What Was Tunnel Rat Like in the Marvel Comics?

[Monte Williams]

I'm something of a Tunnel Rat nerd. I liked the vintage figure well enough when I was a kid, but it was the Sigma 6 figure that really lit my fire, especially after I gave him a bunch of extra gear.

I never cared for the Anniversary figure, but I spent a happy year or two trying to replicate the Sigma Tunnel Rat look in the small scale, and then Hasbro made all my efforts irrelevant by releasing the greatest Tunnel Rat figure ever: Renegades Tunnel Rat.

Until the Renegades cartoon, however, I had never had any sense of the character; my love for the character was always based on the toys. Much as I loved the Sigma 6 toys, the cartoon was painful, so I never watched enough of it to develop a sense of the character (which is probably for the best). I watched the animated movie in the '80s, but I don't remember anything about Tunnel Rat's characterization in the film.

The less said about Tunnel Rat in Resolute, the better. (In a word: Poochy).

So that leaves the vintage Marvel comic. Was Tunnel Rat a recurring character? What was his personality? Did he have any defining moments?

Thanks!

[Troynos]

He made a handful of appearances and there really wasn't anything personality-wise that stood out for him.

His defining moment would be his first appearance. Bursting out of a hide in the sand as the hidden protection for the SLAM crew and being the first to show that the Joe's had a credit card.

It was the use of the credit card that allowed Raptor and Fred-Cobra Commander to find the Joes.

[musashi3000gt]

I can tell you he was no eod guy! He was the squad machine gunner and always toted his M60 around. He was modelled after Lary Hama who wrote all the marvel comics. Hama was an army combat engineer. His chief role was explosive ordanance handeling and in those days that meant landmines mostly. He was mostly the guy in charge of finding booby traps rather then a modern EOD tech. As a result T-Rat was always the dude who took point, hed walk up front through dense jungle and make sure the path was clear of traps. When the fight broke out hed be the one laying down suppressive fire as the squads heavy gunner and when it was time to retreat he was the last guy out. He would supress the enemy while his team pulled back and he was always the last to board the chopper. They often showed him changing out his barrel after shooting out his rifleing. Thats over 1000 rounds from an M60 so you know he layed down a ton of lead!

[Monte Williams]

Forgive my ignorance, musashi: what does "eod" mean?

[Troynos]

Explosive Ordanance Disposal

The bomb squad.

[Troynos]

His most notable appearances:

G.I. Joe Comic Book Archive (http://www.yojoe.com/comics/sm/sm21.shtml)

G.I. Joe Comic Book Archive (http://www.yojoe.com/comics/sm/sm23.shtml)

G.I. Joe Comic Book Archive (http://www.yojoe.com/comics/joe/joe59.shtml)

[skinny]

Tunnel Rat appeared in 22 issues between 1987 and 1994: #59, 64, 67, 72-77, 86, 113, 131, 140-142, 144, 151, and Special Missions #7, 8, 21, 23, and 24.
(from halfthebattle.com)

[Crimson Rage]

He made such an impression that I don't even rememeber him in the comics (although he clearly was!)

[Troops of Doom]

With his connection with Hama, I'm surprised he didn't get much time in the comics.

[drunknmunky]

Wiki has a pretty cool article on tunnel rats.

Tunnel rat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tunnel_rat&useformat=desktop)

Tunnel Rat is listed as an EOD on his filecard but there was more to his job then just that. I wish he had been showcased more often in the comics. He did have some cool moments during the Cobra Civil War though. He's such an awesome character and figure.

[musashi3000gt]

With his connection with Hama, I'm surprised he didn't get much time in the comics.

Have you ever met Mr. Hama though? Hes a really humble guy! It dossent surprise me he had no favoritism for a character modeled after himself.

Forgive my ignorance, musashi: what does "eod" mean?

Like Troynos said, its the guys who go out and de-activate or control detonate enemy explosive devises. You can see them in movies like "The Hurt Locker" or in tv shows like G4's "Bomb Squad Afghanistan".

But like I said, Tunnel Rat didnt do that. In the post-vietnam era explosive engineers where the guys who basically sweapt for landmines and other booby traps. sometimes they did the opposite and mined entire country sides to prevent enemies from reaching outposts.
Special forces guys had combat engineers trained in detecting enemy traps and also laying out traps. If you see the movie Predator you get a sense of what American special forces did most of the time (fight cartels, not the Predator part!) Theres a cool scene where Arnold tell the rest of the team to booby trap the whole jungle around them so they can catch whoever is attacking them. Well that booby trapping skill was what combat engineers did so well.

[SDawg]

I love TR in the special missions series, and to me he was always the machine gunner like in the comics. They should make a real action TV series from the special missions comics,something like the Unit but more action and realistic.

[lazlo76]

I never cared for Tunnel Rat, his original figure didn't seem cool to me because of his Dockers pants and cowboy boots.