Bartlett's Bizarre Bazaar

I wrote the script for Witnesses of War in June 2003. For those of you that don’t know, Rogue Trooper is a character from the British weekly comic 2000AD, first appearing in prog (issue) 228 (September, 1981). Created by Gerry Finley-Day, a veteran of British war comics, and Dave (Watchmen) Gibbons, who will soon publish The Originals, Rogue Trooper has survived, through a series of reincarnations, to the present day, his most recent appearance being in prog 1385 (April, 2004). The original version of Rogue Trooper was a genetically engineered soldier created by the Southers to fight the Norts in a seemingly never-ending war on the planet of Nu-Earth. The poisonous air of Nu-Earth means that ordinary humans must wear sealed suits at all times. The Genetic Infantrymen (G.I.s) were created to fight in this environment. Betrayed by the Souther Traitor General, the Rogue Trooper was the only G.I. to survive the Quartz Zone Massacre. The Rogue Trooper rescued three of his comrades’ biochips – stored personalities – keeping them in the slots on his rifle, his backpack and his helmet. The original Rogue Trooper series chronicled his hunt for the Traitor General across the bizarre future battlefields of Nu-Earth. This story is set during this hunt.

This strip was my first collaboration with Dave Evans, and was hosted by the 2000AD fan thrills section of the website. Of course, this is fan fiction and is not endorsed by the creators of Rogue Trooper, 2000AD or the owners of the intellectual property. If you are a member of 2000AD online, go and give it a vote. Dave Evans has worked on various British small-press comic books, including the 2004 Best Independent Comic, Solar Wind. I have also written for Solar Wind, so consider this a plug. As is this; Dave and I are working on a collection of stories that will see print as a collected anthology. Dave has already finished three of the strips – 15 out of 24 pages. There may very well be some teasers for what is tentatively titled ‘Tales of the Contrary’ on this blog.














Rogue Trooper copyright Rebellion A/S 2004