BRZRKR from BOOM! Studios is one of the most popular original comics on stands today, and it marks the comic-writing debut of Keanu Reeves. With a creative team rounded out by co-writer Matt Kindt, artist Ron Garney, colorist Bill Crabtree, and letterer Clem Robins, BRZRKR tells the story of an eighty-thousand year-old warrior simply known as “B.” B. is half mortal and half god, and is unable to die. As the title of the series suggests, B. recalls berserkers from Old Norse texts who viciously battled in a possessed state, only he’s much more powerful given his Divine parentage. B. has lived through several of human history’s bloodiest battles, lending him a melancholic perspective as he wonders if it possible for him to be seen as anything other than a living weapon.
The second volume of BRZRKR is now available wherever comics are sold, and we sat down with the creative team to discuss the series’ past, present, and future, along with the storytelling decisions that went into this next chapter for B.
BRZRKR is both thematically rich and a pulse-pounding action thriller. What do you think continues to draw people to the series?
Keanu Reeves: Our hope is that people like it. We’ve been trying to have action and also have drama and things to think about. [We want to] be intellectually interesting, logistically engaging, and exciting. And then hopefully have some pathos and love. We’re trying to have the full buffet of storytelling, and hopefully people find it engaging. I will say that we’ve tried to make it propulsive. Each issue does have, like, “Here’s some new information.” But then there’s another question of what’s going to happen next. Matt and I—and you can speak to this, Matt—are really trying to keep it propulsive, but also have four-issue arcs that kind of complete something, and then change again.
Matt Kindt: I was thinking about this the other day. There’s a music issue that we did, issue #5 or whatever, and it was all about music; how music works and the purpose of it. And I thought about how we structured this book in a way where we’re hitting notes, like how a good song hits notes that you like and then creates a pattern. The best songs hit a note and that is unexpected, and then you like that song. We hit that one note that you weren’t expecting, we set you up, and we hit a different note. And I feel like with this series, we’re doing the same thing. We have a lot of things that are familiar tropes, but then we’re setting those up and hitting a different note. I think that every four issues, we’ve hit one. In the last issue, we’re hitting a real big one that I think will be unexpected. Hopefully, people like it.
Keanu Reeves: It ebbs and flows, I think.
To continue with the tropes that it is playing with, what was your philosophy going into this book? It’s part character study, but then it’s also got these violent action scenes, and a lot of world-building going on all at once. How do you balance all these different forces?
Ron Garney: The same way you do in real life. You kind of tailor it to mimic real life that’s always going on around us. All these themes are going on around us every day, and we confront them every day. I just think it’s the attention paid to all these different things, and the trick is getting them in a way that’s organic and make sense and feels right. You can put all these things in. But if they’re not laid in such a creative way, where it feels like it’s a linear part of the story while at same time going back, it can be very confusing. But I don’t think it is, in this case. I think it’s all been very organic. That’s why it feels full; because that’s life.
Keanu Reeves: But also, it’s given us opportunities. They’re all different sandboxes to play in. Here’s the imaginarium; here’s this chase sequence. Here’s an imaginarium; here are two people in a room talking about love.
Ron Garney: And there’s more you could do.
Keanu Reeves: We only get 12 issues, Ron.
Ron Garney: Yes, but what did I say before?
Matt Kindt: You want to do another?
Ron Garney: It’s all ongoing. It doesn’t stop there. There’s too much out there; too much material.
Matt Kindt: You’re saying you want to do 12 more? That’s what I’m hearing.
Ron Garney: I think you do.
That feeds into my next question. Gods are this really important part of the series, and we’re still finding out about B. and his origins and his relationship with his father. Could there possibly be other guys like B. out there, just in terms of all the other various gods that have existed in human history? Is that a possible spin-off we could have in the future?
Keanu Reeves: Sounds good. Volume Two just came out, and Volume One had issues 1 to 4. Volume Two has 5 to 8. We’re halfway through; Ron’s drawing issue #11, and Matt and I are writing issue #12. What you speak about, as a spoiler alert, is not quite where we go in the 12 issues we have. But that’s definitely a good idea.
Definitely something I’d love to see. Volume One of BRZRKR sets up B. as this unstoppable warrior, but then Volume Two delves into his limits in terms of human activities and human life as we see it. What are some things that we can expect from Volume Three? What are other problems for B. down the road?
Keanu Reeves: I think, motif-wise, there’s a synthesis of what you just described. We also develop Diana, the character you’ve seen in Volume Two. Her character goes through some changes. It starts off with her going, “You’re something we don’t understand.” And just as she’s trying to learn and explore and understand the story, she gets involved. It’s been really fun to play with that character and the opportunities of the storytelling. Her story kind of blooms and opens up in a way; it expands, and it’s been really fun. And that continues in issues 9, 10, 11, and 12. In a way, it’s almost her POV.
Matt Kindt: Yeah, it starts to shift, I think. I don’t want to spoil it, but you’re right.
Keanu, what do you get out of writing comics? Would you like to write more comics in the future?
Keanu Reeves: It’s a whole heck of a lot of fun. I love comics, I love characters, I love storytelling, and I love collaborating. This experience of BRZRKR has, in the best way, done all of those things. It’s play, it’s fun, and yet we’re getting to talk about life in the world and our experience. That’s been my thing with it.
Ron Garney: It’s a very cathartic experience, if you’re a deep person. To be able to follow out all of your thoughts and feelings and visions of the past and the future and the present, all into this format. I’m not gonna say it’s therapy, but it’s a cathartic release of a lot of energy in the best way.
Keanu Reeves: What do you think about violence? What is violence, what is love, and what’s connection? Who are we, and where do we come from? What do you want, and why do you want it? What’s power? Hmmm. That’s a perfect way to describe BRZRKR.
BRZRKR Vol. 2 is available now from BOOM! Studios.
