The Boys : A Team Up’s Comic Corner Special Issue
The Boys: Comic v Season 1
Superheroes are all the rage in pop culture right now and while the masses of our world seem to be immune to superhero fatigue, in the world of Garth Ennis “The Boys” it’s a bit of a different story. Created by Garth Ennis, who created Preacher as well, and Derek Robertson, of Transmetropolitan fame, the comic series is a hyperviolent look at the corrupt world in which real life superheroes live and breathe but also are more often than not the worst that humanity has to offer, and those are just the ones who are supposed to be the good guys. So what do you do when your worlds version of superman is actually a sadistic sexual miscreant who just wants to do whatever he pleases? You call in a black ops C.I.A team with an axe to grind with the so called “heroes” and the resources to keep them in check.
The comic series picks up with the main character Hughie, who in the comic is a middle-aged Scottish nobody as opposed to the shows quiet millennial character, as he is telling his girlfriend how much he loves her for the first time, when a superhero speedster slams into her and leaves him holding two disembodied arms with splashes of her blood on his face. The next panel shows her crushed against a brick wall. While similar to the opening of the show this scene is the perfect example of how the show and comic are different but only in how it presents its violence.
Most of the story beats are the same between the show and comic but the way that it presents both the heroes and the violent acts committed are more grounded. For instance in the comic it is not afraid to embrace the more fantastic ways that a person can die or be eviscerated by these heroes and their powers but in the show it takes a much more grounded and scientifically accurate way that a body would turn into a bloody mist when slammed into at hundreds of miles an hour instead of just becoming a mangled pile of bones that the comic would show. Because of this in many ways the show may be more brutal with its killings than the comic is. Well until the comic shows you certain hero types fucking things to literal death. They seem to be leaving that part out of the show.
For any one who has read Ennis’ work you know that things often get very sexual. Preacher was a great example of this with characters having their bits and pieces removed in creative ways but The Boys comic takes this to a whole new level. Especially if you read the first spinoff story of The Boys called Herogasm, a short 6 issue special. Lets just say it gets very in-depth with how some heroes like to spend their more intimate moments.
But this show and the comics are not just about sex and violence, there are some amazing characters that have been introduced in the show and others that I cant wait for them to bring to the live action. Since this is a commentary on the way the world would treat superheroes if they were real, comics are a huge part of this show. Each hero has a comic that tells a perfect version of their exploits, leaving out the civilian casualties instead of telling the real story to the masses. Because of this emphasis on comics one of the best characters in the comic that I cant wait to come to live action is the Legend. Part jack Kirby, part made man, all old crotchety man he might be one of the best characters put to page for this series.
The characters that make up The Boys are also all slam dunks but to really get into what makes them great would ruin a lot of what both mediums have to offer in the way of story. but I will say that they couldn’t have gotten a better actor to play Billy Butcher, the leader of The Boys, Karl Urban really shines in this in ways his previous roles never let him.
With Even Goldberg and Seth Rogan producing the show you know they wont pull any punches if they don’t have to, and under the showrunner Eric Kripke (Supernatural), the show is in great hands. I for one am glad that Amazon have taken a really hands off approach to this show and given the creative team room to make something really special, in an interview with Kripke he said there was only ever one scene that amazon said “Fuck No” to and it involved a certain character jerking off the top of a building onto the citizens of New York City just because he can.
All in all I highly recommend this show to any one with a dark sense of humor or who want a more adult take on the superhero genre as a whole. You will not be disappointed with the time you sink into either reading this series or watching the show or both. Just maybe don’t watch or read it while eating dinner. That’s all for today, leave your thoughts in the comments and any other comics that you think deserve the spotlight in the coming weeks! See you next week and don’t be afraid to crease the corners on a good panel!
Interested in checking out the series? You can find the comics and the show in the links below.
| Graphic Novels | TV Show (HD + 4K) |