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Kultura / Culture

BRZRKR has arrived An immortal warrior who fights his way through the ages The first issue of this comic series, entitled “War Without End, Man Without Borders”, which has been created and co-written by Keanu Reeves, is the best-selling original comic of the 21 st century A man known only as B. is half-mortal and half-god, cursed and compelled to violence. After wandering the world for centuries, B. may have finally found a refuge – work- ing for the U.S. government, fighting bat- tles that are too dangerous and too violent for anyone else. In return, B. will receive the only thing he desires – the truth about his endless, blood-soaked life... And how he can end it. The name B. is actually short for Brzrkr or the comic book name of the movie hero that is Keanu Reeves! Best known for the films John Wick and The Matrix, this actor makes his comic book writing debut alongside New York Times bestselling co-writer Matt Kindt and renowned art- ist Ron Garney (Wolverine, Captain America) in this bru- tally violent new 12-issue series about an immortal warri- or fighting his way through the ages. BRZRKR is the most expensive comic ever to appear on the Kickstarter plat- form, but also the best-selling original comic series of the last 25 years. It sold in 650,000 copies over the course of just three days when it was released a few months ago. “Creating and participating in the writing of the BRZRKR comic was a very exciting experience, as I’ve been a fan of comics since childhood and they had a strong ar- tistic influence on my career. We created 12 installments of the comic series about an immortal man, with a cursed power that pushes him to violence, as he searches for mean- ing in the chaos that surrounds him. And the violence? I’m cursed and forced to constantly be an undying her- ald of death,” says Reeves, whose likeness is carried by the main character, B. How does this man whose private life is literally the stuff of urban legends, this Hollywood gentleman, who waives his royalties, takes time to think of the less privi- leged, eats while sitting on steps and rides the subway, suc- ceed in convincingly presenting stories in which, despite being motivated by good, violence represents his first and most basic motive? Perhaps it’s precisely because of that contradiction of a perfect face that’s studied as an example of proportion and beauty, and the fact that he looks good when killing a thousand baddies without breaking a sweat.

Whatever the reason, Keanu doesn’t disappoint even in the comic world. Leaping into battle and making a se- ries of lightning-fast executions of enemies with his bare hands, often very bloodily, immediately provide insight into what the main character is capable of doing. Yes, he’s indestructible and uncontrollable in action. Hence the ref- erence to the berserkers of Old Norse mythology. Some authors have suggested that these warriors drew their strength from bears and that they had a tendency to ex- perience bouts of frenzied madness during battle, literal- ly going berserk. They would howl like wild beasts, foam at the mouth and bite, and were purportedly immune to steel and fire. When the frenzy would relent, they be- came tame and thus persisted in Norse sagas, and now also in comics. Even prior to the release of the first issue, it had already been announced that the series would be adapted for the screen by Netflix, with Reeves playing the lead role, while work is also underway on an anime series based on the comic. The ink hasn’t even dried on the paper and there’s already confirmation of these two screen adaptations, so there’s no doubt that video games and spinoffs will also follow. The first country outside the U.S. to buy the rights to this series was Serbia, and the first issue of the Serbian version of the comic, published by System Comics, was presented at the recent International Belgrade Book Fair. Keanu has once again shown that everything he touch- es turns to gold, while also shutting up all those who sug- gest that the days of printed comics are numbered. That’s because BRZRKR is selling like hot cakes!

Kijanu Rivs se vraća i u još jednom

nastavku Džona Vika. „Poglavlje 4“ u bioskopima je od 24. marta 2023. Keanu Reeves is also returning in the latest instalment of the film series John Wick. Chapter 4. arrives in cinemas on 24 th March 2023

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