Keanu Reeves is no stranger to action stories (or comic books, as an early collector). As the star of The Matrix franchise playing Neo, he learned kung-fu (woah!) and fought his way through a simulated dystopian world. And let’s not forget his role as John Wick, a retired hitman who takes revenge on some bad guys (a fourth chapter is apparently in production, and well as a fourth Matrix, but that’s a different story).
Now, Reeves is putting his talents into another project about an immortal warrior known as Berzerker. He trades knowledge about his origin to fight on behalf of the U.S. government. But Reeves won’t be the on-screen personality for this role. That’s because it’s a comic book/graphic novel series (which is a first for him). Reeves is a co-writer of the BRZRKR series along with Matt Kindt and artist Ron Garney, as well as other big-name talents Bill Crabtree and Clem Robins.
Kickstarter Campaign Touted as ‘Pre-Order’
The Kickstarter page for the project says BRZRKR will be released in “12 epic comic book chapters and collected in 3 beautiful graphic novel volumes, each containing 4 comic book chapters (issues).” The campaign allows people to “pre-order” the graphic novels, which will amount to 384 pages of action and blood (and a great storyline promised by Reeves through a video on the Kickstarter page). Volume 1 is scheduled to be released in September 2021, with Volume 2 set for April 2022 and Volume 3 aimed at September 2022.
The effort is a collaboration between BOOM! Studios and Reeves. “When we partnered with Keanu Reeves on his first comic book, we knew we had an amazing opportunity to reach new audiences. We’re excited to join forces with Kickstarter to introduce people who have never read a comic book or bought a graphic novel to the endless world of storytelling possibilities of comics,” reads the site.
Blowback from the Art World
There has been some grumbling from industry professionals about a big studio using Kickstarter to fund the project. Some of them took to Twitter to voice their dismay, including artist Kate Farina, who is a former She-Ra animator. “How is using a platform meant for people to KICK START projects they can’t afford okay for a company who admits they don’t need the money? I can only assume it’s to pay their artists living wages in the future,” she tweeted.
However, as pointed out by the team producing the novels, the goal is to get people who would otherwise never have come across these novels in a comic book store to get their hands on them.
Special Editions for Backers
Also, those who back the project on Kickstarter can get special versions. For $50, backers get the three graphic novel softcover editions, while the next tier ($75) gets the “Kickstarter exclusive, limited edition” softcovers. For $99, backers get all three novels in hardcover, while Tier 4 gets all three exclusives in hardcover. There are several higher tiers – for example, Tier 10 is $2,499 and includes a cameo appearance in one of the issues. But sadly it’s sold out. The campaign includes eight “stretch goals” to unlock new special features.
Keanu Reeves Comic Book Campaign Continues to Amass Backers
As of Sept. 22, the campaign had already topped more than CA$1.2 million of the stated $66,528 goal. It has 9,157 (sorry, make that 9,173 and counting) backers and nine days left in the campaign.
That’s definitely something to “woah” about.
