Review by Frank Plowright
In 2005 Fort Neuro continued the 2000AD imprint chronologically returning to print the exploits of one of the comic’s most popular characters, continuing from Future War.
It shows writer Gerry Finley-Day moving away from brief one to three chapters and into longer form material. He seems to have looked at what John Wagner and Alan Grant were doing on Judge Dredd at the time, and realised he could continue telling short stories, but within the framework of something bigger. The result is the dozen chapters of ‘All Hell on the Dix-I Front’.
Dix-I is a Souther facility where the continued lack of Nort activity prompts a celebration, but as Rogue discovers when there, all is not as it seems to be. A new twist is supplying Rogue with a human companion, Sister Sledge, who’s well used, but while recognising her permanent presence would upset the strip’s balance. Finley-Day avoids the obvious resolution, but his dialogue is heavy-handed throughout.
All three series artists of the time contribute, with the reliable Colin Wilson (sample art left) drawing three quarters. Kennedy’s contribution sees him modifying his style to closer resemble Wilson’s pages, leaving a pair of chapters by Brett Ewins indelicate and unimaginative in comparison. However, he has his day in the uneven title story really selling what’s happening.
‘Fort Neuro’ is an isolated outpost infected with a form of madness causing inhabitants to adopt the cultures of European nations from the past. Finley-Day feeds in Napoleonic France, Empire Britain and Euro-disco, but satire’s not his strong point and it’s of its time and somewhat embarrassing now. It occupies the entirety of the 1980s album sized Rogue Trooper Book Five.
Wilson and Kennedy draw the other longer story, ‘The Marauders’ in which a group of soldiers from both sides of the conflict combine in search of profit. It’s over-written in places, but the underlying plot is strong, with Rogue finally confronting the general who sold him out at the start of the series. Finley-Day knows which way his bread is buttered, though, and the malefactor survives to fight another day. In the 1980s editions it’s found in Book Four.
Two shorter stories round off the collection, the best of them being Kennedy drawing the return of the looters introduced in Future War. ‘Hats Off to Helm’ would actually be better were it not for Finley-Day’s lazy writing of a tense moment before the end.
If you’d prefer a more comprehensive collection of Rogue Trooper’s earliest exploits then they’re all found as either Tales of Nu-Earth 01 or The Complete Collection 1. Eye of the Traitor continues Finley-Day’s run in these editions.
