GRUNDUNE
and the two unidentified Grunds allied with him against Gromitz (see comments)

Real Name: Grundune

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Grunds) technology-user

Occupation: Agent of the Byan'Hantandu

Group Membership: None (other than being one of four Grunds serving as agents of the Byan'Hantandu...perhaps, the "Galaxy Gamers")

Affiliations: Three unidentified Byan'Hantandu, Gromitz, two unidentified Grunds, unspecified number of Darbians (including Blustar, Durbuur, and Jophurg)
    I doubt the other Grunds held a grudge against Gromitz, and I  would speculate that they were back to being rivals in the Galaxy Game soon enough.

Enemies: Cloak (Tyrone Johnson), and -- to a lesser degree -- Dagger (Tandy Bowen), Rebecca "Rusty Nales, and the "old man" (all of whom were detrimentally but indirectly affected as a result of Gromitz' actions)
    presumably numerous others

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Gromitz called Grundune and the others "moccasins" (I refer to them as Saturn-globe, brown-globe and green-globe in the text for descriptive identification)

Base of Operations: The Byan'Hantandu ship, mobile throughout the universe;
    formerly planet Grundar, Quist system, Milky Way galaxy

First Appearance: The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (December, 1988)

Powers/Abilities: Grundune did not demonstrate any superhuman abilities, nor did his other associates (see comments).

    Grundune and the other two utilized a rocket or jet cycles that could travel within a planet's atmosphere. These cycles could travel at great, though unspecified, speed and navigate through confined spaced.
    Since the other Grunds accused Gromitz of cheating by accessing an interdimensional portal to reach Earth first, it seems likely that the ships could also be used for space travel (or perhaps they were transported from the Byan'Hantandu ship via Bhontar (energy spheres)).

    The cycles could project snare/binding beams and some sort of force of other beam to open spatial/dimensional warps.

    On missions, Grundune and the others wore atmospheric helmets; these were patterned after a specific planetary totem in each mission (see comments).

    Since Grundune and the other two Grunds serving the Byan'Hantandu also accessed the portal, I would further speculate that all of their cycles had the means to do so. But speculation is just that...opinion, theory, etc.

Height: Approximately 3'2" (average height for a Grund, and they all looked to be the same height: Roughly 3' tall)
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 35 lbs.; extrapolating approximately 240 lbs at 6' tall)
Eyes: Unrevealed (distant or poorly colored shots; dark, so perhaps brown)
Hair: None
Other Distinguishing Features: Yellow skin, paired antennae atop his head

History:

(Cloak & Dagger III#3 (fb)) - Grundune, Gromitz, and at least two other Grunds spent much of their time observing early television transmissions from Earth, including Westerns, quiz shows, and cartoons (perhaps many or most Grunds observe transmissions from Earth and/or other planets).

(Cloak & Dagger III#3 (fb) - BTS) - As the Byan'Hantandu race -- who traveled from galaxy to galaxy, removing (per guidance from their sacred tome, the Book) certain dangerous objects from the grasps of planetary inhabitants whom the Byan'Hantandu felt were too unsophisticated to safely possess them -- became dependent on life support within their immense ship, they recruited agents, including at least four Grunds (including Grundune and Gromitz) and a number of lobotomized Darbians.

    The Byan'Hantandu found that the Grunds would only carry out their commands if it was fun for them to do so. To this end, the Byan'Hantandu invented the "Galaxy Game," a sort of scavenger hunt where they earned points for recovering targeted items. Each player was assigned a planetary totem; the punishment for cheating (such as illegally accessing dimensional warps) was to destroy that totem/planet.

    The Byan'Hantandu supplied their agents with rocket or jet cycles that could travel throughout a planet's atmosphere.

(Cloak & Dagger III#3 (fb) - BTS) - The Byan'Hantandu's sacred Book foretold the the creation of an incredibly dangerous object.

    As the time of the object's creation approached, the Byan'Hantandu sent the four Grunds to collect the object. Gromitz wore an Earth-like helmet as his totem, while Grundune and the other two wore a Saturn-like helmet and a red-brown and a green helmet (although it's unclear who wore what).

    Somehow learning of a guardian of an interdimensional portal on Earth, Gromitz accessed that portal and arrived on Earth first. Grundune and the two other Grunds pursued Gromitz through the portal.

(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2) - Pursuing Gromitz through the portal, Grundune and the two other Grunds emerged from Cloak in the presence of his associate, Detective Rebecca "Rusty" Nales.

    The Saturn-globed Grund noted that "The owlhoot's trail emerged here!"

    The brown-globed Grund added, "That rotten cheater, Gromtiz! He knows that the rules expressly forbid dimension-hopping!"

    And the green-globed Grund concluded, "Yeah, if we catch him, his bonus points will be forfeit!"

    "Rusty" Nales stepped in the Grunds' path, threatening them at gunpoint to stop, but the green-globed Grund pushed a button on his air-cycle, noting "indigenous life forms can be so annoying!" as he blasted the gun out of her hands, after which all three of this group flew past her and escaped out the door. One of them (I'd guess green-globe) noted  "When we do catch up with Gromitz, I got dibs on slapping him silly!"

(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 - BTS) - While Cloak vowed that he would not allow the aliens to further manipulate his interdimensional portal, Nales departed with plans to explain to Captain Petrovic that planet-headed midgets had destroyed her firearm.

(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 - BTS) - Franklin Richards -- playing with the scraps from his father (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic)'s laboratory -- unwittingly created "the most dangerous object in the universe" (in the process of trying to create a "Gobot"). Instructed that it was time for bed, Franklin took his creation to his bedroom.

(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2) - As Franklin slept, Gromitz flew in, grabbed the object, and departed, noting that he might advance to the bonus round. However, Grundune and the other two Grunds then caught up to Gromitz, and red-globe instructed, "Freeze, Pod'ner!"

(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (fb) - BTS) - Gromitz fled the other Grunds.

(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 - BTS) - Reaching Cloak in advance of his opponents/pursuers, Gromitz was unable to force open the portal.

(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2) - Grundune and the other two Grunds arrived, and Saturn-globe ordered, "Surrender the object, Gromitz -- you big cheater!"

    To prevent his opponents (whom he called "moccasins" from obtaining the object (and copping his precious bonus points), Gromitz threw it through Cloak's partially-open portal.

    Binding Gromitz with some sort of energy snare and calling him "yellow-belly," the brown-globed Grund noted that it was probable disqualification for him; brown-globe further told the "snake-in-the-grass that all decisions of the judges would be final." The green-globed Grund instructed Cloak (whom he called a clumsy sodbuster) to fork over the target-article, and they would take the hombre (Gromitz) to justice. Not wishing to cooperate with the aliens, Cloak noted that if they wanted it, he was keeping it.

    As he was towed away, Gromitz noted that the portal-guardian was stubborn, but one of the other Grunds (they were too distant to see; colors didn't match, nor could a Saturn-ring be seen on any of them) silenced him, "Quiet, prisoner!" and advised Cloak (whom he called Tinhorn) that they would ride but that they would be back.

    Back aboard the Byan'Hantandu ship, the other Grunds (having removed their helmets and holding them at their sides) explained Gromitz's activities; while assuring the  Grunds they would hand down a fair judgment concerning the breach of rules, the Byan'Hantandu explained that recovering the lost object would be their priority. As the Byan'Hantandu consulted their Book to learn the portal guardian's identity, a Grund asked to be allowed to bring the guardian to them for glory and big bonus points; with the Grunds having exhausted their patience "with your ceaseless bickering and competition", the Byan'Hantandu instead dispatched Jophurg the Darbian to retrieve the guardian; however, as the Book was out-of-date, Jophurg retrieved instead the previous guardian of the portal to the Darkforce Dimension (referred to here as the "old man," as he was never identified in-story or elsewhere AFAIK).

(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb)) - Jophurg brought the old man before the Byan'Hantandu, who swiftly realized that this was the previous portal guardian; one of the Grunds (wearing a red uniform and presumbly not Gromitz) was also present at this discussion.

(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 - BTS) - Jophurg subsequently retrieved the current guardian, Cloak (Tyrone Johnson), and brought him to the Byan'Hantandu ship.

(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3) - A pair of Grunds (presumably not Gromitz) stood by Jophurg as the "old man" and Cloak discussed recent events and the old man explained the reason for the confusion. One of these Grunds informed Jophurg that the "head honchos don't need the old goomer -- orders say he goes back where we got 'im." In response, Jophurg sent the old man back to the Nepal mountain from which he had been taken.

    That same Grund then instructed Jophurg to bring Cloak and Gromitz to the Byan'Hantandu. When Gromitz tried to explain his actions, the Byan'Hantandu silenced him and had Jophurg confirm Cloak to be the correct portal guardian and the receptacle of their target article. Wishing to use the object as a bargaining chip, Cloak refused to surrender it, leading the non-Gromitz Grund to warn Cloak that he had "cooked his gosling for sure."

    Two presumably non-Gromitz Grunds soon after watched with smiles as Jophurg tried unsuccessfully to use technological means to force Cloak to surrender the target article. The Byan'Hantandu then sent another Darbian, Blustar, to assault Cloak to drive him to dispatch Blustar into the Darkforce dimension as defense, which would allow Blustar to recover the target article.

    Knowing the Byan'Hantandu would not spare Earth, Cloak instead offered them the target article if they would allow him to say goodbye to his partner, Dagger (Tandy Bowen). At the Byan'Hantandu's guidance, the other two Grunds present prepared two-way astral projection for Cloak to communicate with Dagger. Cloak, however, goaded Dagger to unleash a blast of powerful light into him, which was transmitted into the Byan'Hantandu ship. One of the Grunds noted that the feedback was overloading all systems, and the Byan'Hantandu ordered the shut down of all systems except life support to prevent their destruction. 

    As Jophurg and the other Darbians labored in the control room, the two non-Gromitz Grunds reported that the power surge had jumped across all the influx condensors and knocked out most of their primary power sources. The Byan'Hantandu ordered them to begin repairs immediately and to re-route all remaining power to their life support systems.

    Considering Dagger a "begetter of living light," who were considered sacred above all others in the myriad galaxies, the Byan'Hantandu announced that Earth would be spared.

    As the ship was at minimal power, the Byan'Hantandu warned Cloak that they may not have sufficient power to send him home. Cloak accepted the risk.

Comments: Created by Terry Austin, Dan Lawlis, and P. Craig Russell.

    The profile is on Grundune, but which one is Grundune?

•     On missions, Grundune and the others wore atmospheric helmets; these were patterned after a specific planetary totem that was assigned to each Grund; in their mission on Earth, the planet with the rings is obviously meant to be Saturn. I would speculate that the brown (or red-brown) one would be Mars...and the green one Venus.
  
•     However, we don't know which one was Grundune.
•     The fact that Gromitz mentioned "Grundune" by name and called the others "the other two moccasins" would lead me to believe Grundune was the most significant, most powerful, or most something. That, in turn, would lead me to believe that Grundune was present in the most significant subsequent scenes, including instructing Jophurg to dispatch the "old man" back to Earth, the questioning of Gromitz and Cloak, the torturing of Cloak, and the work on the damaged Byan'Hantandu ship. But, that ultimately all comes down to assumption and speculation.
•     On the assumption that Grundune was the leader of the pack of the other three Grunds, then Grundune may be the red-brown-globed one, as he's the one that snared Gromitz (he's also the one that ordered Gromitz to freeze when they caught up with him after he had obtained the target object). Or he could be the Saturn-globed one, as he's the one that ordered Gromitz's surrender as he tried to force Cloak to open his portal...plus Saturn is the most fancy/unique of the helmets.

    The first page in The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 showed a pair of Grunds (in red costume) with Jophurg as Cloak conversed from within their nearby Bhontars. On an elevated walkway, in the distance, a pair of tiny figures walked alongside a Darbian. I would think it likely that these were Grunds as well. As Gromitz was next shown wearing his helmet (and not wearing the red outfit) and being held by Jophurg, it seems likely that there was more than four Grunds on the Byan'Hantandu ship. However, it could be that one of the Grunds on the walkway was Gromitz. Maybe he wasn't a prisoner, but was just walking with another Grund and one of the Darbians under supervision...

    Don't worry, Cloak did not die...Cloak fought off some "Inferno" demons and then seemed to die while trapped with the Bhontar. His Cloak was usurped by Ecstacy...and then he got better, in Cloak and Dagger III#8.

    The Grunds' Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe referred to them as being able to absorb unspecified energies (including solar radiation) via their antennae to project concussive blasts. That description was in reference to Grott the Man-Slayer, native to Reality-691's 31^st century. It may be that this is only characteristic of 31^st century Grund (possibly only Reality-691) or possibly only true of Grott himself.

    The cover of The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 has a great image of the other three Grunds emerging from Cloak...but Dagger wasn't around when that happened (And the helmet colors and patterns are different), so I'm leaving that image for the comments section. But, in an infinite multiverse, all possibility if reality, and this one represents:

Earth-88122 A trio of Grunds including Grundane emerged via Cloak’s interdimensional portal in the presence of Dagger. Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #2 (1988)

    Gromitz refers to the other Grunds pursuing him as "moccasins" (specifically, "Grundune and the other two moccasins")...I don't know what that is supposed to mean, other than he liked watching Westerns, and the old movies had cowboys as the good guys, and Native Americans ("Indians") as the bad guys...and it was the Native Americans who wore moccasins.

    Grundune originally had a sub-profile in the the Byan'Hantandu profile I published way back on 11/02/2001 (although I had misspelled his name as "Grundane"). In the process of working on the Grunds profile, I elected to expand his sub-profile into a full one. And, because we don't know which one is Grundune and they're all virtually interchangeable, I chose to just do it as a single profile format, and covered the info on Grundune and the other two as it occurred.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Grundune should be distinguished from:

•  other "Grund characters
  

images: (without ads)
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 cover (great image, but showing a scene with Dagger that wouldn't have happened in the comic; Dagger wasn't present at that time..."Rusty" Nales was);
       pg. 6, panel 4 (Gromitz emerging from Cloak);
       pg. 9, panel 1 (Grundane, Grundune, & 1 emerging from Cloak);
       pg. 13, panel 3 (Gromitz blasting Cloak);
          panel 4 (Gromitz on cycle, straight-on);
          panel 5 (Gromitz on cycle, lateral view);
       pg. 14, panel 2 (one of the other Grund snaring Gromitz);
       pg. 16, panel 2 (Un-uniformed Grund with Byan'Hantandu);
    #3, pg. 10, panel 1 (Grund watching Calvin & Hobbes);
           panel 3 (Jophurg dropping Gromitz);
       pg. 15, panel 1 (two non-Gromitz Grunds watching Cloak being tortured);
       pg. 22, panel 5 (Gromitz, red uniform)
       

Appearances:
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (December, 1988) - Terry Austin (writer), Dan Lawlis (pencils), P. Craig Russell (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (January, 1989) - Terry Austin (writer), Mike Vosburg (pencils), Scott Williams (inks), Carl Potts (editor)

First posted: 07/24/2019
Last updated: 07/24/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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