Comic Review: Berserker Unbound #1

Berserker Unbound #1

Dark Horse Comics

Writer: Jeff Lemire

Artist: Mike Deodata Jr

I absolutely love Jeff Lemire. Old Man Logan, Animal Man, X-Men, Moon Knight. All absolutely brilliant titles, in no small part thanks to Lemire himself. He also made Black Hammer (which I’ve not had the chance to read yet, but plan to visit soon as I’ve heard it’s really quite good). And here Lemire is with his newest comic, Berserker Unbound. I’ve had the privilege of reading the issue and let me tell you, it is spectacular.

Mike Deodata Jr is as great as ever. Despite the story issues with Infinity Wars (and there was quite a few), his art was consistently brilliant. And here, none of the same story flaws present and his art is still brilliant, so you can imagine how beautiful it is to look at every page of this issue. The Mongrel King, the main character of the book, looks amazing and striking against every panel he features in. The landscapes around him are vibrant, and really help set a tone of the issue, and when the scene transitions to a different location, you feel the change and you also feel the change of emotion in the scene. And while we don’t see too many characters throughout this first issue, the character designs that we do see are great and in the case of a certain character, quite freaky.  Frank Martin’s colouring is also great throughout the issue, complimenting Deodata Jr’s art wonderfully.

And the writing… my god. I’ve always thought Lemire was great, but this issue has pushed him into my favourite comic book writers. The way he writes the story (which I’m not going to spoil any of, so don’t worry) is so tense and full of great moments that it’s hard not to love it. This issue feels sorta like Old Man Logan, in that a lot of it is quite grim and dark. Some specific moments had me gasping. And holy hell, that ending. No spoilers (obviously), but it’s utterly amazing, and opens up the doors to some possibilities that are gonna be so much damn fun to read about.

So yeah, pick up Berserker Unbound #1 on release day for sure, it’s yet another success for Jeff Lemire. The man can’t really make something bad at this stage, and this will likely be remembered as yet another wonderful comic in his history. Not much else to say on the matter really, except to reiterate once again that you need to read this.

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