Early Tuesday, BOOM! Studios announced it was taking BRZRKR to Kickstarter. The series from Hollywood A-lister Keanu Reeves hit the crowdfunding service hoping to raise $50,000 in funds. Written by Reeves and Matt Kindt and featuring the artwork of Ron Garney, the campaign has reached its goal in record time; surprising few, the Kickstarter is now well beyond its goal as it has raised just under $245,000 as of this writing.
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While BOOM! plans to release single issues of the 12-issue series through traditional channels, it launched the Kickstarter in hopes of helping to fund an elaborate trade paperback collection. In fact, only collected editions are available through the crowdfunding effort, the cheapest of which is a softcover offering of all three trades for $50. Packages then go all the way up to $2,499 and feature different trade covers, binding options, and more.
If you purchase the most expensive package at $2,499, you’ll get drawn into one of the issues of the comic and receive the Kickstarter-exclusive “Platinum Immortal” box set.
When ComicBook.com spoke with BOOM! head Ross Ritchie for our exclusive reveal of the ckstarted on Tuesday, the long-time comic executive made sure to point out the series was going to happen whether or not the campaign was successful. Rather, the company is hoping to introduce the title to a whole new audience, one that might not make its way into comic stores.
“I’m going to give you, after the headline, what the big quote is,” Richie told ComicBook.com. “And the big quote is, ‘We’re not Kickstarting BRZRKR.’…We’re not raising money; we’ve got the money for it. I’ve been talking to retailers — big direct market retailers — about this. When you think, okay, you have Keanu Reeves, you can get somebody who’s never read a comic book before to read it for the first time.”
The synopsis for the title is below.
“A man known only as Berzerker is half-mortal and half-God, cursed and compelled to violence…even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the world for centuries, Berzerker may have finally found a refuge – working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, Berzerker will be granted the one thing he desires – the truth about his endless blood-soaked existence…and how to end it.”
