Preview: ‘The Stainless Steel Rat Deluxe Edition’ – The Galaxy’s Greatest Galactic Agent/ Con Man/ President

by Richard Bruton

The return of a legendary character, from the legendary Harry Harrison novels, brought to 2000 AD by the legendary team of Carlos Ezquerra and Kelvin Gosnell – making The Stainless Steel Rat Deluxe Edition a legendary collection!

Harry Harrison‘s Stainless Steel Rat sci-fi classic book series came to 2000 AD early on, with the first adapted series from Kelvin Gosnell and Carlos Ezquerra hitting the Prog in 1979, a couple of years post-launch. (Oh, and if you’ve never had the pleasure of the book series, you really should dip into them and may well find yourself hooked!)

Here in the comic series, Gosnell and Ezquerra do the greatest job of getting the Rat, James Bolivar diGriz, onto the comics page. They take all the essential bits of this anti-hero galactic con man and bring him to life in comics for a wonderful bit of sci-fi action.

It’s all here, all the swagger, all the bluster, all the ridiculousness, everything that makes The Stainless Steel Rat what he was and is… but it’s all here through the incredible artwork of the much-missed Carlos Ezquerra, whose image of the Rat cemented him forevermore in my head every time I re-read the Harrison novels.

As you’ll discover, The Stainless Steel Rat is a true anti-hero, the classic rogue – a con man and a thief, and damn good at both of them. Good with his fists, fast with his tongue and quick with his wits, there’s few situations the Rat can’t get himself out of, one way or another.

But even the best con man in the galaxy runs out of luck eventually, which is why he manages to get himself press-ganged into the elite law-enforcement agency known as the Special Corps. More adventures ensue, as well as meeting the woman who will change his entire life – the beautiful but deadly Angelina.

Just like the Stainless Steel Rat, Angelina’s a master criminal, she’s just a hell of a lot more ruthless. Truly a match made in hell!

The Rat and Angelina’s escapades continue with a trip through time in the second tale here, ‘The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World‘, where it’s down to them to avert disaster by stopping another master criminal screwing around with the past.

And finally, in ‘The Stainless Steel Rat For President‘, the Rat enters the one murky, dodgy world that’s even more corrupt than his own life… politics! In attempting to overthrow a vicious and evil President, the Rat decides to run for the office himself!

This really is a classic, long out of print, from the early age of 2000 AD, and a must-read for fans of the novels, fans of good old-fashioned sci-fi, or just lovers of a great, rollicking adventure with a wonderfully over the top sense of humour, all brought together with some great Ezquerra artwork!

This brand new edition includes, for the first time, the stunning colour centre spreads as they originally appeared in 2000 AD.

THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT – DELUXE EDITION.

Based on the characters and stories created and written by Harry Harrison, Script by Kelvin Gosnell, art by Carlos Ezquerra.

Contains the stories – The Stainless Steel Rat (originally published in 2000 AD Progs 140-151), The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World (originally published in 2000 AD Progs 166-177), and The Stainless Steel Rat For President (originally published in 2000 AD Progs 393-404).

Published by 2000 AD/Rebellion on 19 August, available in standard edition and the deluxe hardcover edition (cover below, only from the 2000 AD store.)