Comic Review: BRZRKR #2

BOOM! Studios

Writers: Keanu Reeves & Matt Kindt

Artists: Ron Garney & Bill Crabtree

Letters: Clem Robins

BRZRKR is the story of an immortal being in the quest of figuring out who he is and how he became immortal. The title was created and is co-written by Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves. After issue #1, as expected, it was announced that the series was picked up as a movie and anime project. The recent news kind of got my hype for the comic turned down a bit since it made it feel like this was the purpose all along. Anyway, I thought I’d keep up with the series if anything to be able to be annoying on the internet about the changes made between mediums.

Chapter two opens with B. recalling his original tribe eighty thousand years ago. This clears up how old B. really is and why he came to be in the first place. Before he was even conceived, B’s tribe of nomads was being attacked by surrounding tribes. B’s mother performed a ritual to the tribe’s gods and so he came to be. He was born mere months after the magical conception and grew up faster than most as well. Since that time, acting as protector of his people, B. felt a need for violence. He felt a need to go berserk.

I continue to be impressed by Reeves and Kindt’s partnership in writing. There’s a nice pacing to B’s storytelling in this chapter that reminded me of other famous characters in comics both cursed with immortality and the thirst for blood. I don’t mean to state this title isn’t its own thing but there’s certainly a lot of inspiration from characters like Wolverine. What I liked the most was the dialogue that highlights the differences between young B and eighty-thousand-year-old B. It makes clear that the multitude of lives he’s lived are more than enough and most of his drive is gone, no matter how capable he may be of causing havoc.

This issue is drawn by Ron Garney and it is impressive work. Most of the panels take place in the wild past and the backgrounds in those scenes are incredibly pleasant. Not too detailed, just enough to set the stage in that environment. Facial expressions and actions are also pretty good. The approach for the gore isn’t the one I usually like, but it’s decently done with a nice balance between detail and clouds of blood.

Crabtree’s coloring is awesome! The artist used cold and dark colors for the present conversation B’s having with Doctor Diana which contrasts amazingly with the warm and brighter colors used in B’s present, when he had a family and a more human life. And I don’t really need to mention it, but the scene of B’s magical conception is so cool with only the line art but the coloring definitely brings the whole page up a notch.

Robins’ lettering for the series continues to do its job right. Making the reading as immersive and continuous as possible. There are nice additions for some sound effects but I feel like there could be more specially with the tons of instant shredding of flesh. It may sound creepy and lean towards being too gory and maybe that’s not what this series is going for, but it’d certainly help bring out the violence, however they’d like to use it in the story.

BRZRKR is a nice read for fans of lone wolf and vagabond stories. It’s not necessarily groundbreaking but it’s nice work put together by a dedicated team.