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Keanu Reeves’ comic book series BRZRKR has been a breakout hit for the creator — along with collaborators Matt Kindt, Ron Garney, Bill Crabtree, and Clem Robins — and Boom! Studios alike, going beyond the initial 12-issue series into special issues by guest writers and artists, as well as entirely different media, with live-action and animated Netflix projects in the works and a prose novel just released. At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Boom! Studios’ Stephen Cristy recalled Reeves’ original pitch for the property, which clarifies just how early it was that the idea was going to work.

In a panel that looked forward to the next full series by the core creative team of Reeves, Kindt and Garney — BRZRKR: The Lost Book of B, launching in August 2024 — Cristy, the president of development at Boom! Studios and Reeves talked about their earliest meetings surrounding the series, including the fact that Reeves hadn’t even been thinking of the property as a comic, initially. (Reeves remembered being surprised the idea of a comic was even suggested, until he realized that Boom! is primarily a comic book publisher.)

Cristy said that Reeves had an initial pitch that was undeniable, even before he got into the specifics about an eternal warrior seeking to find an answer to the question of whether he could even die in the first place.

“I always remember when Keanu first came in, and you were talking about the character,” Cristy told the crowd. Turning to Reeves, he continued, “You said, ‘I did kung fu in The Matrix, I did gun-fu in John Wick, and now I want to create a new, more violent style in something new.”

Who could deny that? Apparently no-one; in addition to The Book of Elsewhere, the brand new prose novel co-written by Reeves and China Miéville, BRZRKR is currently in development as a movie and animated series at Netflix — and, as Boom! Studios’ editor-in-chief Matt Gagnon revealed at the panel, there are four additional comic book special issues in the works to expand the mythology even further.

The jury may still be out about whether or not B will ever be able to die — but it looks like BRZRKR will live on for quite some time. Keep your eyes on Popverse for an interview with Reeves, Kindt, and Garney about the series very soon.

Get a fuller San Diego Comic-Con experience with a full rundown of our SDCC 2024 stories, as well as all the big SDCC 2024 news, how to make the most out of San Diego Comic-Con, and the real burning question: how much does it actually cost to go to SDCC?