Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Gerry Finley Day.
Artists: Brett Ewins, Colin Wilson, Cam Kennedy.
Colours: Charlie Kirchoff
Release Date: 10th December 2014

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‘Rogue Trooper’ was never my favourite 2000ad character, as a 10 year old I found the stories to be too close to the typical war comics of its era, with minimal sci-fi elements thrown in. I also felt that the stories looked too much alike, unaware that the setting of a war-ravaged future planet was the reason for the bland, sandy, often cloudy landscapes Rogue often seemed to be struggling through.

However, this viewpoint changed as I got older and became more familiar with the tropes of the story. Rogue Trooper, last of his genetically engineered kind, wandering the wastes on Nu-Earth on a hunt for the ‘Traitor General’ with only the downloaded personalities of his closest compatriots for company. The fact that these ‘Bio-chips’ not only had personalities, but served a practical purpose as installed enhancements on Rogue’s backpack, helmet and rifle was an interesting idea, also.

Although ‘2000ad’ has long been one of my favourite publications, this is the first of IDW’s reprints I’d read. From reading this issue I can tell they will be a perfect medium to reconnect with stories of my youth, should they continue. IDW are know for the quality of their output, in both single issue and collected form; something that has been sadly lacking in much of 2000ad’s history.

Although the first story in this collection has the conclusive installments of ‘All Hell On The Dix-I Front’, new readers should have no problem catching up on what is going on. Rogue and his ‘bio-chip’ enhanced accessories are escorting a character called ‘Night Nurse (probably named for the classic 70’s reggae song, true to the spirit of old-school 2000ad style) to a rendevous point on the shore for escapees of a massive assault by the Nazi-like Norts. In case any readers had forgotten just how much like the Nazis these Norts are, the concluding two-part story takes place in ‘Nu-Nuremberg’! Both stories are entertaining, and I felt they should easily hold the interest of many ‘modern’ readers, despite being thirty years old.

On the art front, Brett Ewins’ contribution is good, though it is a little more traditional than many of his fans will be used to, coming as it does before he really let loose with his personalised, angular style displayed in the ‘Bad Company’, ‘Judge Dredd’, ‘Anderson, psi’ and DC Comics’ ‘Skreemer’. Colin Wilson, too, does a great job of using his talent for storytelling to great effect, although having never reached the heights of either of his his colleagues on this book, this series may be the first many modern readers have heard of him and his work. Cam Kennedy, probably best known in America for his work on ‘Judge Dredd’ and the Dark Horse ‘Star Wars’ comics, and a perennial favourite on ‘Rogue Trooper’, handles his workload with ease, illustrating the complete tale ‘Assassination Run’. This two-parter also introduces two of my favourite minor characters in ‘Rogue Trooper’, the battlefield scavengers Bland and Brass, who went on to appear in many of the subsequent tales, and end up coming across as a kind of corrupted Rosencrantz and Guildenstern towards the end of the original run.

The colours, by Charlie Kirchoff are handled well, bearing in mind that this artwork was never intended to be coloured and so the original artists relied on more shading than a modern artist would in order to fill it out. Certainly, the results are way better than the old Quality Comics reprints of the late 80’s, which also suffered from stretching the page to fit American industry standard comic dimensions. Clearly, modern advances are partly responsible, but the colouring back then was infamously terrible, as licensing costs had been so high the money left over for colourists suffered. As a result, the colours results looked as though they’d been applied by anyone at hand using felt tip pens. IDW have also neatly solved the differing dimension issue by leaving a wide gutter on each page, decorated with eye-catching little designs featuring Rogue in action, along with the title design and other little touches.

For readers, both old and new to the material. I would definitely recommend ‘Rogue Trooper Classics #8’, as it presents a decent entertainment as well as being a worthy time capsule of the best of UK Comics in the early to mid-80’s.

Rating: 4/5.

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The writer of this piece was: Jimi Longmuir
You can follow Jimi on Twitter @jimijokk

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