BRZRKR 1
“Time is a strange thing.” – B
You know, I’m not that crazy about comics… somehow that phase bypassed me as a kid. As I got older I followed some manga/manhwa online and that’s that… though, considering the convenience of the digital/mobile age, comics can now become an interesting hobby too… if you have the time. 😅
The comic “BRZRKR 1” caught my attention for a simple reason. Its creative mastermind and co-writer is none other than the great and legendary Serbian brother, film megastar Keanu Reeves. The man has brilliant films behind him, and people adore him for his humility. He “won over” gamers with his role in the video game “Cyberpunk 2077,” and has now gained his admirers among comic fans too with his debut work.
The first “book/collection” of the comic “BRZRKR 1” covers chapters 1-4.
Meet John Wi… well, a man named B.
B works for the American government, and performs their dirtiest jobs, i.e., eliminates everything and everyone. Throw him into a pit with 50 maniacs armed with machine guns… and he’ll kill them all, and by extremely violent methods… so violent that “Mortal Kombat” seems like a slap fight between snotty toddlers in kindergarten.
No, B isn’t some super-secret agent and/or psychopath… he’s simply a demigod. He’s immortal. Pain can’t do anything to him. You can riddle his body with bullets, hack it up, blow it up with a bomb, run it over, poison it, set it on fire, whatever comes to mind, he’ll (gradually) regenerate.
A perfect, violent soldier.
However, B isn’t some experiment of the American government or anything like that. He agreed to cooperate with them, and in exchange for performing the bloodiest jobs, an elite team of scientists (led by researcher Diana) should provide him with some answers from his past.
You see, B is almost 80,000 years old. His life began back in the period when people were nomadic tribes with spears and wore furs. His parents prayed for a child that would protect their tribe from attacks by others. In a mystical ritual, his mother became pregnant by some divine force. Two months later, he was born and started growing and developing at great speed. And he received an unusual (divine) gift. And that is that he can be overcome by such rage, go so wild, that common sense simply disappears from him, and then he can fight like a wild beast alone against entire tribes. Simply, he’d enter a berserk state and become what in English is called a berserker (now you probably understand the title of the comic… “BRZRKR”).
And so this man has been at war for 80,000 years, which surely takes a toll on one’s sanity. However, through so many millennia of killing and living and suffering, some answers get forgotten. That’s why B is willing to use tests (“protocols” in the comic) to find answers to two most important questions… how that berserk state awakened in him… and how he can finally attain mortality and end his agonizing life.
B is simply tired of everything. His whole life he was perceived as some killing tool and feared. He’s aware that scientists constantly take pieces of his cells and analyze him, intending to create an army of immortal wild soldiers, but that doesn’t concern him. He just wants to comb through his past and find answers.
The first four chapters of the comic “BRZRKR 1” are focused on B’s gradual recollection (and retelling to Diana) of the past from the beginning of his life, from the period of birth to life in the (first) nomadic tribe. We discover how he “came to be,” what he did for the tribe, how he was exploited, how he felt as a berserker, as well as how he realized he was immortal. However, you can’t help but wonder if B simply forgot or maybe suppressed, “killed” some memories during his torturous long-lived life colored by the blood of millions of people.
All in all, we still need to discover whether B can find the necessary answers, as well as whether the American government is truly helping him in this.
From a visual aspect, “BRZRKR 1” truly looks excellent and has that dark, raw energy and resembles in appearance some older classic comics, not modern superhero editions or manga. The comic is violent, bloody and brutal, so that even Quentin Tarantino would blush reading it.
The main hero B is the spitting image of Keanu Reeves with a beard and long hair… or maybe more the spitting image of John Wick… or maybe more the spitting image of Johnny Silverhand… well I don’t know how to describe it, but I think you have an idea. His personality is dark and tragic, he doesn’t think much about people and how he appears to them, and seems tired of everything… which is perhaps logical, given how long he’s been alive and what he’s been doing all this time.
A special treat is the cover gallery at the end of the book, where works of various authors/illustrators are presented and are quite interesting, with moreover excellent drawings.
All in all, “BRZRKR 1” caught my attention as it caught the attention of the world (and not just comic) scene. A film adaptation of the comic is planned (with brother Keanu in the lead role), but also an anime adaptation (which will be done by studio “Production I.G,” which guarantees an excellent visual aspect… this team worked on works like “Ghost in the Shell,” “Psycho-Pass,” “Sengoku Basara,” “Neon Genesis Evangelion” and some other titles), if it’s at least on par with the series “Castlevania,” I’ll be satisfied, but I assume it’ll be much more brutal.
And for the end, just for the record, let’s mention the people who worked with Keanu on this comic (and whom fans/experts might perhaps recognize): Matt Kindt, Ron Garney, Bill Crabtree and Clem Robins, and they are, from what I’ve seen, quite well-known and successful in the world of comics.
All in all, comic lovers and/or fans of Keanu Reeves’ character and work will without doubt follow “BRZRKR” to the end, and for others… well what can I tell you, curiosity drew me in. 😁
And you, my dear friend, do you know what the true origin of the word “berserk” is? 🙂
BOOM Studios (BRZRKR)
Book price: Alan Ford | Darkwood | Delfi (English language edition)
Ratings (and purchase) on foreign sites: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository | Comicbook | Comic Book Round Up | Simon & Schuster
