2000 AD: The Ultimate Collection #47. Originally serialised in 2000 AD Progs 228-232, 234-243, 246-258, 260-262 & 265-279.
It’s September 1981. “Synth out, guys!” While many of the big 2000 AD series are defined by big ideas (law in Mega-City One, mutant bounty hunters), Rogue Trooper feels like the series that is most defined by a central image – a lone soldier walking through an endless battlefield. In this collection alone you’d have enough panels that fit that description for an exhibition. Rogue Trooper isn’t the first series to have that premise as a hook, and indeed the series leans into its influences with intensity. This is right in the ‘future war’ genre that young readers love, but despite being probably the most well known 2000 AD series in that genre you really don’t need to strip too much away from it for it to be a war story set in the present, or recent past.
The central premise is solid, and has enough interesting twists to make it feel like an original take on a classic story. The lone soldier out to learn what happened to his fallen comrades has been told many times, but writer Gerry Finley-Day uses the 2000 AD label to add some inventive high-tech layers.
The first is the nature of Rogue himself – genetically engineered to be the perfect soldier, and therefore setting him apart from his own comrades by his very flesh and bone. Rogue is very much on the side of the “Southers” against the “Norts” in this future war, but he’s still very separate from them. I also like that Rogue isn’t really super-powered or anything like that – he’s just been adapted to the environment he’s in, which gives him advantages over regular soldiers. One of my issues with Strontium Dog was that Johnny Alpha had mutant abilities that could do anything, with hi-tech devices that could also do anything. A lot of tension is lost that way. Cleverly, Rogue doesn’t really have advantages over everyone else, he just doesn’t have the disadvantages everyone else has on Nu Earth.
Lots of heroes have had the voices of their fallen comrades in their heads as they seek out justice – but Finley-Day has the clever idea to make that concept literal with Rogue’s old pals Gunnar, Bagman and Helm. The idea of your equipment arguing with you as you trudge along is perfect for 2000 AD, and adds a little bit of humour to the proceedings (although comedy isn’t anywhere near Finley-Day’s strong suit). From a storytelling perspective, this subplot also adds some additional tension – Gunnar, Bagman and Helm can all be restored to new cloned bodies if Rogue gets them back to base. Rogue’s survival means the survival of three of his buddies – but every moment he puts himself at risk he’s also putting their opportunity to come back to life at risk as well.
The other really striking thing here is the setting itself. Nu Earth is wreathed in chemical fog after decades of war, and requires everyone except Rogue to be wearing chem-suits or hole up in sealed bubbles. The actual sides of the war get almost no background, but this just allows the setting to really shine. The idea that you have to fight a war where one tear in your suit, or one puncture in your sealed bubble, means instant death adds a lot of claustrophobia and horror to the stories. The idea also lets the artists (primarily Dave Gibbons, with support from early 2000 AD stalwarts such as Colin Wilson and Cam Kennedy) provide some very striking images – I particularly love the Nort chem suits with their cloth-coverings and striking eye windows.
This first Volume collects a near unbroken run covering 1981 and 1982, mostly 1-2 part episodes with one 12-parter towards the end. I actually like the story structure and progression here. Finley-Day is a concise and methodical plotter, advancing the story forward in small blocks while keeping plots and characters on the backburner to bring back later. The overall plot here is that Rogue is tracking down a Souther traitor who betrayed his Genetic Infantryman unit, and it makes for great old-school captures, escapes and betrayals. With Rogue plodding ceaselessly after the traitor, it’s like a reverse of the classic TV series The Fugitive, with the caveat that at the end of this collection we still don’t actually know the identity of the traitor!
But where the broad strokes of the plot work well, and the artists produce some stunning visuals, the collection is let down somewhat by some of the details by Gerry Finley-Day. Specifically his dialogue, and particularly his exposition. The sheer number of exposition scenes that are so stilted they border on parody is pretty amazing. He also doesn’t go much for subtlety, with several anti-war messages rammed home with all the nuance of a sledgehammer. In broad terms, the visuals and Finley-Day’s skill with episodic plotting mostly make up for it, but you can see why artist Dave Gibbons claims in the behind-the-scenes material that collaborating with him was challenging.
At the end of the day this is a fun read that draws on a lot of familiar influences to create something pretty unique. It’s the beginnings of yet another classic 2000 ADcharacter, and it allows some of the comic’s greatest artists to shine. On those scores this is a good read, and is an essential part of the Ultimate Collection.
Next time: We step back in time a bit to take a look at the weird Venn diagram of talking animals, fantasy quests and manly 1980s action heroes in Meltdown Man.
THRILLSHOTS! 