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Rogue Trooper
Rogue Trooper is a science fiction strip in the British comic 2000 AD, created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons[1] in 1981.[2] It portrays the adventures of a "Genetic Infantryman" named Rogue and three uploaded minds mounted on his equipment who search for the Traitor General who betrayed their regiment to the enemy. The series was rebooted in 1989 in the story "The War Machine", featuring a new version of the character called Friday. This version of the character last appeared in 1996. The original character returned in 1999 and all stories since then have featured the original Rogue. The character has also featured in a number of 2000 AD crossovers. Publication historyGibbons left the strip early on to be replaced by a succession of artists and writers who have taken the strip in several different directions over the years. Artists to have drawn the character include Brett Ewins, Cam Kennedy and Colin Wilson. This quest continued from 1981 until 1985, when the G.I. had his final confrontation with the traitor general and, after a brief further run set on the Planet Horst, Finley-Day ceased writing the strip. Simon Geller took over, reinventing the character as an intergalactic hitman attempting to end the war by assassinating key figures, but this new direction was dropped in 1989. John Smith wrote a 'flashback' story, "Cinnabar", set in Rogue's deserter days, before original series artist Dave Gibbons returned to write a much more radical revamp of the character. In "The War Machine", Gibbons and artist Will Simpson created a different war, set on a different planet, starring a different Genetic Infantryman, this time called Friday. The bio-chips were dropped, and Gibbons concentrated on the politics and economics of war and the sinister nature of the genetic engineering involved. A new ongoing series featuring Friday followed, written by American writer Michael Fleisher. In Fleisher's final story, "Scavenger of Souls", the bio-chips are reintroduced via an alien 'soul collector'. Fleischer was replaced with Steve White, who made the military aspect of the strip more up-to-date and tried to reconcile the two versions of the character. He also reintroduced Venus Bluegenes (Helm's treacherous girlfriend from an earlier story who gained a more prominent role during the Simon Geller run) who had her own short spin-off run. His run on the character was the 2000 AD debut of artist Henry Flint. The character was rested after White's last story in 1996. In 1997 a related character, blue-skinned ambulance pilot Tor Cyan was introduced in the story Mercy Heights. In 2002 the original Rogue was reintroduced, again in flashback to his days hunting the traitor general, written by Gordon Rennie. Artists have included Staz Johnson, Dylan Teague, Mike Collins, Simon Coleby and PJ Holden. In 2004 Rennie stated[3] that he had intended to revamp the character yet again, but had been blocked by 2000 AD editorial. He also hints that any return to the Rogue Trooper universe will concentrate on supporting cast and not include the Rogue character. This can be seen in the new series The 86ers. Plot synopsisThe story is initially set on the planet Nu-Earth, where a war of attrition between two factions, the Norts and Southers, is being fought. The Norts are a fascist society, whom the Traitor General was briefly allied with, while the Southers are democratic. There are similarities and occasional references to past Earth conflicts including the American Civil War and both World Wars, with the Norts resembling Germany, and the Southers the Allied forces. During the conflict, the use of chemical and biological weapons has poisoned the planet. As a result, what remains of the population of the planet, including the troops of both sides, live in enclosed domed military bases and habitats. They wear protective suits, helmets and respiration gear when outside their domes. These suits are known as "chemsuits". Any damage to the helmet or chemsuit is usually fatal to the wearer. In an attempt to bring an end to the stalemate, the Southern High Command have created the GI, or "Genetic Infantryman". The GI is a soldier genetically engineered to be immune to the poisonous atmosphere of Nu-Earth, and therefore be able to fight without chemsuits. The Southern High Command deploy the entire GI Regiment in a mass spaceborne capsule drop over an area known as "The Quartz Zone", which resembles one of the Earth's Poles because the surface has an icy, glass-like nature due to nuclear weapon detonation melting the soil. The assault was intended to be a surprise attack, but because a traitor within the Souther High Command has passed details of it to the Norts, they are expecting the attack. The Norts employ elite infantry known as the Kashan and Kashar Legions to repulse the assault, and the entire GI Regiment - apart from Rogue - are wiped out. This event is referred to as "The Quartz Zone Massacre". Rogue, the only surviving G.I., goes AWOL in order to track down the traitor. Along the way he thwarts numerous Nort schemes, discovers and inadvertently destroys the only portion of Nu-Earth not contaminated by chemical weapons, and is betrayed by every female character he encounters. A later storyline – "MilliCom Memories" – shows how the GIs progress through their training, and that rather than a name each GI has a letter suffixed by their age. Rogue is "R", Gunnar "G", Helm "H" and Bagman "B". Two other troopers "D" and "N" are referenced in the storyline. During their training each GI is given a nickname - Gunnar is so named because of his marksmanship ability. Millicom Memories showed there were other prototype GIs before the development of Rogue's class, some of which were killed during his training. Much earlier prototype GIs, created by genetically modifying existing humans featured in the story "First of the Few" in the 1984 2000 AD annual. All except one were killed within 24 hours of deployment on Nu Earth. The final proto-GI died of old age shortly after being discovered by Rogue, saying he had been on Nu Earth "...years and years and years, dog-chip." In a multi-part story titled "The Marauders", Rogue encounters a group of deserters from both Nort and Southern sides, who operate as scavengers from a hidden base and attack both Nort and Southers in order to obtain food, ammunition and supplies. Unknown to Rogue, the commander of The Marauders is the Traitor General. Due to an accident the General was severely burned and is now unrecognisable. The General later reveals himself to Rogue, then captures and tortures him. Rogue eventually escapes, and with the help of one of the Marauders (a Souther pilot known as 'Player'), defeats the Marauders that pursue him. The Traitor General escapes, destroying the Marauder base as he does so. In "All Hell on the Dix-I Front" a massive Nort assault forces the Southerners to retreat from a vast area of Nu-Earth, similar to the Ardennes assault of World War II. During this, other Elite units of the Nort military are introduced, such as the Sun Legion, a Regiment of solar glider troops, and the Scum Marines, an amphibious assault force. "Sister Sledge",[4] a military nurse accompanied Rogue during the Dix-I campaign. She is secretly an enemy agent known as a "filth columnist"[5] and dies in the final episode of the series when Bagman causes her to fall from a boat into the heavily polluted and toxic "Scum Sea". "Fort Neuro" introduced a defensive line that has been cut off from both Southers and Norts since the beginning of the war. The Fort has been split into separate sectors by the same clouds, meaning each sector operates independently of each other, without any contact or cohesion. The soldiers within each sector are suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder so the French sector – known as "Franks" – wear Napoleonic era uniforms, and hold grand balls that were popular in that period. Other sectors display similar erratic behaviour, with the English troops – known as "Lime-ees" – dressing as holiday camp redcoats and behaving as though they are on a perpetual holiday, while the "Rom" garrison fashion themselves as 1950's Teddy Boys - or "Romeos". Rogue is immune to all known toxins, diseases, and acids with three known exceptions:
In a lighter moment during the Fort Neuro series, Rogue is shown to have difficulty breathing when in a staff car full of officers from the "Rom" sector, who in anticipation of a good night out with the neighbouring "Scan" sector, have applied too much aftershave.[7] The Biochips are infected by a latent malady unknowingly contracted whilst passing through the Neverglades area of Nu Earth. The unnamed condition renders them susceptible to "Enzyme E dysfunction", which causes their newly re-gened bodies to disintegrate, leaving only their bio-chips. Historical influences Many elements of the Rogue back-story were inspired by World War II, The Vietnam War, the American Civil War and the Cold War. Norts (Northerner Unionists) fought against generally less-well equipped Southers (Southern Confederates), and several battles were referenced, such as the First Battle of Bull Run, which was retold as the "Battle of Mek-Bull Run". The Norts appear totalitarian in nature. While their uniforms have Nazi connotations their dialect and names are mostly quasi-Slavic, as if they represented a futuristic version of the Soviet Bloc, although there is some usage of German names as well, for example General Vagner, Admiral Torpitz (a play on the German admiral Tirpitz). Their conduct and methods of waging war are also more barbaric than those of the comparatively civilised Southers. Although as the series develops the Southers are also shown committing comparably immoral acts as well. "Genetic Infantryman" is a direct homage to the supposed "Government Issue" tag that American troops were nicknamed after. BibliographyThe Rogue Trooper has appeared frequently in comics and other media. Stories in regular issuesThe original run, mostly written by Gerry Finley-Day, was:
Subsequently, Rogue Trooper appeared in stories by three other writers:
The Hitman storyline concluded in the 2000 AD Winter Special 1989 (see below). There was then a story set before the Hitman series:
Stories in specials and annuals
After the Friday reboot(For the full series of stories featuring Friday, see Friday (2000 AD)#Bibliography.) Rogue also appeared in crossovers with the new "Friday" series (leading up to the deaths of Rogue and Bagman in #949), all written by Steve White:
After the new series finished, the original series returned in a story set after Rogue's death, written by John Tomlinson:
The original Rogue later returned in stories set before his death, all written by Gordon Rennie:
Gerry Finley-Day returned to the character after 25 years away, for the end of year special in 2010:
In a short series of one-off stories called What If...? featuring alternative takes on popular 2000 AD characters, Rogue Trooper returned in a story written by Andy Diggle:
The series appeared in one-off stories in annual special issues from 2014:
The character returned to the regular issues of the comic in 2016:
Spin-offs and rebootsThe 86ersThe 86ers was created by writer Gordon Rennie and drawn by artists Karl Richardson and PJ Holden. The story stars G.I. pilot Rafella "Rafe" Blue and her robot Gabe. Venus BluegenesVenus Bluegenes appeared both in Rogue Trooper and in her own eponymous strip, with stories written by authors including Grant Morrison, Steve White and Dan Abnett. Tor CyanTor Cyan appeared both in Mercy Heights and in his own eponymous strip, in a series written by John Tomlinson. JaegirJaegir is a recurring series in 2000 AD, focusing on Kapitan-Inspector Atalia Jaegir, who serves in the Nordland State Security Police. Her role is to hunt down escaped war criminals.[9] HuntedGordon Rennie and artist PJ Holden produced Hunted, a nine-part story told from the point of view of the Traitor General, in 2016. It began in 2000AD progs 2001 to 2009. It features a young Atalia Jaegir and a monstrous early specimen of the G.I. project. IDW Publishing reboot On 20 July 2013, American company IDW Publishing announced that after the success of its adaptation of Judge Dredd from 2000 AD it would now champion Rogue Trooper with recoloured old issues as well as completely new stories.[10] On 13 November 2013 it was announced that the new series would be written by British fantasy writer Brian Ruckley and drawn by Alberto Ponticelli.[11] Brian Ruckley acquired the position "by writing a pitch document that people apparently liked."[12] He described his first challenge as scriptwriter as "I can now say from personal experience that writing comics is not straightforward or effortless!"[13] The new Rogue Trooper features a re-designed helmet, rifle and backpack which serve as the three main supporting characters in the stories. The first episode was originally set to ship at the end of February 2014,[14] but the first issue was actually released on 5 March 2014. Due to lower-than-expected sales, the decision was made to put the series "on hold".[15] The final issue of the new Rogue Trooper series was issue 4, published on 21 May 2014. All four issues were collected as a trade paperback and released on 17 September 2014 under the title Rogue Trooper: Last Man Standing.[16] The series was reprinted in four issues of the Judge Dredd Megazine (#459 to 462) in 2023. IDW also published Rogue Trooper Classics, a series of recoloured stories from 2000 AD, in order. It was originally intended to consist of 12 issues (with issue 1 being published on 14 May 2014), but like the new Rogue title, it was cut short, with only 8 issues to be produced in total – again, a result of lower-than-expected sales.[citation needed] Other mediaA range of Rogue Trooper material has been produced: NovelsThere are three novels based on Rogue Trooper:
BoardgamesThe Rogue Trooper Boardgame was released in 1987 by Games Workshop. EN Publishing released the Rogue Trooper tabletop roleplaying game in 2020.[17] Video gamesA number of Rogue Trooper computer games have been released in 1986 and 1990. An isometric shooter by Piranha Software for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum was released in 1986. The game consists of killing Norts while searching Nu-Earth for 8 vid-tapes containing evidence of the Traitor General's involvement in the Quartz Zone Massacre. On finding all 8 tapes, Rogue has to return to the Souther base of Milli-Com to prove the General's treachery and the extenuating circumstances of his going AWOL. During the game, as well as the vid-tapes, players could also pick up medi-kits to regain health and ammo boxes to feed Gunnar. A platform game incorporating first-person vehicle levels for the Amiga and Atari ST by Krisalis Software came out in 1990. After Rebellion bought 2000 AD they released a third-person shooter Rogue Trooper video game in 2006, with a Wii version out in 2009. In 2009 Rogue Trooper featured a guest role in the game "LittleBigPlanet" for PS3. It came in the form of content which could be bought in the PlayStation Store. In 2017 Rogue Trooper Redux was released to the current generation PC, PS4, XB1 and Nintendo Switch, developed by Rebellion and TickTock Games.[18][19] FilmGrant Morrison has spoken about writing a Rogue Trooper screenplay for Sam Worthington's production company Full Clip Production.[20] On 16 July 2018, Duncan Jones revealed that he will direct the movie, without Full Clip Production.[21][22] In 2018, a not-for-profit short fan film directed by Adam Kirley, produced by Joby Stephens, and starring stuntman Damien Walters was released, with its premiere at the International London Sci Fi film festival.[23] In November 2018, Rebellion Developments announced they were setting up a studio for a film and TV series based on 2000 AD characters with a Rogue Trooper animated film as one of their projects.[24][25] In January 2024, it was announced that principal photography had concluded, with Aneurin Barnard voicing the eponymous character, and Jones reconfirmed as director, writer, and co-producer.[26] The film was animated using Unreal Engine 5.[27] References
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