Rogue Trooper – Blighty Valley
writer: Garth Ennis
artist: Patrick Goddard
Writer: Rob Steen
Publisher: AD 2000
Publication date: July 2024
Despite the rich, complex history and dramatic potential of WWI fiction, I’m always surprised by its lack. Of course we have various versions Everything is silent on the Western Front or 1917 But compared to World War II, there is no comparison at all. When you think about the possible perspective of the soldiers in that conflict, considering that this generation was entering the largest war to date, that they were fighting in the “war to end all wars,” there’s a lot to delve into that mentality and ultimately as a result of. What would it be like to fight with the belief that you are at the peak of historical war tendencies? How would you feel if you knew you were completely wrong and that the war could and would continue?
Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley It’s the science fiction of this concept. Garth Ennis, Patrick Goddard, and Rob Steen team up to take the titular genetic infantry into the trenches of World War I. Rogue teams up with some soldiers from that era, and their two conflicts blend together to tell a larger story about humanity’s propensity for war, and whether there’s any understandable rhyme or reason to conflicts of this magnitude.
Publishing history I’ve been reading Rogue Cavalry I’ve been super excited for this series to come out for months. I’m happy to report that it lives up to expectations. While a quick read, the story is filled with themes that will be familiar to any fan Rogue Cavalry Or the work of Ennis. Combined with Patrick Goddard’s incredible art, the story delves into the human toll of the conflict and enhances the nihilistic premise and ultimate tragedy inherent in Rogue Cavalry comics. blighty valley is a book in the spirit of Gerry Finley Day and Dave Gibbons, and that’s all there is to it Rogue Cavalry Fans can request it.
For those who haven’t studied Garth Ennis, he had a fascinating career trajectory. he took over Hell Detective At the age of 21 he created perhaps one of the greatest comic books of all time. Then he went on to write his masterpiece, priestwhen he was 25 years old. Historically, much of these works have been obscured, not only because his success in American comics overshadowed it, but also because Ennis himself was not a fan of that early era. So seeing him return to his roots after a long career in America is fascinating in itself.
Taking themes of war, sin, faith, and human destiny from his mature work and combining them with a high-concept sci-fi character like Rogue into a short film’s avant-garde style is no easy task, and Ennis does it masterfully. good. It helps that the original, run by Finely-Day/Gibbons, was already ripe for embracing these concepts and anti-war themes, which laid the groundwork for Ennis. Like his earlier avant-garde, Ennis shaped the Rogue into the spirit of the battlefield. Rather than being a strictly ideological tool of war, it was a representation of the inhumanity of war itself and a patron saint of disillusioned soldiers. He comes to meet World War I recruits, each of whom has a very different relationship to the conflict, and he does his best to help them survive, knowing full well that their hopes for a peaceful world will never be realized.
Ennis places “Rogue” in an interesting position, both in terms of plot and larger themes. As a time travel story, there’s a danger in letting these soldiers know the future, which would prevent him from answering their questions or telling them too much about himself. But again, all of these characters who feel vulnerable and overwhelmed compared to Rogue have their own hopes and ambitions. Each character is given time to express their thoughts on the war, and Rogue is equally unwilling to confirm or deny the fatalistic philosophical underpinnings of any of their wars. like early Rogue Cavalry In the story “Memories of a Millie-Com,” Rogue is doing his best to keep the morale of his team, the biochip, and humanity alive. He withheld information not out of a sense of superiority but out of genuine concern for the people he believed were unprepared for the horrors that awaited them.
Patrick Goddard does an incredible job here helping to humanize each character and visually contrast them with the capabilities of G.I.
The first feeling when opening the book page Valley of Blight Goddard is able to capture the scale of this conflict very well. One location after another was filled with multiple vehicles, dozens of soldiers, guns and equipment. Goddard presents all of this in painstaking detail that not only looks beautiful but makes us feel the pain and despair of war. Even the nameless soldiers shot down by planes or tanks were imbued with personality, which compounded the damage.
Secondly, Goddard was able to bring these scenes back to life, drawing and constructing dynamic compositions even when everyone was just sitting around a campfire.
Each page is carefully rendered, adding to the drama. I would deliberately slow down reading the text of each balloon just to soak in all the details presented in the art and how well it guides the audience into the emotion of the script.
Valley of Blight It ends with a simple yet bold question to the reader: If you knew there was no good ending, no getting out alive, no victory, would you still continue? In Ennis’s world, blind patriotism is inseparable from fanaticism, and so is not a good answer to this question. Once you take Queen and country out of the equation, you’re left with: What drives you as a human being to keep fighting despite your fate? As the stakes and ultimate tragedy of humanity become clear to each soldier, we see them continue to fight, not for the glory of war, but for each other and to help their comrades. Like Rogue’s own journey, it’s not about winning the war, but making a promise to your (biochip) friends to get home safely and keep moving forward no matter how endless the conflict.
Rogue is the embodiment of war’s ability to make us less human. He was genetically modified to live in a world hostile to human life. He’s a giant blue monster designed only for war. But what makes him human, more human than anyone who instigates these conflicts, is his loyalty to his crew and his desire to press on regardless of the goals of the larger army. To these soldiers, he is not a tool to gain the upper hand, but a reminder that no matter how you found yourself here, you have an obligation to get your soldiers out alive.
Of course, there’s not a lot of subtlety to the theme given the concept’s pulp sci-fi roots, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. When you’re telling a story set in the war to end all wars, it’s fitting that our characters speak with seriousness and a direct awareness of the emotional stakes. War stories deserve some dramatic speech, and there’s no better place to do it than in the trenches of World War I.
Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley is an excellent comic and one of the best Rogue Cavalry Stories available. Ennis and Goddard captured the value and uniqueness of the original comics of the ’80s, while they also shaped their own vision for the world and continued the conversation in their work. Ennis is fully in his style here, and Goddard provides him with some vivid and unparalleled imagery. The drama between Ennis’s war musings and Goddard’s expressive pages creates a powerful war comic for fans Rogue Cavalry Of course, the same goes for anyone who just wants a good book.
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