Comics Roundup #41: The Boys, Vol. 1

The Boys, Vol. 1: The Name of the Game by Garth Ennis, illus. by Darick Robertson with colors by Tony Aviña

Genre:

Sci-fi

Series:

The Boys

Pubbed:

2007

Goodreads summary:

THIS IS GOING TO HURT! In a world where costumed heroes soar through the sky and masked vigilantes prowl the night, someone’s got to make sure the “supes” don’t get out of line. And someone will. Billy Butcher, Wee Hughie, Mother’s Milk, The Frenchman and The Female are The Boys: A CIA backed team of very dangerous people, each one dedicated to the struggle against the most dangerous force on Earth — superpower. Some superheroes have to be watched. Some have to be controlled. And some of them — sometimes — need to be taken out of the picture. That’s when you call in THE BOYS. (Goodreads)

My thoughts:

Umm, wow! I wasn’t expecting this. Dark, gritty, totally thrilling, and a bit twisted, The Boys kept me at the edge of my seat wondering what will happen next.

I got curious about it a while back because many people I knew were talking about the show on Amazon, which I want to watch but can’t because I don’t have Prime and don’t intend to pay for Prime. BUT I REALLY WANT TO WATCH THE SHOW!! Especially after reading this comic book because OH MY GOSH! WOW!

When I was told that it’s about superheroes behaving badly, I didn’t expect it to be to this degree.  I thought it would be some PG stuff, like a superhero pushes the boundaries a little, like Iron Man often does in the Avengers movies. You know, little stuff like that. I didn’t expect them to totally decimate a dude’s girlfriend and act like it’s nothing (and btw, that scene blew me away because of how the panels are set out and especially because I was using the guided view on my Ipad, which I read the comic book on; that was dope!!) or to use their great power and influence to sexually abuse a person. I mean, wow, yo! This story is about superheroes behaving VERY badly, like in the worst ways you can imagine (see, that’s what my friends and co-workers should have told me “in the worst ways you can imagine”), and the individuals who are intent on policing them.

I get the impression that there are no good guys in this story, or that things aren’t starkly good or bad. My assumption is that everyone in this story is a bad guy, which is okay because I’m so interested in seeing what happens next. This is probably horrible to say, but it’s the gruesome action scene (when that one superhero bulldozed homeboy’s girlfriend and the dude was left with just her hands. Just. Her. Hands.) that hooked me to the story. I was like wow! I didn’t expect it to do that. And then when the superheroes propositioned the newcomer. Again another shock. I had to see how these guys would be knocked down. I mean, someone needs to get back at them for that.

Another reason why this story appealed to me is that I’ve always wondered what if a superhero had a totally skewed moral compass and was not the good person everyone assumed the superhero to be. How would that story go? So I am thrilled to have read this twisted story, and I will certainly continue with it. Hopefully I’ll figure out a way to watch the show too.

Art style:

Ahhumm, not a style I like. It’s those thick lines again, or maybe it’s heavy inks. I don’t know. I know nothing about illustrating for comic books. I just know that I prefer thin lines and a clean look.

But, my preferences aside, this was really good. The characters’ facial expressions were easy to read, and it was easy to understand the action scenes, which were often my favorite parts. They are all quite gruesome.

I also ended this wondering if Simon Pegg is in the show…. Is he?

Overall: ★★★★★

Yep, 5 stars and it’s a favorite and I can’t wait to read the next volume and I can’t believe I like it this much.

Buy | Borrow | Bypass

‘Cause I’m ‘bout to buy me a copy right now.