End of match, one punch man style

I think Burk might be the natural enemy of Goldman. From the way the gold bullet affected the Shader, I think it turns a person's own aura/spirit armor against them. Since Burk doesn't HAVE spirit, the bullets pretty much have nothing to hit. Take a look at the magic minion. His bullets seem to be putting holes in it. The reason it doesn't wreck it is either cause it's made of Goldman's aura...OR because it has no physical body to be turned against.

I don't think Goldman is going to win this one.

The look on Goldman's face. Perfect.

Burk's smile in panel 2 is surprising. Has he grown a new tooth to replace the one the pirate of the storm knocked out?

Oh come on, Goldman, you really didn't notice in twelve minutes of trying to shoot him?

Hé is shooting holes in his own golden clone.

I've been kinda interested in the idea that Burk is from outside of that world, entering it like Tobi entered a world near Lorg. Burk and Tobi have these traits in common: incredible strength and abilities; don't use "magic" or "spirit" (at least, as recognized by in-universe people); world contains Magilante; seem to lack knowledge of basic geopolitics that anyone growing up in the world would know; references to RPG adventure-party-building (Burk's plan to form a party; Tobi with her friends near the start of her story).

In Tobi's arc, we get a few hints of people trying to exploit this. Primarily the guy who opened the temple-in-the-desert that Tobi entered in the first place (after stealing weapons from Tobi's town) and then the oddities trying to recruit Tobi (www.neorice.com/hoh_1003) before leading her to the Smile Foundation.

In Burk's arc, Burk does reference people being able to be granted powers (which came up in a discussion about "Moe the Shifter"'s backstory). So could Heroland be minting heroes by exploiting the phenomena behind Burk and Tobi?

Goldman's reaction in this strip seems to suggest that, despite being a mid-tier "hero" of Heroland (Whitestar rookie) and "strategist" (he seems a bit short-sighted for a strategist!) who has the ability to read "spirit mastery" of those around him, he's genuinely baffled by Burk's nature. Which.. I guess kinda shoots down the theory about Heroland minting heroes in that way, as it'd be hard for Goldman to have not noticed non-magical heroes before. Plus, if he knew anything about this, he may've suspected that Burk would've been one such hero, as he suspected Burk of being an agent of the Heroland Top.

Yeah, I know.. lots of speculation.. but it's fun! =P

I'm sticking with my take on Goldman's ability: It doesn't have to do with spirit, it has to do with Goldman's chances of winning; the lower his chances of victory, the lower his chances of successfully landing a hit, which further lowers his chances of victory. Or, in Burkian terms; 0% victory chance vs Burk = 0% accuracy vs Burk.

That IS a great face though. Neat detail with the glare in the glasses looking like pupils, too. Goldman is gonna need to spam Emergency Escapes to avoid getting his face punched in from now on.

As VI would say: Let's get to the punchline!

Oh, yeah!

Go Burk, smash his dumb pompadour!

:D Well! That happens if you rely too much on your magical powers! xD

And of course, even Goldman's reaction is gold. It's just the way of Goldman.

Looking back through the archive, Burk appears to have regrown his lost tooth between comics 1577 and 1578.

So rather than being something of consequence, it is probably down to simple art mistake.

Nani!?

@storm :
If burk is from outside the world, how do you explain the "partial match" and "classified info" on him, when asking wu-chas?

I am now wondering whether Goldman has a "Golden Tooth" ability. Though this doesn't explain Burk's dental recovery since, well, the reappearing tooth is not golden.
So, either it is an art mistake, or Burk's abilities actually include regeneration.

@Storm
You might be on to something. His adventurous attitude matches that idea, along with his peculiar mode of entrance into the story.

That raises some interesting questions about Burk's family. We know he has a brother who fought with him and is presumably just as strong, and a mother with an apron bearing the symbol of a major criminal organization...

If they entered this world as a family, I could see someone more ruthless than Burk founding a major crime ring.

Regardless of their origin, I'm betting Burk's own family members will be the first time we see him truly nervous or defeated

Here's my theory as to Burk's origin.

I think Burk is an anti-mage weapon. Maybe created by the Global Order or the Oceanic Cartel.

I was looking back through the Pirate of the Storm fight and noticed something on 851. Ariara suddenly starts referring to Burk in quotes. "Burk". Says she has no chance against someone like him. The way she's talking, she figured something out about his origin. But here's the weird thing. On 852, Burk seems to have no clue what she's going on about.

It's possible the "from another world" idea supports this, and Burk just isn't aware he's special. But my personal guess is that he's a creation that someone raised like a person instead of a weapon. Not married to the theory, I think other theories are just as possible, but it's fun to think about.

Sorry, pg 925 and 926

How the heck did I mess that up?

@burkfan:

Regarding the partial-match, seems like Wu-Cha did recognize that Burk was somehow enough of a hero to pass security. But Wu-Cha couldn't find Burk's full history -- which makes sense if Burk didn't have a history-file to find.

Regarding the 803 files, those were after Burk had encountered the first Wu-Cha, beat Logan Alexander, and went on some high-profile adventures. If Heroland's now classifying everything related to Burk, then that may include files about other characters (even minor character, like town guards or bandits) that Burk's interacted with, Heroland execs emailing each other about Burk, spy reports on Burk, etc.. So the 803 might contain info about Burk from before he fell from the sky, but there're a lot of ways that Burk could've accumulated tons of files in his relatively short career, too.

All that said... Burk's a calamity. He has to be setting a world-record for grabbing everyone's attention as quickly as possible. In his short time there, he's done everything from defeat heroes/villains to dance on stage to using a mayor as a club to streaking through a castle full of guards trying to stop him. He's now got tons of major characters pursuing him, apparently a major interest of the Heroland Top, and.. well, point being that if Burk's done this much in such a short time, how could he have been in that world for long if he was unknown at the start of Chapter 1?

@Storm - I don't think it's that Burk was unknown at the start of the story, I think it's that he was unknown in that area. For all we know, there are a dozen cities that don't want him back.

If you're referring to the partial match he got from Wu-Cha, that may have been because he isn't officially recognized as a hero, but has special status with Heroland regardless.

My theory all along hasn't been Burk being from another world, but rather, that the brother he trained against is actually the world's number one hero, which would explain why he's so freakishly strong. It might also explain why he fell from the sky - maybe they had a full-power training match before Burk set out, and Burk got sent flying so far that he ended up in a different country!

People who compare Burk to Three or Tobi are clearly wrong. It should be pretty clear that Burk is most similar to Noah. I mean after all, Neorice has confirmed that Burk is in fact a teenager. This would be conflicting with the answer in the Q&A, but hear me out: I'm pretty certain that's a red herring. Also, I'm pretty sure that Burk is from the 'normal world', and not another world like Tobi. I mean, we know Burk came from 'the sky', and this world also has a sky. Too much of a coincidence if you ask me...

@Insider information: For me Burk is not similar to Noah.
Noah is on a training quest, and is aware of the context around him (a fascist world).
Tobi is already trained and her powers are quite unique, but she does not know at all the world she got sucked in and is quite naive... for now.

Burk is already well trained and does not learn much in his quest. He just wants to become a true hero. He already knows the world around him (knowing that magic users can be trained artificially, knowing not to attack transformed golems, etc..)

I still bank on Burk being similar in nature at least somewhat to the Royal Guard of Justopia. Both are specifically non magical in nature and both are capable of incredible feats. We don't know exactly what kind of threats the Royal Guard can take on, but I assume it to at least somewhat high in order for Justopia to continue to exist while being considered the enemy of most of the world, and with individuals with powers like the ones in the most wanted list existing. It's also possible then that the strictly non magical nature of the Guard is not widely known outside Justopia (or possibly just not widely believed) which may give fighters like them and Burk an advantage. It's clear that this kind of thing is rare at the very least.

@Sporf My theory is actually quite similar to yours, I think that both the Royal Guards and Burk have the sort of technique/secret that allows them to disable and fight mages one on one. A theory of mine is that Erin, the Royal Guard Trainer is actually Burk's sister. If you take a good look at them, they're similar enough in design to start raising my eyebrows.

I doubt that Burk himself is from another world, because how in the world would he know about artificial magic users, and the oceanic cartel? He wouldn't.

@Sporf This is also somewhat supported by their fighting styles. Both Burk and the Royal Guard focus primarily on dodging, often ending battles with a single power strike after their opponent is thoroughly confused. They’re hardly infallible - Ariara gave Burk a hard time and the Royal Guard never did catch her - but they’re more than a match for most magic users.

I'm very curious if Burk's seeming magic immunity is in any way related to those Black Crystals that we saw in action when Noah and the Royal Guard caught the Malhart kids.

It doesn't seem likely that he simply has a crystal, since their powers still seem to activate fine, he's just immune to them. I can't help but think there must be a connection there.

I'm also starting to wonder if we've ever actually seen Burk take a hit from a purely magic attack - so not something like a spirit-boosted punch or Ariara's magically controlled swords. Stuff like Piper's fire, Logan's wind, and now Goldman's bullets. Has he really been dodging them 100%, or is he just immune and pretending the dodge was important?

I'm so thoroughly intrigued.

@Storm Did Burk use a mayor as a club in HoH? I know he did in APtGG, but I think that's one of the events that got removed in the reboot.

If the next few frames are obscured with visceral red blobs. I will be happy.

@Pheristroch
Ariara said that Burk was the strongest hitter yet, and we know they’re either an accomplished spirit user or have something passive, with how fast she got out of the gold statue.
I think either Burk is just really dang strong and heavy enough, which the weighted balls in his backpack support the idea of, or is able to pierce spirit based defense.
Also, about the gold statue, it looks like Ariana had a golden crown on her head, and attention was drawn to the fact that it wasn’t attached to her statue.
@storm I don’t think Burk is from the exact same world as tobi, Burk is much taller than Pablo. Also, the world Tobi came from has implicitly been referenced as a Game World, while Burk has been doing a Journey Of Heroes.

@Brilliand: Not on screen but the fact he did is still referenced: http://neorice.com/hoh_463