Fiction Reviews
Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley
(2024) Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard, 2000AD – Rebellion,
£18.99 /Can$35 / US$26.99, hrdbk, 96pp, ISBN 978-1-837-86195-8
Rogue Trooper is a comic strip from the British SF/F weekly 2000AD and created by Gerry Finlay-Day and Dave (Watchmen Gibbons. The premise is that two Earth continents, Nordland and South are waging a proxy war off-world on Nu Earth, so keeping Earth safe from the ravages of war. With all the nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, Nu Earth has been transformed into a toxic hell where for the most part troops have to wear highly protective gear. And so it was that genetically engineered infantry (GI) were created who were immune to toxins. These blue-skinned warriors also had a technical advantage in that if they were killed their consciousnesses could be downloaded into chips for later uploading into a new GI body.
Rogue was one such GI whose troops were massacred early on due to a traitor and who carried with him the chips of three of his comrades in his gun (Gunnar), helmet (Helm) and backpack (Bagman) which also has the advantage of making these pieces of kit semi-autonomous. OK, that's the backstory in essence.
Here, with Blighty Valley we get the collected stories reprinted from recent 2023 editions of the weekly comic. The artwork is black-and-white but we also get some nifty, full-colour artwork from the front covers of the weekly 2000AD while the story was first running there. We also get a full colour, one page advert at this compilations end for the forthcoming, 2025 Rogue Trooper film written and directed by Duncan (Moon, Source Code) Jones
As for the story, Nu Earth's orbit periodically brings it into close proximity with a black hole: a black hole that both the Norts and Southers use to transport material to and from Earth. However, now that the black hole is so close to Nu Earth, strange things are happening. Rogue is alone, traversing some of the Nu Earth's wastelands when suddenly he finds himself elsewhere and in another war…
It seems he has been transported back to 1918 World War One behind German lines where he is saved by a British recognisance platoon. The Brits mistake Rogue for a Yank and consider his blue skin not that odd as some are aware that in the US there are people with 'red skins', so why not blue? Of course the advantage Rogue has is that a GI he is impervious to the chemical weapons used in World War I.
Rogue sticks with the Brits while he ascertains what is going on, and what is going on undoubtedly will involve the Norts…
Blighty Valley is very much an anti-war story and the futility of mass armed conflict through the ages, from World War I through to the future conflict on Nu Earth: 2000AD has always had something of a political riff.
It is good to see that writer Garth Ennis and artist Patrick Goddard have dedicated this graphic novel to Rogue's creators: writer Gerry Finlay-Day and artist Dave Gibbons. 2000AD was first published back in the late 1970s and that's the best part of half a century ago and so we are slowly losing the old guard and it is great that the new generation recognise them. Meanwhile, what with the first Rebellion made film, Rogue Trooper coming soon, standalone Blighty Valley makes for a solid introduction for those who have yet to encounter Rogue, Helm, Bagman and Gunnar. Splundig.
Jonathan Cowie
[Up: Fiction Reviews Index | SF Author: Website Links | Home Page: Concatenation]
[One Page Futures Short Stories | Recent Site Additions | Most Recent Seasonal Science Fiction News]