Rogue Trooper
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Image:2000ad-228-rogue-trooper.jpgRogue Trooper is a science fiction strip in the British comic 2000 AD, created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons. It follows the adventures of Rogue, a G.I. (or Genetic Infantryman, a genetically modified, blue-skinned, manufactured elite soldier) and his three comrades (in the form of "biochips", into which a G.I.'s entire personality is downloaded at the time of death for later retrieval) -- Gunnar, mounted on Rogue's rifle, Bagman, on his backpack, and Helm, on his helmet. He is immune to every poison gas known of in the story. His skin is not affected by strong acid.
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Story
The story is set on a planet, Nu-Earth, where a perpetual war between the Norts and Southers is being fought. During the war all form of chemical and biological weapons have been used poisoning the planet and the troops of either side must live in enclosed cities and fight in protective gear. The Southers have, through genetic engineering, developed a race of warriors who are immune to the deadly atmosphere and will therefore be superior troops. The Souther High Command deploy their secret weapon, the Genetic Infantry, in an airborne assualt but a traitor has betrayed the secret of the G.I. to the Norts and they are massacred during the drop.
With Rogue the only surviving G.I., he goes AWOL in order to track down the Traitor General responsible. 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.
Historical influences
Many elements of the Rogue back-story were inspired by World War 2 and the American Civil War. Norts (Northerner Unionists) fought against generally less-well equipped Southers (Southern Confederates), and several battles were name-checked, such as the Battle of Mech-Bull Run. The Norts have Nazi-esque uniforms and insignia and appear totalitarian in nature while the Southers appear more civilised. The Norts protective suits show only the eyes while the Southers have see through face panels which reinforce the Good Guy/Bad Guy delineation. "Genetic Infantryman" is a direct homage to the "Government issue" tag that American troops were nicknamed after.
Different directions
Gibbons 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. Notable 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. The story was a success. A new ongoing series featuring Friday followed, written by American writer Michael Fleischer, but this was less successful. In Fleischer's final story, Scavenger of Souls, the bio-chips are reintroduced via an alien "soul collector". It is arguable that the reintroduction of the bio-chips rendered the whole relaunch of the character superfluous.
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 also notable for the 2000 AD debut of artist Henry Flint. Despite White's valiant efforts, the two continuities never really gelled: his decision to add a galaxy-wide religious war into the mix may not have helped.
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 a later story it was revealed Tor Cyan was cloned from the original G.I..
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. Rennie states in this interview that he had intended to revamp the character yet again, but had been blocked by 2000AD 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.
Games and merchandise
The Rogue Trooper Boardgame was released in 1987 by Games Workshop. A computer game for the Amiga and Atari ST was also made in 1991 by Krisalis Software.
Rebellion Developments, who has worked on some of the Judge Dredd games as well, are currently working on a new Rogue Trooper game, with release scheduled for 2006. The game is due on the PC, PS2 and Xbox in April 2006, from publisher Eidos.
Bad internet meme
With a game based on the property soon to be released, several members of the fan community of 2000 AD (where the strip is published) attempted to encourage a scurrilous rumour that the main character was to be voiced by Duane "The Rock" Johnston, who pulled out of the project when it was discovered that the character was a eunuch - this, supposedly, being a rumour spread by game script developer and longtime 2000 AD contributor (and Rogue Trooper writer) Gordon Rennie, who was reported to be less than pleased with this approach to marketing, given that it left him as a possible target for legal action by the aggrieved parties, and, more worryingly, a beating from "built like a brick shithouse" ex-wrestlers.