Written by: Brian Ruckley
Art by: Alberto Ponticelli
Publisher: IDW
Stories involving deserting soldiers can often be generic and boring, especially when the setting and characters aren’t up to snuff. Military stories normally have terribly boring characters with no purpose beyond murder and revenge. To be honest, it takes a special author to make the story interesting enough that you will want to continue reading as the series progresses. Thankfully, Brian Ruckley created a very interesting story with decent characters called Rogue Trooper: Last Man Standing.
Rogue Trooper is focused on, ironically, a rogue soldier who is on a mission to avenge his fallen brothers. However, Rogue Trooper—also known as Blue—isn’t a simple soldier. Blue is one of a select few genetically engineered soldiers who was created solely for killing the enemy. It should be mentioned that Rogue Soldier takes place on a planet called Nu-Earth, which is known for rich mineral deposits, an extremely toxic atmosphere, and a battle between the evil Norts and slightly less evil Southers. Blue and his fellow soldiers were created by the Southers to defeat the Norts in various battles, but they were betrayed during a mission in the Quartz Zone. This betrayal resulted in all of Blue’s fellow soldiers dying while he went off on an investigation to discover the traitor’s identity.
Blue’s story could be generic and boring, but Ruckley created a fantastic world for the soldier to explore. Nu-Earth has a fairly rich history involving the Norts and Southers that doesn’t require your attention to keep progressing. In addition, Ruckley also added in some entertaining side characters to keep the mood light. Blue and his fellow soldiers were created with special chips that would allow their consciousness to be transferred into machinery or other special soldiers. Because of this, Blue was able to transfer three of his fellow soldiers into a rifle, a supply pack, and a helmet. These talking pieces of equipment—Gunnar, Helm, and Bagman—are the best characters in Rogue Trooper because they provide some fantastic commentary. Rogue Trooper is a fairly serious story, but Blue’s compatriots provide some needed humor to occasionally lighten the mood.
Rogue Trooper: Last Man Standing is a fantastic story that is also extremely interesting. The first four chapters follow Blue as he meets friendly forces, defeats a massive army, and tries to avoid a deadly hit squad. Sure, some of the military characters chasing Blue aren’t fantastic, but everything else about the story is worth checking out. More importantly, Rogue Trooper: Last Man Standing ends in the perfect cliffhanger that makes you want to keep following Blue’s journey. Hopefully, this story will remain just as fantastic in the following issues.
