Life in Comics

Berserker Character Bio - Karl Locke

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:18:04 -0700

Karl Locke comes from one of the wealthiest families in America. Locke’s dad made his fortune in aluminum mining, a self made man who spoiled his children with the best of everything - it’s fair to say that no one in Karl’s family ever had to worry about, well, anything. Locke grew up with the best of best - private plans and five star hotels - hating his spoiled friends and feeling doomed to a drab, if not extremely comfortable, life in the family business.

Though he could have easily leaned on his trust fund for a posh lifestyle in perpetuity, he opted out as soon as he was old enough to enlist in the army. He quickly rose in the ranks to become a commissioned Lieutenant. Then, he joined Delta Force - despite the many protests of his father all along the way. After five years as a sniper in Special Forces, with deployments in the Mid-East, Haiti, and the Mediterranean, Karl had his first blackout in action.

It was a simple extraction. Karl had orders to provide cover for a black ops team on a rescue mission: a low-level diplomat who had been kidnapped in South America. Everything had gone as planned as the unit arrived at their rally point. Karl crouched in nearby window watching the scene as Blackhawks hovered low for extraction. Out of nowhere, an RPG ripped through the air towards the chopper. Karl took aim at the back end of the smoke trail, looking to take down the shooter. That’s when he heard a snap and felt a cold shock down his left side.

A week later, he woke up in the sick bay of an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Mexico. His father sat by his bedside (lord knows what favors he had to pull to make it happen). That was the moment that Karl learned about his family’s dark secret. His dad called it “The Devil’s Temper.” Karl’s father had always been fearful of the family abilities, suppressing them with a massive cocktail of anti-anxiety medication and the occasional psychedelic.

Karl couldn’t believe what he was hearing. That someone could have such power and run from it was beyond him. When he learned that the fuselage of the Blackhawk had literally been ripped to pieces like craft paper, he knew he had to exploit this thing inside him and use it to his fighting advantage. That day in the hospital was the last that he ever spoke to his father.

Karl left Delta Force and dedicated his life to the study of Berserker fighting arts. His first breakthrough moment came with the discovery of Midgard, a small compound of Berserkers, working to understand their powers on a plot of land in the heart of a Naskugeisa Indian Reservation. and their philosophy. Total rejection. Poaching of people when he left. First consideration that, if Berserkers are real, then

Prematurely ended his military career when his father died.

His inheritance vested with the passing of his father, making him a billionaire. He sold the family business and bought a sprawling piece of property in Utah with a tiny portion of the proceeds. He built a massive training facility on the land and opened an elite private military contracting company, which he called Asgaard.

A place for people with his ability, where he can train them to become super solders.

Asgaard’s rise was meteoric. Locke brilliantly utilized his connections in the military and private sector, and his high-level security clearance made his crack squad of mercenaries the obvious choice when the US needed distance between their policies and their black-ops missions.

Realization of a greater purpose to his company. His gift and the need to use it to make the world a better place, by hastening it’s rebirth.

Top Cow to give away free copies of Berserker #0 at San Diego Comic-con

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:31:02 -0700

Bad economy keeping you from buying all the comics you want this year? You should let Top Cow win you over - they’ll be giving away both Berserker #0 (a full-on blood-soaked eight page tale complete with tissue-snapping action) and the Cyberforce/Hunter Killer First Look at San Diego Comic-con.

That’s right, free comics for your reading pleasure. And if you show up at the Top Cow booth (#2629) between 4 and 5PM on Friday, I’ll even sign it for you. This whole deal is a “while supplies last” sort of situation, by the way. So, the sooner you get to the Top Cow booth to claim your copy, the better.

You heard it here first, unless you heard it somewhere else already...

CBR Reviews New Book - The Art of Top Cow

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:24:46 -0700

CBR just posted a review of The Art of Top Cow, a beautiful new coffee table book for fans of Mark Silvestri, Michael Turner, Dave Finch, Joe Benitez, Eric Basaldua, Stjepan Sejic and Berserker’s Dale Keown - among others.

It’s a fantastic collection of some of the best artwork Top Cow has ever put out - a must have for any fan. For those who aren’t as familiar, it provides an interesting overview of the brilliant imagery this company is all about.

Fangoria Posts Berserker Milo Ventimiglia Interview

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:06:02 -0700

Milo recently sat down with Fangoria’s Mike Fish to talk a little Berserker, and some HEROES - and even a got into his own PATHOLOGY. I enjoyed reading it a lot. By the way, if you haven’t seen PATHOLOGY, you should give it a Netflix. I saw it a few months ago and thought it was a lot of fun.

Get to Know Your Bad Ass Viking Stuff -- Tyr --

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:49:48 -0700

This week ”Know Your Bad Ass Viking Stuff” takes a look at Tyr, Norse God of single combat, victory, and glory in battle.

Tyr only has one hand, his left hand, though it doesn’t keep him from being known as the definitive god of ass-thumping. “And how did he loose his hand?” you might wonder. Doing something insanely bad ass, how else? Here’s a nice little story about our good friend Tyr:

Fenrir was a giant wolf that everyone knew would kill all the toughest gods at the end of the world, Ragnarok. *a little aside here - the vikings believed everything that is now has been before and will be again, the past is the present and will be the future. Confused yet? All you really need to know is Tyr sports a mustache and mullet. The 80s were not kind to anyone.that they used their faith as a way to get soldiers to stop worrying about dying in battle, it was an effective method of convincing people to do crazy stuff, as is much religious fundamentalism, but I digress...*

As Fenrir grew out of that cute “puppy” stage and into the more disturbing and scary “I’m a horrible wolf-monster that will devour you and your friends” stage, the Gods decided the whole neighborhood would be much better off with a leash law.

So the Gods went out and did what anyone would do in this situation: they had some dwarves make an unbreakable leash out of bird spit and women’s beard hair - seriously, I’m not making this stuff up.

Now the gods had a problem, they had the leash, but how to getDoctor, “Congratulations! It’s a... um... really furry... I’m just gonna step out and give you two a minute to talk this one over.” it on Fenrir... This dog was no average wolf, for starters he could talk just like Mr. Ed and his dad was the god Loki, even if his mom was only a lowly frost giant - by the way, when the doctor pulled a freaking wolf puppy out in the delivery room, it must have been a really awkward moment.

So the gods devised a little strategery, they made a game of it. They were like, “Hey, Fenrir, we have this really fun thing we’re doing. We made this leash and it’s super strong, and we’re all taking bets on whether or not you can break it.” At this point, Fenrir’s thinking, “These people think I’m a dumb ass.” But then the gods called him a bitch and that totally got his macheesemo up. So Fenrir said, “OK, I’ll do it, but only if I get to put one of your hands in my mouth, so I can bite it off in a rage if this is just a big dumb trick.” Why Fenrir didn’t request to put someone’s head in his mouth for maximum bargaining power instead of a hand, we’ll never know - it just happened that way. Don’t over-think it.

I’ll wager you can guess whose hand was selected to be placed in Fenrir’s mouth. I’ll give you a clue: his name rhymes with Tyr and is spelled exactly like Tyr.

So Tyr knowingly gave up his Famous Tyr quote: “Yo wolfy, bite me.”hand, just to put a leash on a dog. You may say that he was stupid. I say, he was bad ass.

Story’s over. Now here’s a brief list of facts you need to know about Tyr that make him totally bad ass -

- Tuesday is actually “Tyr’s Day,” that’s right, you can look it up, he’s just loaning that shit to you each week and he can take it back anytime he wants.
- The rune they named after him is called Tiwaz. Little known fact, but DJ Ti-waz is the name Tyr goes by when he spins in the city.
- Norse folks named a flower after him. One of the most poisonous weeds known to man at the time - Aconitum - Also known as “Devil’s Helmet.” You don’t want to die being poisoned by this stuff - it’s a death by more than an hour of violent vomiting, intestinal numbing, and asphyxiation. Aren’t you jealous that no one’s naming a “death by poop flower” after you?
- Even when the wolf Fenrir was just a baby, Tyr was the only god who had the stones to feed him.
- When Tyr dies, it’s gonna be ugly, he’s doomed to be torn apart by the hell hound Garmr at the end of the world - not, of course, without managing to murder the mutt as well. What is it with this guy and dogs? Someone needs to get Tyr a meeting with Cesar Milan. Exercise, discipline, and affection, my friend.

So now you know...