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Trooper - The Future of War and Fort Neuro
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10th
December 05 |
Rogue Trooper
- The Future of War and Fort Neuro
by Gerry
Finley-Day, Dave Gibbons, Colin Wilson, Brett Ewins, Mike Dorey, Eric Bradbury,
Cam Kennedy Buy
The Future of War from Amazon.co.uk
Buy
Fort Neuro from Amazon.co.uk
What to Expect:
Action, fighting, war machines, betrayals, and just the odd bit of moralising.
Review by Alex
Frith
The last time Rogue Trooper
was reprinted, it came with a rather neat introduction explaining how the character
was devised. It’s a rare example of how creation by committee can sometimes
work amazingly well. There’s something about Rogue Trooper that really works
as a concept, even when many of his individual tales aren’t that great.
In these two Rebellion volumes, this shines through in spades.
Perhaps the main factor
in Rogue Trooper’s appeal is the artwork. Gibbons gave Rogue an unforgettable
look, complete with useless but cool-as-Jesus leg straps, but above all he brings
the reader into the world of Nu-Earth – and it’s truly horrible. Most
stories in the first volume open with a shot of that strange black-hole / space-warp
thing, and it brings you right into the atmosphere of this hellish planet. Added
to that there’s loving attention to the detail of the uniforms and machinery
of war – particularly when Colin Wilson comes on board.
Many, many people get killed
in these stories, but it’s nearly always by breathing the poison air –
not by being shot. A reminder that the real villain is war itself, and not soldiers
with guns. And it also allows Rogue to get in some hand to hand combat, which
is often a little preposterous given how well-armed most Norts are, but it looks
good.
The art is nicely
reprinted for the most part, and is generally excellent throughout. It does seem
at first that the new artists try to emulate Gibbons’ style early on, but
soon evolve into their own once he’d left. Thankfully, they retain his attention
to detail and setting; even Mike Dorey’s thick black work conveys a great
sense of stifling atmosphere in his rather curious tale of Nort apemen.
The stories themselves are
very generic. Rogue encounters some Norts with a nasty weapon. They kill a bunch
of hapless Southers, then Rogue works out how to destroy whichever weapon it is.
It’s a testament to Finley-Day’s creativity that he rarely uses the
same weapons twice, although some concepts are just a bit silly (Decapitators
= great; digital sky-writing = feeble). Luckily, a silly plot never detracts from
the essence of future war pervading the series. There are some great moments when
we see how much war can twist those who wage it, not least Rogue himself, who
seems to become more and more pacifist as things progress. We’re willing
Rogue to find the traitor general, but not to win the war - as perhaps we willed
the VCs to beat the Geeks. Rogue may be a Souther, but there’s never a sense
that the Southers are in the right– they’re just a bit more inept
than the Norts, and slightly less German (or is that Volgan?). Beyond good and
evil, the strip reminds us that war is hell; and future war will be three times
as hellish.
Volume Two contains
three longer story-arcs, which keep the setting in one place at a time, but otherwise
don’t deviate from the formula – until Fort Neuro adds a spoonful
of comedy to the mix. By this point that’s a welcome spoonful, even if it’s
not always very funny. At least Rogue gets to interact with a couple of robots
instead of his biochips for a while, which makes a nice change. The idea of a
biochip is a clever one (ok, ok, so back-ups should have been stored remotely
on Milli-com), but the rules about how much they can perceive their world and
operate the equipment they’re housed in seem to be somewhat flexible as
the plot demands. And it’s funny how much effort is made to be inclusive
of Helm, who really can’t do much beyond being cheery. Couldn’t they
have given him articulate chin-straps to walk on, even?
Such plot devices
are minor gripes, however. If you love action war stories, Rogue Trooper delivers
in both these volumes, although I’d recommend that first as it contains
more classic tales, like ‘The Rookies’ and ‘Menace of the Dreamweavers’.
If you’re more into the extended story arc of Rogue’s mission, then
go for the second. I’d actually forgotten how often Rogue encounters the
Traitor General – in both volumes. Clearly the character was only invented
to give Rogue motivation, but he also provides a fair bit of excitement himself
as they keep bumping into each other. And at least he’s got a great face
to offset his bland as anything characterisation. Buy
The Future of War from Amazon.co.uk
Buy
Fort Neuro from Amazon.co.uk
Buy
more 2000AD collections from the 2000AD Review shop
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