Half-mortal and half-god, cursed and compelled to violence, the man known only as B. begins wandering the world anew. After enduring a series of experiments and missions, B.'s memories of his origins will be finally restored. But what does this revelation mean for his future?
Keanu Reeves continues his comic book writing debut alongside New York Times bestselling co-writer Matt Kindt (Folklords, Grass Kings) and legendary artist Ron Garney (Wolverine, Captain America) in a brutally violent new series about one immortal warrior's fight through the ages.
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in Youngblood (1986). He had his breakthrough role in the science fiction comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), and he reprised his role in its sequels. He gained praise for playing a hustler in the independent drama My Own Private Idaho (1991) and established himself as an action hero with leading roles in Point Break (1991) and Speed (1994).
Following several box office failures, Reeves's performance in the horror film The Devil's Advocate (1997) was well received. Greater stardom came for playing Neo in the science fiction series The Matrix, beginning in 1999. He played John Constantine in Constantine (2005) and starred in the romantic drama The Lake House (2006), the science fiction thriller The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), and the crime thriller Street Kings (2008). Following another commercially down period, Reeves made a successful comeback by playing the titular assassin in the John Wick film series, beginning in 2014.
In addition to acting, Reeves has directed the film Man of Tai Chi (2013). He has played bass guitar for the band Dogstar and pursued other endeavours such as writing and philanthropy.
(B-) 71% | Satisfactory Notes: It's about memories, I guess, unlocking what's repressed... yup, that's the plot, I kid you not, a blah and lifeless mess.
I really feel like (due to my undying love of Keanu) I gave the first volume a fair shake. I was perhaps a bit kinder than I should have been, but in all fairness, there was always a chance it was going...somewhere.
And it did go somewhere. If by somewhere you mean nowhere. And if nowhere is located beside a toasty dumpster fire. Because this was nonsense. What even happened here? I certainly couldn't tell you for sure. Each issue opens with panels of B hooked up to something with a countdown going on in the background. <--some big experiment!
B, aka Unute, aka Keanu Reeves is an immortal being who wants to be able to die. As you do if you're immortal. This volume vaguely covers his past loves but in only the most generic sense. Apparently, his curse is that his children are all stillborn. So. No procreation. His goal now is to (wait for it) find his father. Remember his father? The lightning bolt that hit his mother square in the vag?
Well, we're going to find him. There's a shady scientist/archaeologist who is up to some nefarious deeds, and even with all of B's thousands of years of experience, it seems as though he doesn't realize he's hitched his tent to a fairly obvious villain. Or maybe he just doesn't care? Anyway.
The climax to this panel by panel countdown was (to me) a bit underwhelming.
Make no mistake, I want to like this. Desperately. I love all things Keanu. <--yes, even now, godhelpme. Thing is, there just isn't really much payoff for this volume, and after the last volume not having much payoff, I was really hoping for more. Stuff happened, but it wasn't meaty stuff. Feels like they're throwing plots on the page to see what sticks. And not much is sticking. But maybe it doesn't have to in order to be fun?
I'll read the next one because OF COURSE I WILL. I'm not some fair-weather fan! When, as a young woman, I watched Much Ado About Nothing, it certainly wasn't to see Kenneth Brannagh on the big screen. I'm in it for the long haul, baby. Here's hoping the next one is better.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
W FND T N TH FRST BK THT B (THT’S KN RVS’ “CHRCTR”) WS BRN F LGHTNNG BLT BT, RTHR THN CCPT THT HS DD WS LTRL FLSH N TH PN, H DCDS T FND T F TH LGHTNNG BLT CM FRM SMN - SMTHNG? - LS. THT SMS T B TH STRY F TH TTRLY BRNG ND FRGTTBL SCND VLM F THS BRNLSS CTNR: STP FR FTR STRYLN THT’S NT NTRSTNG T BGN WTH.
S TH NVLTY F KN RVS “WRTNG” CMC (BY THT F CRS MN H WRT N ML T MTT KNDT - WRTR WH HS NVR WRTTN GD CMC ND HS NVRTHLSS WRTTN PLNTY F THM - TLLLNG HM T WRT THS SRS) FTRNG HS LKNSS N TH MN CHRCTR HS LRDY WRN FF.
THS SCND VLM FTRS LT F WTLSS BLTHR, FLSHBCKS PLNTY, ND GR BY TH BCKTLD, LL F WHCH MNTS T LTTL DVLPMNT F WHT W SW N TH FRST BK, WHCH WS FLSHBCKS PLNTY ND GR BY TH BCKTLD WTH B MRMRNG SMTHNG BT WNTNG T D ND/R FNDNG T HS RGNS ND PRPS FR BNG.
GD T’S BRNG. VN F Y WR FN F TH MNDLSS VR-TH-TP VLNC F TH FRST BK, LL B LT DWN S THR’S FR LSS N THS BK ND LT F T FLS RCYCLD - DDN’T H CTCH MSSL ND LB T BCK N TH FRST VLM? T FLS LK H DD VN F H DDN’T.
SMHW MTT KDNT HS MNGD T TK TH CNCPT F KN CSPLYNG S VLNT SPRMN ND RNDRD T YWNTSTC WTHN JST TW BKS. Berserker, VLM 2 S garbage.
We found out in the first book that B (that’s Keanu Reeves’ “character”) was born of a lightning bolt but, rather than accept that his dad was a literal flash in the pan, he decides to find out if the lightning bolt came from someone - something? - else. That seems to be the story of the utterly boring and forgettable second volume of this brainless actioner: setup for a future storyline that’s not interesting to begin with.
So the novelty of Keanu Reeves “writing” a comic (by that of course I mean he wrote an email to Matt Kindt - a writer who has never written a good comic and has nevertheless written plenty of them - telling him to write this series) featuring his likeness in the main character has already worn off.
This second volume features a lot of witless blather, flashbacks aplenty, and gore by the bucketload, all of which amounts to little development of what we saw in the first book, which was flashbacks aplenty and gore by the bucketload with B murmuring something about wanting to die and/or finding out his origins and purpose for being.
God it’s boring. Even if you were a fan of the mindless over-the-top violence of the first book, you’ll be let down as there’s far less in this book and a lot of it feels recycled - didn’t he catch a missile and lob it back in the first volume? It feels like he did even if he didn’t.
Somehow Matt Kindt has managed to take the concept of Keanu cosplaying as a violent Superman and rendered it yawntastic within just two books. BRZRKR, Volume 2 is GRBGE.
Complete fluff and nonsense. Yet, I’m all in for the final volume. Nothing of importance happens in this one and seals the deal on Matt Kindt as a crap writer. Ah! The complexness of my love for Keanu Reaves even bad Reaves knows no bounds.
I'm forgiving with this series because it is perfectly in its nature. I'm not expecting more than a berserker-type immortal asking its questions about why it's alive and still alive. I'm enjoying the bloodshed and the experiments being performed on him. I'm even digging the way they're trying to reach his "father".
And why not? I'm in the mood for a good immortal story. This one fits the bill perfectly.
And it's written by and features Keanu. So, you know, BONUS.
I found out about and read the first issue of this comic series last year because I really loved the John Wick movies and the main character here is a berserker modelled after Keanu Reeves (he's also the co-writer of this story).
This continues the research into who B or Unute really is and WHY some being created him (with the help of his human mother). I'm not entirely sure why they are still sending him on missions but the US government/military are definitely NOT pulling the strings here. Instead, there is a weird "scientist" who not only knows more than he should, but is also a collector - of body parts. Talk about a fetish! He's trying to "unlock" something. Some energy or potential or whatever. It's definitely playing a part in the usual super-soldier-program trope, but I got the feeling there is more. Before we get to the big bang, though, we get more flashbacks, this time showing B falling in love and it ending in tragedy over and over and over again and some weird "religion" forming around his existance.
This volume definitely did not have enough blood and gore. I mean, I'm not asking for much, not even too much of a story, just some stupid or infuriating people dying in a very satisfactory way. Come on!
I've already read issue #9 (only realizing it didn't belong to this volume when it was too late) but I will have to wait a while for volume 3 to come out, I guess. *sighs*
The graphic novel series BRZRKR, written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt, continues the story of the man known only as B in the second volume, compiling issues #5-8.
The story is a mash-up of Conan the Barbarian and John Wick, if Conan had god-like powers, was immortal, and was recruited by the United States military as one of their best assassins.
In this volume: B laments his immortality, as everyone he has ever grown attached to eventually dies while he stays young; we find out a little bit more about B’s benefactor, an extremely wealthy archaeologist looking for an ancient artifact that may hold the key to B’s origins and immortality; an experiment results in many human casualties and sends B into another dimension…
A bit more depth in this volume, and certainly toned-down on the ultra violence compared to the first volume. I’m looking forward to the third, and final, volume of this series.
This took a huge turn for the worse and even 2 stars is generous. Not really sure what's even going on anymore; the story makes no sense and the art is ugly.
A volume so complex it took me an entire thirty minutes to read it! That’s faster than it took me to read the first vol and if that doesn’t tell you all you need to know about this volume then listen up because there’s a rant incoming.
This vol was so immensely boring, it was actually impressive how it had no plot. I know I complained about the brainless action in the first vol but I actually started to miss that in this one—at least with the action there’s something happened. Instead, this was filled entirely with waffle and mumbo jumbo science speak, and had almost an entire issue made up of so... many... one... word... panels all featuring artwork that had nothing to do with the words being said. It was so bizarre. Someone stab me with B’s spear, I hated this so much.
There was no depth or meaning behind anything and everything required a four page explanation and a flashback. Actually, the entire vol consisted of flashbacks. If you took a shot for every flashback you came across you’d be thoroughly drunk by the end!
And just as the story was creeping towards something of purpose, the volume ended. The ending was so abrupt that it was obvious the writer was just killing time with filler nonsense in an attempt to drag out the nonexistent plot and squeeze as many measly twenty page issues out of this as they can. That also must’ve been the reason why no one had any clue what was going on: not the characters, not the plot, even the explanations were so vague and all the dialogue was so generic. The covers compiled at the end were so random and varied it was like the artists had no idea what the themes of the comic were or what the plot was, possibly because there barely was one.
Every part of this was so bad, it was clearly a piece of work that could only have come from the brilliantly genius mind of Keanu Reeves, proving once again that if you know nothing about comics then you shouldn’t attempt to put your name on one or you’ll only embarrass yourself.
Pre-reading thoughts: (28/10/2021) Potential future buddy read with the Shallow Comic Readers? If we can stomach anymore of the lightning Wolverine-Man🤭 I have no doubt this’ll be bad, but at least it’ll be something of a laugh too!
Not what I was expecting from this book. The action is what is the big selling point of this series, this book was more dialogue based. I did like the soldier's tale style story in chapter/issue 6.
Physically the scientists studying B have not learned much that will help them, so they try emotional manipulations as well as physical stress. What are they trying to accomplish? Worse what if they succeed?
I understand that this is important to the story, but with a series about a Beserker you do need a lot of action. I did not enjoy this as much as volume 1 but I am looking forward to volume 2. The book finishes with a varient cover gallery.
(Read as single issues). Back for a second volume of BRZRKR- that Keanu comic.
Well, I will say this - if you asked me if I would rather read a “comic book full of action movie cliches” or a “boring” comic - the former is always going to win.
BRZRKR already has all the Conan and Wolverine (and other eternal life characters like Highlander and vampires) tropes and now we add some Indiana Jones and wait is this a love story?
BRZRKR is mindless action but as long as that it isn’t a turnoff to you, it is quite fun. I might argue that this is the kind of book Mark Millar used to write, but Kindt seems to be better than the Scotsman these days.
Garney’s art is a good fit for this as well.
Criticism? Well, it is pretty mindless action and although I have generally enjoyed this story, I would like to see something to take it to the next level, but it never quite does that. The characters still tend to be paper thin. The background universe doesn’t have the same hooks that say a Mike Mignola or someone similar might write. It’s a fun action movie-in-comic-book form. It isn’t boring. But it isn’t truly compelling, either.
Kindt, Reeves and Garney waste a lot of space too. Although there are new plot points added, it feels like each new issue only adds the equivalent of 4 or 5 pages of actual plot content. That’s pretty rough when BOOM is selling it for $5 an issue. Also since this story is now sitting at two-thirds over, it’s doubtful we get much of a satisfying ending either, but we shall see.
i really want to love this but wtf is going on? the art is cool i love the contrast in colours on some pages but the story is making no sense to me and doesn’t grasp my interest? still going to carry on in hopes it gets better but lacking atm :(
Narratively messy but visually gory-as-usual, it's hard to really understand the big picture here as the story now tries to look away from the protagonist's immortality to focus on harnessing his memory. With that now clear, only the next volume can tell what's next...
BRZRKR collects issues 5-8 of the Boom Studios series written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt with art by Ron Garney.
B sets out and find his father (or creator) while he continues to trust the scientists and government officials tasked with studying him and keeping him as the country’s most valuable weapon.
Unfortunately this volume was a big step back as this arc was mostly mumbo jumbo. The story devolves into largely boring exposition with very little action. What little action there is is mostly contained in flashbacks and one tiny mission. I think most readers jumped on board because they wanted to see a badass Keanu Reeves destroying everyone and everything in his sight. I do think the third and final volume could redeem itself as this book was mostly filler before the climax.
i still think this concept is really cool, i wish it focused more on B himself? as he is obviously the most interesting part of the concept (i wish it was more in his head), but overall still good!
A lot less bloodshed and a little more character depth is given to us in this volume. In an ongoing quest for mortality, Unute has submitted himself to government experiments run by a decorated scientist and a shady archaeologist, who will likely, in future installments, turn out to be the romantic interest and the villain respectively. During the experiments, he is pushed to explore his innumerable memories, filled with relentless cycles of love and loss, which give the godlike immortal his tragic human touch.
Not much really happened here and everything was blander than I expected it to be. However, the plot seems to be to moving towards a SciFi story line, so I'm still intrigued and will enthusiastically continue on to the next volume.
3/5 ⭐️ I have mixed feelings about this one. It's nice but the pace is a little unsettling. The story moves so fast it barely makes sense (I'm actually lost about the ending of Issue #8).
I'm still curious and entertained but I'll need more clarity in the following issues to truly enjoy this series.
Este segundo volumen parece un relleno eterno donde pasamos de la diversión sangrienta a cascoporro a hablar sobre palabrería científica y metafísica que tampoco nos lleva a ningun lugar. No había profundidad ni significado detrás de nada y todo requería, como mucho, una explicación de cuatro páginas y un flashback. En cada número. Y justo cuando la serie se dirige hacia algo que parece más interesante… se acaba el volumen. Leeré el siguiente por que solo son cuatro números para terminar la miniserie… pero vaya.
Za mňa to furt dodáva, čo som od toho očakávala. Niektoré panely a stránky sú fakt boží na pohľad, a tie skoky do minulosti sú naozaj dobre spracované. Teším sa na ďalší book, lebo tento znova nadhodil viac otázok ako odpovedal.
The second book of the BRZRKR series makes more sense to me than the first. Now I see where the story goes and I can find myself relating more. The scenario has taken off and we are introduced to the biggest issues that our hero faces, his torments and his deepest desires. All well presented. If you, like me, thought the first volume raw and rough, I would suggest giving this one a go.