Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu-Earth, Vol. 4

by John Smith, Gordon Rennie, Andy Diggle

THE FINAL CLASSIC ROGUE COLLECTION As the Norts and Southers wage war on the battletorn world of Nu-Earth, the genetically-engineered soldier, Rogue trooper, continues his one-man mission to make survive the unending conflict about him. This volume completes the Rogue Trooper series, collecting the final adventures from the orginal character's run, including the most recent strips from 2000 AD.

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, War, Fiction, Graphic Novels

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Smith (1967- ) is a British comics writer best known for his work on 2000 AD and Crisis. He has a host of creative credits to his name, including A Love Like Blood, Devlin Waugh, Firekind, Holocaust 12, Indigo Prime, Pussyfoot 5, Revere, Slaughterbowl, Tyranny Rex, Leatherjack, Dead Eyes and Cradlegrave. Smith has also written Future Shocks, Judge Dredd, Judge Karyn, Pulp Sci-Fi, Robo-Hunter, Rogue Trooper, Tales from Beyond Science, Vector 13 and Tales from the Black Museum. Smith's work beyond the Galaxy's Greatest Comic includes the long-running New Statesmen series in Crisis, DC/Vertigo's Hellblazer and Scarab, and Harris Comics' Vampirella.

Reviews

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rogue Trooper's story chronologically ends in Book 3. This book consists of 'flashback' stories involving Rogue and his time on Nu-Earth.

The two big stories in this collection have the same theme: the deterioration of Rogue's bio-engineering. In the first one, he gets infected by a virus and only recovers via radical surgery. But in return, he has to navigate and survive inside a huge bio-organism for the pleasure of its creators. This, of course, will end badly for the creators.

In the second, a Milicom Gene-Genie (one of the creators of the Genetic Infantrymen) and an officer that was in charge of the GIs during the Quartz Zone massacre go in search of Rogue; his bio-engineering is wearing out from being out in the field too long. Tied in to this story is a Nort War Marshall's personal hunt for Rogue for killing his son. It's so personal, the War Marshall is prepared to completely destroy Nu-Earth in the hunt for Rogue. And only Rogue can stop him.

The other stories are mainly fillers consisting of his other various adventures. But two pieces offer thoughtful stories. One is of a future when peace has returned to Nu-Earth; and among the many graves left is one of Rogue. The other is an alternate history story where it is Gunnar, not Rogue, who survives the massacre. But the outcome may not go as well, knowing Gunnar's tendency to shoot first and ask questions later.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are still buying a line of books by Volume 4, then you are likely a completist. That is exactly what this odds and ends, even the kitchen sink hodgepodge collection is: an endcap for the completists, the remainder of the non-US produced stuff. The writing and artwork are all over the place in terms of quality. It reads fine, but rather than the huge, sprawling, book-length arcs found in the first three volumes, this is an assortment of flashback stories and shorter arcs. I have read all four of these books and have enjoyed the character and the concept, but I don't feel the need to go any further.

This book is wider than a standard trade paperback due to the dimensions of the original UK publications. The material is still reprinted in a size smaller than the original issues.

[Davide Pappalardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of flashbacks/out of continuity stories set in the past during the Nu-Earth days. A sort of soft-reboot that works, adding modern takes to the core of Rogue Trooper’s essence.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10

[Stratospherus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Rogue Trooper. It's rare character that I felt captured the best what young boy wants for his reading diet (tbh, I don't think anyone else is designated target audience).

After closing down the main arc in previous book, here eponymous journey of blue-skinned GI comes to closure in this book. Despite the fact that Rogue's arc ended up in previous book and this being consisted mostly of filler issues, precisl

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things wrapped up in book 3, so this is made up of 'flashback' stories, and there's some great Rogue Troopering going on in them. The stories are back to the basics of Rogue on Nu-Earth roaming around getting into scrapes, with the added element of an in-built genetic deterioration that's slowly killing him. Cinnibar in particular is a classic bit of horror-tinged sci-fi action, and some of the best of the current 2000AD artists start to appear - seeing Simon Coleby's first dip into the universe that he's now right in amongst with his recent fantastic Jaegir titles is a bit of a thrill. PJ Holden also deserves a ton of credit for the brilliant art he contributes to this volume, it's made me want to jump straight into the spin-off series The 86ers which they both worked on. Even the bonus material (which has been pretty variable in previous volumes) is really good and well worth a read.

A really good collection this.