Sneak Peek: Rogue Trooper’s Return With Garth Ennis And Patrick Goddard
by Richard Bruton
2000 AD really is having a purple patch recently – and now there’s another reason to get excited about the Galaxy’s Greatest, as Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard bring you the return of Rogue Trooper!
We had the tease in the Christmas 2000 AD, but now we have confirmation of when we’re getting the new Rogue Trooper tale – the 13-part ‘Blighty Valley‘ by writer Garth Ennis and artist Patrick Goddard begins next week – 5th April – in 2000 AD Prog 2326.
Created by writer Gerry Finley-Day and artist Dave Gibbons, Rogue Trooper is one of the strips from the early days of 2000 AD, debuting in Prog 228 in 1981.
The idea behind Rogue is simple – he’s the last surviving G.I. – Genetically-engineered Infantry – fighting on the poisoned badlands of Nu Earth for his Souther creators against their mortal enemies, the Norts. The reason he’s the last G.I. is because of the betrayal of his kind by the ‘Traitor General’. It was down to Rogue, together with his three ‘dead’ bio-chipped comrades, Gunnar, Bagman, and Helm to get his revenge.
Since that first saga played out, we’ve had some good, some not-so-good Rogue tales, with writers seemingly hamstrung by the seemingly one-dimensional nature of the character. But, if there’s one writer who can revive the character and deliver some classic sci-fi war storytelling, it’s Garth Ennis. The icing on the cake comes from having Patrick Goddard as the artist here, whose imagery seems to sit squarely in the classical finest Rogue looks of Gibbons and Steve Dillon.
Blighty Valley will see Rogue back on Nu Earth for the time of Night’s Horizon, a two-week period in the year where the planet’s orbit takes it closest to a black hole and things get a little weird. That’s all you get for now. But it sounds perfectly stripped back and I for one can’t wait to read it.
“For me Rogue Trooper is as vital a part of classic 2000 AD as Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Robo-Hunter, Nemesis the Warlock, or Sláine, and I well remember wandering the wastes of Nu Earth with Rogue and the bio-chips on their hunt for the Traitor General. The stories that instantly come to mind are ‘All Hell on the Dix-I Front’, ‘Fort Neuro’, ‘Eye of the Traitor’, ‘You Only Die Twice’ and ‘To The Ends Of Nu Earth’ – I hope ‘Blighty Valley’ will prove a worthy successor to such unadulterated gems.” – Garth Ennis
Now, just a little of what to expect from the return of Rogue… coming Wednesday 5th April in 2000 AD Prog 2326…
And the full cover by Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague…
