The day you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived — the day you find out there’s going to be a second Shirtless Bear-Fighter miniseries from Jody LeHeup and Nil Vendrell.
And if this is the day you discover there was a first Shirtless Bear-Fighter miniseries, then oh my — what a day to be alive. Image Comics announced the news with a press release filled with an appropriate number of bear puns.
“Shirtless Bear-Fighter is quite possibly the most joyful comic of all time and given the events of the last few years, we could all use some of that joy right now,” LeHeup told ComicBook.com. “So I’m absolutely thrilled to announce Shirtless Bear-Fighter 2. We always said we wouldn’t do more unless we found the right story and boy did we find it. I cannot wait for fans to see what Nil and I have in store. If you thought volume one was wild, you haven’t seen anything yet. Prebear yourselves!”
Here’s the description: FINALLY! The man, the myth, the legend—SHIRTLESS BEAR-FIGHTER RETURNS to the War on Bearror in a wild new action-comedy with higher stakes, new characters, and all the heart and hilarity fans have come to expect. This time, Shirtless’s search for his true origin sets him on a cosmic collision course with the beargod…URSA MAJOR!
And oh yes, there will be variant covers. Back in 2017, when the original miniseries came out, they released a “nude beariant” cover, featuring art by Andrew Robinson. The post I did on it to this day still gets a lot of search traffic, proving that the internet is filled with people looking for nude bears.
There are no nude beariants — yet — but here are variants by Chris Brunner:
And Paolo Rivera:
And, naturally, Daniel Warren Johnson, who takes a bear to Suplex City:
The first issue of Shirtless Bear-Fighter 2 arrives in stores Aug. 17.