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First look: Jeff Lemire and Mike Deodato descend into barbaric times with Berserker Unbound
Spawned from the fertile imagination of Black Hammer's Jeff Lemire and the arresting artwork of longtime Marvel icon Mike Deodato Jr. comes a time-twisting tale of a legendary barbaric warrior lost in our 21st century realm of dizzying digital excess and its bustling modern society.
Dark Horse Comics is unleashing this Eisner Award-winning creative team's Berserker Unbound #1 on Aug. 7, with an epic scope and temporal temptations that drop you straight into a sublime fantasy yarn drenched in sword-spilt blood and furious combat. And now SYFY WIRE has an exclusive peek at its inspiring interior art.
The 4-issue storyline marches confidently into the rousing tale of a merciless barbaric warrior, who finds himself suddenly transported through a mysterious wormhole to a current-day metropolis, where he must protect the planet's innocent residents from a sinister wizard determined to alter reality and send him straight to hell.
Lemire and Deodato previously collaborated back in 2016 on an exceptional Thanos series for Marvel, and here they reteam to launch their creator-owned sword and sorcery miniseries this summer.
Behold this spectacular splash page below by Deodato depicting our hulking, intimidating hero announcing his ruthless reputation to an army of wolf-headed soldiers...
"I wanted to show that Berserker is an unstoppable force of nature," Deodato explains to SYFY WIRE. "A man capable of literally beating an entire army down by himself. I was always fond of heroes that could defeat any enemy no matter how big or numerous they were and that was my chance to do it with a character of mine. I guess my main influence for this scene was a classic one by Hal Foster on Prince Valiant where he fights alone a big number of warriors over a bridge. Also, the entire Frank Frazetta work was a huge influence."
The fierce new project marks Deodato's first non-Marvel work since leaving the House of Ideas after 24 years, and it's also Lemire's first Dark Horse series not revolving around his acclaimed Hammerverse. The premiere issue showcases simmering colors applied by Frank Martin, letters by Steve Wands, and a stark variant cover from Hellboy's Mike Mignola and Dave Stewart.
What are your first impressions of Lemire and Deodato's stirring saga? Will you take the leap and snag a copy when Berserker Unbound #1 strikes Aug. 7?