It’s a little late then but I guess it’s better late than never! :o)
The graphic novel collections ‘Eye of the Traitor’ and ‘To the Ends of Nu Earth’ continue, and eventually round off, the ‘Traitor General’ storyline that saw Rogue Trooper start out on his adventures in Nu Earth. Revenge for the dead and those comrades still with him (in bio-chipped form which is still very cool four books in!) is upper most on his mind which makes the end of this story arc all the more confusing. I’m not going to give too much away but Rogue passes up the ideal chance to finish things. Why? Because he couldn’t shoot a man in the back... I don’t get it and this certainly doesn’t sit well with everything that Rogue has had to go through to get to this point. There is closure to the arc though which is something at least. Rogue’s story is left open for more tales and there is still enough here for me to want to carry on reading.
I pretty much jumped straight to the end of two graphic novels, just then, so should really go back and tell you what the rest of it is like! The two books follow the same formula mentioned in one of my earlier reviews, namely that the Rogue Trooper must defeat an ‘enemy of the day’ before he can progress further towards his goal. On the one hand this gives the writers some scope to get really creative with sentient barbed wire (‘Bio Wire’) and a bio-chipped hand gun two of the ‘stand out’ obstacles that Rogue has to contend. On the other hand though it felt like the approach was used a little too much, like I’ve said before I can see it working really well in single story ‘comic format’ but it just ended up being repetitious over the course of an entire book...
That’s not to say that all the content is bad though. There is plenty of gunfire and future warfare to keep you hanging on, even if you know that Rogue will end up making it through to the next stage. The books also take a look at how the war is affecting the people fighting it and it’s good to see this area being explored (the messed up veteran, traumatised recruits and tricks that the mind plays on soldiers who are dug in for the long term etc). This only really applies to the Souther forces with the writers seemingly content to let the Norts remain in their ‘monstrous enemy’ role. I guess half the side of the story is better than nothing at all...
It’s not just the Norts that Rogue must contend with. The war offers opportunities for people to carve out a little power for themselves and elements of the Souther command (Milli-Com) are just as susceptible to this. Rogue must not only fight these elements but also the regular elements of Milli-Com that want him shot as a deserter. Gunnar’s ‘re-gening’ (being slotted back into a physical body and tasked to kill Rogue) makes for an intriguing tale and the story ‘Milli-Com Memories’ is well worth a look if you want to know more of the story behind Rogue’s creation.
One thing that did bug me, that I think would probably have gone un-noticed in a weekly comic, is the way that all of a sudden (after a long hard slog across the various war-zones of Nu Earth) the whereabouts of the traitor general literally drops out of the sky and into Rogue’s lap. It’s plausible enough (I guess) but it felt a little too sudden, almost as if a whole load of other stories had been chopped out because someone felt that it was round about time that this one ended. Maybe there should have been a little more leading up to the finale...
I’ve got two more ‘Rogue Trooper’ books to read and there’s enough in the character, and storyline, to make me want to read more. I think these books are ideal for people who want to plug the gaps in their collection but I’m genuinely not sure how much anyone else, who have never read the series before, would get out of them. Give it a go and see for yourselves I guess, maybe I’ll have a better idea when I get to the end of what I’ve got...
‘Eye of the Traitor’ – Seven out of Ten
‘To the Ends of Nu Earth’ – Six out of Ten
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