Rogue Trooper | |
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2000 AD #228, including the first appearance of Rogue Trooper.
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Character information | |
First appearance | 2000 AD #228 (1981) |
Created by |
Gerry Finley-Day Dave Gibbons |
In-story information | |
Full name | Rogue |
Publication information | |
Publisher | IPC Media (Fleetway) to 1999, thereafter Rebellion Developments |
Title(s) | Numerous |
Formats | Original material for the series has been published as a strip in the comics anthology(s) 2000 AD. |
Genre | |
Publication date | 1981 – Present |
Creative team | |
Writer(s) |
Gerry Finley-Day Gordon Rennie |
Artist(s) | Dave Gibbons |
Creator(s) |
Gerry Finley-Day Dave Gibbons |
Editor(s) | Tharg (Steve MacManus - Matt Smith) |
Reprints | |
Collected editions | |
The Future of War | ISBN |
Fort Neuro | ISBN |
The Eye of the Traitor | ISBN |
To the Ends of Nu-Earth | ISBN |
Re-Gene | ISBN |
Realpolitik | ISBN |
Rogue 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 "Genetic Infantryman", a genetically created, blue-skinned, manufactured super soldier and his three comrades' search for the Traitor General. His comrades are in the form of biochips - onto which a G.I.'s entire personality is downloaded at the time of death for later retrieval - and are named Gunnar (mounted on Rogue's rifle), Bagman (on his backpack) and Helm (on his helmet). He is genetically engineered to be immune to almost all known toxins, can submerge in strong acid unaffected, and is able to withstand a vacuum in his bare skin.
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. 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'.