Unute was born to kill and never die. For millennia, he wandered the earth, watching everyone else die around him. After being used by the military as a weapon, Unute, called B, looked for a way to finally die and where he came from while Caldwell searched for a way to clone him. Now, both of them have gotten what they want. Unute is finally mortal, and Caldwell has a clone army of Berserker clones.
The brainchild of writers Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt, with artwork by Ron Garney, colors by Bill Crabtree and letters by Clem Robins, BRZRKR #12 brings the smash-hit series from Boom! Studios to its showstopping conclusion. With Caldwell’s plan put into action, Unute teams up with Diana, now part of the Purpose, to play his role as killing machine once more, pitting former Berserker against a legion.
From the beginning, the tale of Unute, an ancient, ageless killing machine literally incapable of dying, gripped readers with its blend of cosmic horror, ultra violence, and meditations on death. During its latter chapters, the focus shifted to his relationship with Diana, Caldwell’s insidious hidden agenda, and Unute confronting his own feelings regarding his mother’s death. BRZRKR #12 brings the focus back to the action, with Caldwell as the head of a fanatical cult of Berserkers. This conflict comes at both the best and worst time, to great effect. Unute has already achieved his goal of humanity and mortality, rid of the “gift” of the Purpose he was born with, so his having to save the world against the very thing he fought against is a fitting and satisfying arc for his character.
However, for readers expecting a clear, concise conclusion, BRZRKR #12 doesn’t quite deliver — at least not at face value. Writers Reeves and Kindt leave a lot to the reader’s imagination after the dust settles. The initial battle with Unute, Diana, and Caldwell has a swift and surprising conclusion, leaving the rest of the issue to pick up the pieces. BRZRKR #12 has a major role reversal between the now mortal Unute and Diana, and their relationship is heartbreaking, with Kindt and Reeves capturing the vulnerability and tenderness between the pair, simmering just under the surface in this bloodbath of a series. BRZRKR #12 focuses on the legacies the characters leave behind, particularly the Berserker power that is now loose in the world, thanks not only to Caldwell’s cult and his genetic experiments, but because of Diana and Unute. In a blood-drenched story where death has been painted as the desired endgame, BRZRKR #12 ends as happily as it possibly could have.
Even though the violence is portrayed in short intervals, BRZRKR #12 in no way loses the edge of the previous issues. Artist Ron Garney’s grimy style, with scrambled, raw-edged inked lines, crackles with intensity and energy. It captures everything from distended entrails, and blood perfectly, which pairs nicely with Bill Crabtree’s colors. BRZRKR #12 is rendered in cool, smoky tones, with pops of red throughout to represent blood and rage, and crackling black, white and electric blue to evoke the power of the Purpose. The visuals create a world of muddy darkness, war-torn gore and supernatural wonder pit against calm, mundane atmosphere, all framed by ample breathing room for Clem Robins’s lettering.
Despite ending with more questions than answers, BRZRKR #12 is a fitting conclusion to Unute’s story, providing the thrills, violence and human vulnerability that made the series so beloved, while leaving things ambiguous enough to pique the fandom’s interest.
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