The Boys, Volume 1: The Name of the Game

I'm having very bad luck with comics this year. First "Saga", then "Invincible", and now "The Boys". All of them had interesting stories to tell and maybe if I stuck with it they would've been worth the time eventually, but they each rubbed me the wrong way in one way or another.
With "The Boys", it was the relentless chasing after dark/edgy material that annoyed me. It seemed like every character (except the two innocent newcomers) was introduced with some sort of twisted, selfish, violent sexual act.
I don't necessarily mind dark content...as long as it's serving the story, as long as I care about the characters. The Sandman's "24/7" is *super* dark, but Neil Gaiman took the time to introduce everyone - show us their fears and desires, show more make us root for (or against) them. I don't care about anyone in "The Boys". They're just a bunch of gross, evil people making each other miserable and we barely get into why they hate each other so much.
I watched a few scenes from the TV adaptation of the story, and it looks like they've refined story quite a lot. Some of the evil comes out more as a slow build, which adds tension. Some characters are made a little more charming, and with a more coherent moral code. I'd rather read that story. show less

This is a short, sharp introduction to a world of dichotomies. Set against the bright and glamourous lifestyle of America's superheroes, 'The Boys' are a group of ordinary down to earth (yet manically violent) citizens who police the actions of the superheroes to make the world a better place. Shocking, disturbing and hilariously funny, Ennis has outdone himself with this one.

Here's the thing about Garth Ennis. His graphic novels are violent, gratuitous, foul and occasionally teeth-jarringly juvenile (in an adults-only sex and gore kind of way) but still oddly readable. This is the first volume in the tale of a special CIA group (essentially a bunch of psychotic thugs) whose aim is to hold super-hero groups accountable. And of course the super-heros are all seedy, lying, cheating, greedy perverts. And they get what's coming to them, apparently. Of course while I'm reading this, I'm wondering, okay so there needs to be a secret group to watch the watchmen, but, umm... who watches the watchmen watchers? (No one apparently).

You have to leave your sensibilities at the door. In an Ennis story, there are no insults carefully coached in PG-acceptable cussing. There is nothing off limit. The sex is violent and the violence is ugly. Don’t get me wrong, there are some really funny moments, in that “oh Goddess I can’t believe I laughed at that” kind of way. One involves a hamster.

Open to a double page. On the left, a man is getting his head squarely kicked in by a pair of big black boots. On the right, a big hulking man in black sits relaxing on a bench in Washington, looking like he owns the world and everything in it. He watches a group of super powered beings fly overhead. He has a smirk on his face when he says “I’m gonna ******’ have you. You show more ****.”

It’s obvious from page one that this man is dangerous. He owns every room he walks into. He has that air of Londoner menace about him – he could be in one of the Firms tearing up a pub after a football match. But what he’s doing now is getting the band back together, and you can bet that while maybe no one can out-menace him, you don’t want to meet the kind of people he’d recruit.

That was my first impression of Butcher. It’s when you meet the people he’s fighting, the people behind the masks, that you finally realise why it takes someone like Butcher and the Boys to keep them in line.

The Boys is the story of the CIA-backed team who monitor the world’s exploding population of super-powered beings. They watch, they control and they sometimes take them out.

Volume 1 follows Butcher seeking out the rest of his team, including a new addition: Wee Hughie, who sees the love of his life brutally killed by a super powered being, and looks suspiciously like Simon Pegg.
We also meet the people behind the super-hero masks, as naïve Starlight leaves the Young Americans (a teenage superhero group who attend events such as “Capes for Christ”) and signs on with the Seven – Ennis’ answer to the Justice League.

As always, Garth Ennis delivers a brutal look at a world we think we know, a world that will never be the same again. Darick Robertson backs this up with some intense, dark art.

Some part of me feels like I should condemn the book for it’s treatment of female characters… But I can’t. There are strong women in this book, and there are messed up women. There’s a member of the Boys known as “The Female” who is a whole other kind of crazy and can clearly hold her own. Then there’s the young Starlight. The female members of the Seven look like typical female superheroes, all big breasts and long legs. This isn’t a coincidence, just think of the depictions of Power Girl over the years. Comics have traditionally been aimed at teenage boys, and this is reflected in the presentation of the female characters. It’s only in the last decade or so that the Big Two publishers have acknowledged that female fans exist – and they still have far to go.

The female superheroes in The Boys are a reflection of the “real” female superheroes.
Another reason I can’t condemn this book is that some dark part of me looks forward to seeing more of the perverse, more depravity, more violence, and I’ll own those feelings.

I love it.

http://annikisbookcase.com/2013/04/the-boys-vol-1/ show less

Garth Ennis can rot in hell. I used to be a huge fan of his in the late 1990's, when I was around 20 years old. This is the first time I've read him since about Y2K, and, well, I grew up and he didn't. He still writes like he's 14 years old. The idea of The Boys is wonderful: people taking down superheroes who treat the world like their playground. But my god, Garth is homophobic as hell. His favorite jokes are the kind involving two men sleeping together. In this book, a superhero is forced to leave a team because he's gay. That's such bullshit. That's not the America we live in anymore. The world has changed, but Garth Ennis hasn't. And when he's not being homophobic, he's being awful towards women and writing terrible sex jokes.

Ennis show more has talent. I'd never say otherwise. But until he grows up, I won't be reading him again. show less

Superhero farce. It's fun, don't get me wrong. Corporate sponsorships, widespread adulation, and a government that needs and fears them. And yet the heroes are insensitive, oversexed louts, with too much power (financial and political as well) and practically no restraints (moral, legal, or physical). Enter the boys, also superpowered, also working for the government (sort of) and also insensitive (at least Butcher, Frenchie and The Female seem to be sociopaths), oversexed (Butcher probably) and also superpowered. Their clandestine job is to punish the public superheroes who step over the line. Like Batman to the nth degree, they work in the shadows and are outside the law. Yet they think they're the good guys. It's pretty tough to see show more the differences. And of course, there are all kinds of parallels with current U.S. policies in the real world. Alan Moore asked the right question over 20 years ago-- "Who watches the watchmen?" This book sort of shows you the answer, and it isn't pretty. show less

Should I have been surprised that Garth Ennis came to the table with another wild, violent, sex-crazed and outlandish tale that made me chuckle throughout? Yeah, I don't know why either, but I was. I enjoyed The Boys a lot and am looking forward to reading more. Thank you Mr. Ennis for coming to the table with well written adult content. It's very appreciated.