgs 166–177, 1980)
- ‘The Stainless Steel Rat for President’ (2000 ADProgs 393–404, 1984-1985)
