He does comedy. He does kick-arse action. He does dramatic readings. He plays guitar. Hell, we wouldn’t be surprised if he still goes surfing sometimes. And now, Keanu Reevers ” movie star, cultural icon, genuinely cool dude ” can add “comic book writer” to his enviable resumé.
Reeves’ 12-issue series, created with co-writer Matt Kindt and artist Alessandro Vitti, is titled BRZRKR, and it’ll be out monthly starting in October. Publisher Boom Studios shared this tantalising cover image:
USA Today got the scoop on the reveal, including the pretty obvious information that BRZRKR‘s main character is deliberately drawn to resemble the actor. He already sounds a lot like a Reeves movie character based on the description too: “a warrior…who has walked a blood-soaked path across the world for centuries…in present day, the Berzerker does dangerous jobs for the U.S. government in exchange for the truth about his existence.” It’s fitting, because the character (who’s also described as having a good sense of humour, as well as being fluent in multiple languages) came directly from Reeves’ imagination.
You may recall just yesterday we discussed the publisher being involved in a new comics imprint with Universal, which itself is primed for adaptation treatment. Keanu’s involvement here came after a meeting about potential live-action collaborations with Boom Studios, and you can easily see BRZRKR making the leap to the big screen (or more likely Netflix, given its existing partnership with Boom) one day with you-know-who playing the lead.
Any sort of filmed project has yet to be confirmed, though BRZRKR the comic book sounds like a thrill ride all its own. According to co-writer Kindt, their partnership has been lively and productive, even if it’s been mostly over Skype for obvious reasons. With Reeves focusing on “the action and the backstory of the characters,” Kindt says he’s been able to bring “my fascination for history, conspiracies and espionage into the mix along with a fragmented narrative structure.”
The first issue of BRZRKR will be out October 7; head over to USA today for more details and some more artwork reveals, too.