Jaegir Review

From the War-Ravaged World of Nu-Eath… monsters are born. 2000AD brings a new one-shot spin-off of Rogue Trooper called Jaegir.

A female war-crimes investigator in future fascist state, Kapitan-Inspector Atalia Jaegir must bring a monster down before he can murder his own family. In the universe of 2000 AD’s classic series Rogue Trooper, the endless war between the Southers and the Norts rages on countless planets. Scarred war veteran Atalia Jaegir of the Nordland State Security Police, hunts down escaped war criminals and roots out corruption in the ranks. But her fearsome reputation will not protect her from the inhuman quarry that she is tasked with finding.

Jaegir is a new one shot set in the same universe as 2000AD’s Rogue Trooper, exploring the opposing side of the war showing us more of the ‘Norts’ which if you have not been able to check out the comic or don’t know much about the backstory of that series, the Norts are very much like a pseudo-Nazi government, who are fighting the ‘Southers’ for control over Nu-Earth. The Southers happen to be the side that Rogue Trooper more or less fights for.

The one shot is written by Gordon Rennie (Dept. of Monsterology) and the art is provided by Simon Coleby (The Royals). Following the rich universe that is painted in Rogue Trooper, Jaegir only continues, delving further into the corrupt government and dystopian society that the Nordlanders exist in. It really seems that when 2000AD goes down that road of corruption being at the crux of the plot, they really hit it out of the park. (Personally speaking whenever Judge Dredd heads into that territory it is always a standout story, and the same goes for Rogue Trooper as well where corruption colours in a lot of the background of the story and it is excellent.)

Jaegir is no different as our fearless Kapitan-Inspector Atalia Jaegir works for the office responsible for bringing in war deserters and war criminals and rooting out corruption. At the same time, Rennie introduces the Strigoi Hunters which is a virus that was introduced into the warrior caste of Nordlanders. Atalia goes with them to hunt a soldier that has connections to Atalia. It gives a broader scope than having her just pursue war deserters or having her fight a similar fight to Rogue Trooper; it really gave me the more of the Rogue Trooper universe that I wanted to know about after having read that book.

Even if you have never read Rogue Trooper, there is nothing to worry about as the writing of this book will provide enough backstory that you won’t feel lost reading it. Characters throughout provide colour to the universe that the Norts messed with biochemically and tried to create super soldiers much like the Southers who created Rogue Trooper. They also explain enough about the Strigoi that you can follow along with the action. The comic is about 35 pages long so flashbacks or side plots are left out of this book, which is fine because it keeps focus on the main story and Atalia’s pursuit of a specific Strigoi.

The division that she works for bears a lot of resemblance for the Nazi group the Feldgendarmerie, which was their uniformed military police that was a part of the Wehrmacht, and had full military training all very much like the Nordland State Police as Atalia has a rich war history and has proven herself on the field of battle. Rennie has written a deep story with seemingly several historical comparisons that can be made between the Norts governmental policies and that of fascist World War II Germany.

However, with that said, that can be quite the slippery slope to tread which could lead to Atalia becoming less of a sympathetic character, someone you might not necessarily want to cheer for in her story. That couldn’t be further from the truth; while she is hard case, she comes off a lot like Judge Dredd where she is driven and follows policy but at the same time Rennie has given her enough little backstory moments where we see that she has real emotion and a troubled childhood. It gives the reader good reason as to why she is the way she is. Atalia also has been written where she can really kick ass if there is a need for it, and is relentless in the pursuit of completing her mission. At this point it is safe to say that Atalia Jaegir is another great character to add to the roster of fantastic ones that 2000AD has brought into the world. Though her teammates are more or less one dimensional characters, being that it is a one shot its better that way keeping the focus on Atalia.

Where Rennie has crafted a great story that will leave you wanting more of Atalia Jaegir, Simon Coleby has done some beautiful work on the art of the book as he rolls out this gritty, grimy dystopian future society and the horrors of the war that is unfolding. Everything that appears in the book for the most part has this worn out feel and all the characters have signs of battle and the stresses they have been put under through the war with the Southers. Even our main hero Atalia is not a shiny, clean cut hero; she has some severe battle scars herself, most prominently the one that appears on her face, which they give a nice flashback as to how it occurred. In the flashbacks, you can immediately tell the difference as Coleby uses this nice muted tones to the colours much like a memory. When it comes to action scenes, Coleby kicks it into gear and puts together some very gritty looking scenes. It always makes for a much more engaging story when the artwork matches up well against the story and matches the dark storyline with equal amounts of grim artwork.

Rennie and Coleby have brought forth a book well worth the read set in the Rogue Trooper universe. I thoroughly enjoyed Jaegir and would love to see more of this great character in the future if they ever plan to go beyond this one shot. Check out this great comic; its on the shelves now.