God of Comics – Shirtless Bear Fighter! #1
Shirtless Bear Fighter! #1 (Image Comics)
We do a lot of deep delving here at Living Myth Magazine. We try to look at the impact and history of characters and story concepts, what they mean in the context of their time and what they add to the living narrative we all exist within. We look at mature comics and comics that are actually mature, comics meant for kids and teens and adults. We dig into the guts of a thing to learn more about a thing. Subtext is everything. Nothing happens in a vacuum and there’s always more to a story than just the story itself.
Except sometimes… sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes there’s just a naked man in the woods who fights bears.
Shirtless Bear Fighter, they call him. They say he was raised by bears after being found in the woods as an infant, already fully bearded. He grew up among the bears, learning their ways, but he was always an outsider due to his human appearance and great bloody strength. He was raised on flapjacks – never pancakes, just flapjacks – and maple syrup. He fought with the bears to protect the land from human greed… but then something happened. A tragedy.
And now?
Now, he fights bears.
Now, he protects us from the bears.
But the bears have come anyway. They cannot be stopped or reasoned with, devil bears that tear through the puny military might of humankind. Only one man can help us and he might not own clothing. Thankfully, he has a bearplane. And a bearhouse. He can, must, and will fight all of the bears. All of the bears.
Somewhere out there, his adoptive brother awaits: Brother Bear. The mightiest bear that ever lived. A terrifying presence with nothing but contempt for humanity. Brother Bear cannot be stopped or reasoned with. Shirtless Bear Fighter is not sure if can protect us from Brother Bear but he will die trying.
Writers Sebastian Girner and Jody LeHeup dare to bring us the comic retelling of the greatest warrior humankind will ever know: a shirtless man who fights bears. Artists Mike Spicer and Nil Vendrell have the courage needed to render every punch, every kick, every German Suplex. Come. Witness. There is much glory to be had in the tale of Shirtless Bear Fighter!