Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu Earth v 2 (2000 AD) [Paperback]

I have fond memories of growing up on 2000AD ... Judge Dredd, Robo-Hunter, Tharg's Future Shocks, Ace Trucking, Nemesis The Warlock and, of course, Rogue Trooper. What a great childhood! But how do these books stack up over time? How do they read now? That's what I was determined to find out as I delved into Rogue Trooper: Tales Of Nu-Earth Volume 2.

Sadly I missed the first volume (which contained a lot of the gorgeous Dave Gibbons art I love), but Volume 2 was still a good a place to start. If memory serves correctly, I first came across Rogue in a 2000AD Annual given to me one Christmas. The character immediately struck a chord with me, partly due to Gibbons' amazing art (as mentioned above), but mostly because of the imagination of Gerry Finley-Day. In the creator blurbs at the back of the book, Gerry is referred to as a "keen ideas man" and this is certainly true of his work on Rogue Trooper. While dialogue may not be his area of expertise, his imagination and passion more than make up for it.

To give a quick rundown, Rogue is a G.I (Genetic Infantryman) bred to fight for the Southers in their ongoing struggle against the Norts. As clones, the G.I.'s all have the same blue-skinned, mohawked appearance and natural ability for war, but they are distinguished from one another by their unique bio-chips. The advantage of these bio-chips is that they allow soldiers to be re-spawned (or re-gened as they say in the book) as long as the bio-chips remain undamaged. This is a key factor in the book and plays into a lot of the stories.

As Volume 2 picks up, Rogue is living up to his name as a soldier on the run. Having been betrayed by the Traitor General, he is now the last of the G.I.'s, but is accompanied by three former comrades whose bio-chips have been planted in his equipment. The appropriately named Gunnar, Bagman and Helm are (respectively) his machine gun, backpack and helmet. It may seem a bit literal these days, but it's important to remember that 2000AD used to be a more kid-oriented magazine than it is now. Viewed in that light, the stories are actually a lot more mature than people give them credit for, and it's easy to see why the magazine has evolved the way it has.

There's a rich back story and continuity taking place here, but each episode (which usually ran over a few issues of 2000AD) also reads nicely on its own. For those who do follow the saga (or can now read it unbroken in these collections), there are wonderful pay-offs as past tales of Rogue open new doors and avenues for development. The books begins with an excellent example of this (Milli-Com Memories) as Rogue lies close to death and begins talking deliriously about things that happened when he was growing up with Gunnar, Bagman and Helm. We meet Venus Bluegenes for the first time and learn about the love triangle between her, Rogue and Helm. It almost sounds like Pearl Harbour doesn't it? Just please don't cast Ben Affleck as our beloved Rogue!

Venus Bluejeans pops up in a later story (From Hell To Eternity) and manages to take the reader by surprise, while other elements from this first story continue to be played off nicely throughout the rest of the book. It's great to see the little David Bowie references thrown in here as well ... On Milli-Com (where Rogue and his pals are 'born') we meet the aforementioned Venus Bluejeans, as well as the Gene-Genies who are essentially the 'parents' of the G.I.'s. It's little touches like this that provide a wink and a nod to the reader without ever taking you too far out of the story.

Finley-Day writes every episode in this collection (as he did in Volume 1), except for the final tale which is lifted from the 1985 2000AD annual. His contribution is prolific and reminds me a lot of the epic work J. Michael Straczynski did on Babylon 5 by writing almost the entire series himself. The art is gorgeous throughout and features an impressive list of artistic talent, including Cam Kennedy (my personal favourite after Gibbons), Brett Ewins, Steve Dillon, Boluda, Robin Smith and Trevor Goring.

This collection reads well as a whole and offers quite a glimpse into the world of the Rogue Trooper over its 400 pages. We see the resolution of the Traitor General storyline (To The Ends Of Nu-Earth), plus the inevitable encounter that makes him a 'rogue trooper' once again (Re-Gene). Our hero can't catch a break, it seems, but he's always got Gunnar, Bagman and Helm to assist him (in one form or another). I'd give this collection a solid 7.5 out of 10 and can't wait to see what happens in Volume 3. At £15.99 (or less) it offers a lot of bang for your buck (or pound, as the case may be) and you can find it on sale right here. See more reviews like this at Pop Culture Hound (popculturehound dot com).

Whilst Rogue Trooper is a well known UK phenom thanks to 2000AD, to many people outside it may be a tad confusing. In short Rogue Trooper is the only surviving genetically engineered soldier who fight's on Mankind's side whilst trying to solve the mystery of who betrayed his fellow soldiers in an enemy massacre. It's a great look at the struggles of wartime and when you add into it a rich underlying theme to each battle its going to grab many readers by the cahones and keep them glued. Definitely a graphic novel that I'm recommending to all fans of authors like John Scalzi, Robert Heinlen and Joe Halderman.

If you are familiar with the Rogue Trooper saga then you already know what to expect. If not let's just say that Rogue Trooper combines sci-fi, classic ww2 action and a bit of US civil war in a whirlwind of fun back from the early 80s. The collection is indeed nice, and it revolves during the original Rogue Trooper (it is my understanding that 2000AD/Rebellion has tried more than once to continue and reboot the series with mixed reviews). While the quality of the paper and the binding are excellent, the transfer is not as crisp as the older reprints (which I used to own too!), which shows in some pages. This small issue notwithstanding, it still remains an excellent addition to any fan of 2000AD comics and I highly recommend it.