IDW announce Rogue Trooper 'NEW' material and reprints

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Over in that San Diego place it seems that IDW have just announced a lovely bit of information for all you Rogue Trooper fans out there!

Here is the LINK from ComicBuzz but just in case you don't want to follow that here it is in full.

San Diego, CA (July 20, 2013) – Following the success of Judge Dredd, IDW and Rebellion/2000 AD expand their thriving relationship with the addition of Rogue Trooper to their publishing slate! IDW will launch an all-new Rogue Trooper series in 2014, and also offer newly colored re-presentations of past Rogue Trooper comics, too.

Co-created by Gerry Finley-Day and renowned artist Dave Gibbons in 1981 for 2000 AD, Rogue Trooper became a showcase for some of Britain's top artistic talent. In addition to Gibbons, Steve Dillon, Colin Wilson, Cam Kennedy, Bret Ewins, and Chris Weston have contributed art to the popular strip.

A future war has poisoned the entire atmosphere of Nu-Earth, prompting one side to create Genetic Infantrymen: blue-skinned soldiers who can breathe the toxic air, equipped with bio-chips to record their personalities in their final moments for eventual re-corporation. But a traitor sold the G.I.s out, and all but one were slaughtered. Now he stalks Nu-Earth on a mission of revenge, aided by his dead friends now "living" in his gun, helmet and backpack. He is the last G.I.—the Rogue Trooper!

"We're thrilled with IDW's plans to bring exciting new talents to another of 2000 AD's most iconic and popular series," said Rebellion Publishing Manager, Ben Smith, "Having done such bold and successful work with Judge Dredd, we can't wait to see how Chris Ryall and his team take on comics' toughest soldier."

Classic Rogue Trooper strips will be seen in a whole new light in full-color comics and collections with hues provided by colorist Adrian Salmon, best known for his work on Doctor Who and Judge Dredd. The all-new series in the offing will follow the tradition of IDW's successful Judge Dredd series by Duane Swierczynski and Nelson Daniel. Creator names and details will follow at a later date.
With a rich history to build upon, IDW will add to the proven franchise, bringing Rogue Trooper into the 21st century for an all-new audience.

[Steven Sterlacchini]

Fingers crossed, Colin Wilson for the new material.

I know it probably won't be, but I can dream.

[Dash Decent]

Looking forward to seeing some more of original Rogue.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Going to pass on the colourised, smaller again than the Tales of Nu Earth reprints but if it leads to a lovely oversize, black & white hardcover of Cinnabar ala their Complete... Dredd collections then This Can Only Be A Good Thing.

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

Great that Rogue is back.

[Spikes]

Interesting news, and liking that cover. (Thank god its not Friday, either  ).



The 2000ad Rogue went well passed its sell by date, and ended up a bit of a mess, so hopefully IDW's take will be a fresh one. Damn, IDW are taking a lot of my money, at present.

[Frank]

The 2000ad Rogue went well passed its sell by date, and ended up a bit of a mess, so hopefully IDW's take will be a fresh one.

Folk repeat the assertion that the decision to kill the Traitor General robbed the characters of Rogue and the chips of their purpose as if it was fact, but the basic scenario of their walking the battlefields of Nu-Earth was strong enough to carry the strip. The real mistake was to remove the characters from that milieu, and instead of correcting that mistake with the (at first excellent) reboot, it was compounded by removing absolutely everything else about the strip which made it work.

I haven't read the Fleischer, White, and Millar strips since the nineties, but I can't remember the fact that there was a war on being particularly important to any of them, which seems like an odd thing to forget if your lead character's a soldier. I remember nineties Rogue being mostly about odd flora and fauna, romance, and the grinding plot mechanics necessary to reintroduce all the characters readers loved.

How the comic could have employed a bloodthirsty, war-obsessed wee bastard like Garth Ennis during the early nineties and not charged him with continuing the 'Nam-influenced direction established by Dave Gibbons is beyond me. Maybe IDW can have a go at fixing that in a limited series similar to Year One.

[Steve Green]

I'm hoping for that suggestion from Cardiff that he's rebooted as a delusional ex-serviceman carrying the body parts of his dead comrades... Not sure who that came from, Rob Willams?

[Link Prime]

I saw Staz Johnsons comment in the BC article that he'd love to draw the new comics for IDW- they'd be fools not to consider him!

I'm equally surprised and excited at the prospect for new Rogue, and curious about the direction they'll go in.
A 'Back to basics' approach is the most likely option, but will it tie into 2000AD continuity at all, or be its own thing (like their version of Dredd)?

A part of me does wish that 2000AD would clean-up their own version of Rogue too, and move forward with the character.
The original Rogue, Friday & Tor Cyan were all tied together (admittedly by poorly conceived plots in some cases), and I'd like a resolution to the threads that have now been hanging for decades.

Status quo as I recall;

Rogue Trooper: Died on Scavanger of Souls satellite.
Friday: Last seen flying into a black hole.
Tor Cyan: Revealed to be created from the original Rogues' Biochip- status unknown.

It wouldn't be beyond a competent writer to tie this mess up and move forward (possibly with Tor Cyan retaking the moniker 'Rogue Trooper').

I dunno...just some Sunday afternoon musings of a fan with the GI Blues.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Good call on Staz drawing some of the stories!

[Jim_Campbell]

Tor Cyan: Revealed to be created from the original Rogues' Biochip- status unknown.

Wasn't it strongly suggested that he was killed at the end of the final Tor Cyan story — ISTR he pretty much fell to the surface of the planet from orbit and the narration seemed to imply that he expected to die.

No reason to automatically assume that he was killed, but that was the impression I came away with.

(Also, isn't a Rogue reboot slightly complicated by Pat Mills brokering the recent(ish) Gerry Finley-Day script and opining fairly vocally that no one but GFD should be writing Rogue...?)

Cheers

Jim

[Professor Bear]

It would be nice if this meant a re-release for the RT videogame at some point via XBLA or PSN.

[Link Prime]

Tor Cyan: Revealed to be created from the original Rogues' Biochip- status unknown.

Wasn't it strongly suggested that he was killed at the end of the final Tor Cyan story — ISTR he pretty much fell to the surface of the planet from orbit and the narration seemed to imply that he expected to die.

No reason to automatically assume that he was killed, but that was the impression I came away with.

(Also, isn't a Rogue reboot slightly complicated by Pat Mills brokering the recent(ish) Gerry Finley-Day script and opining fairly vocally that no one but GFD should be writing Rogue...?)

Cheers

Jim

You may be right Jim, I haven't read it in ages- my baseline memory being that the story wasn't concluded satisfactorily.

Regarding the opinion that GFD should be the exclusive Rogue writer- I'm not necessarily for that.
Sure, he's bloody good and a return to the Prog for Rogue (or anything else for that matter) would be welcome, but there's been a lot of ground tread between him leaving the strip and now.

Personally, two of my favorite Rogue stories were by other writers; Cinnabar (Smith) & The War Machine (Gibbons), and I'd have absolutely no problem with any of the great writers currently in Tharg's stable giving the GI a stab.

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

Continuity porn is an acquired taste. I propose wholeheartedly that neither IDW nor Rebellion ever try to include Friday or Tor Cyan in any future Rogue Trooper strips.

Nor do I particularly want to see endless "missing" adventures of Rogue looking for the Traitor General.

Just return him to the war, and let him get on with it.

[Link Prime]

Continuity porn is an acquired taste. I propose wholeheartedly that neither IDW nor Rebellion ever try to include Friday or Tor Cyan in any future Rogue Trooper strips.

That may be so Jimmy, but completely ignoring / disregarding about 15 years worth of stories would leave a pretty bad taste in my mouth. This isn't the same as simply sweeping Supersurf 13 under the carpet.
I'd also advocate going forward with a re-purposed 'original' Rogue, but after first cleaning up the status quo.
It worked for Alan Moore on Swamp Thing.

And IDW would of course have to be insane to include any reference to Tor Cyan or Friday in their version. It'll be a 'back to basics' Rogue for that iteration, no doubt.