BARNEY

Thrills
2000AD: 3

Covers
2000AD: 8
Star Scans: 1

Artwork
Artwork: 1

Stainless Steel Rat

Created by Harry Harrison,

FIRST APPEARANCE IN 2000AD

Stainless Steel Rat

Stainless Steel Rat 12 episodes (Progs 140 to 151) 70 pages
Script: Harry Harrison (original novel) and Kelvin Gosnell, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra

MOST RECENT APPEARANCE IN 2000AD

Stainless Steel Rat for President 12 episodes (Progs 393 to 404) 62 pages
Script: Harry Harrison (original novel) and Kelvin Gosnell, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra

STARRING
Jim diGriz

STATUS
Retired. Maybe.

DATELINE
About 30,000 years in the future.

LOCATION
Most likely in a hotel room across the street from some bank, looking out the window and memorizing the security guards' routines.

WEAPONRY
A large assortment of weapons and gadgets, prefers the .75 Recoilless Handgun. Hardly ever uses it, though.

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Forgery, lock picking, code breaking, safe cracking, hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship.

SOUNDBITE
"You'll never take me alive, copper!" (Said shortly before being taken alive)

MOTIVATION
Greed. Pure and simple. And occasionally a disturbing need to help the helpless.

BACKSTORY
James Bolivar diGriz - AKA "Slippery Jim", AKA "The Stainless Steel Rat" - was a master criminal. He robbed banks, armoured cars, large corporations, anything that carried cash. He'd never been caught, never even been seen, until the day the Special Corps took an interest in him. But they didn't arrest him: they offered him a job.

DiGriz' first case brought him into contact with the beautiful but psychopathic Angelina, whom he later married (after she was cured of her killer tendencies).

Jim and Angelina still work, occasionally, for the Special Corps, who have long since given up trying to stop them from robbing banks. Their twin sons, James and Bolivar, have inherited their parents' interest in other people's money.

NOTES
The Stainless Steel Rat was created by top SF author Harry Harrison, and first appeared in a short story in 1957. That story was later expanded into a novel and published in 1961. To date, the series consists of ten novels, a gamebook and three short stories. The most recent novel is The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus (1999).

Three of the Rat's adventures were serialised in 2000 AD: The Stainless Steel Rat (1961), The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World (1972) and The Stainless Steel Rat for President (1982), all adapted by Kelvin Gosnell and drawn by Carlos Ezquerra. A big-budget movie based on the first novel is currently in pre-production, to be directed by Jan De Bont (Speed).

LINKS

The Official Harry Harrison Website by Paul Tomlinson and Mike Carroll
The official website for top SF author Harry Harrison, creator of The Stainless Steel Rat, one of the most popular characters from 2000 AD's formative years!