Cover of The Boys Volume 1 (collected edition) with art by Darick Robertson, also the artist throughout the series. Arguably the most iconic image from the comic, which was replicated pretty well by promotional poster art for the TV series, such that you could place them side by side. Sadly, the TV series did not replicate the comic quite so well in other aspects (fair use)

(15) GARTH ENNIS –

THE BOYS (DYNAMITE 2006 – 2012)

I was introduced to this comic by the first season of its television adaptation in 2019, which prompted me to read it ahead of the other seasons. I’m glad I did, as while the television series had diminishing returns each season to the extent that I abandoned it before the finale (which I understand to have been disappointing at best), I read the comic through to the end.

The comic is by Garth Ennis – with whom I was familiar from 2000 AD and even more so his, ah, confrontational comic series Preacher, which perhaps best encapsulated his reputation and recurring tendency to be a provocateur or just for sheer shock value. Ennis quipped that The Boys would out-Preacher Preacher, presumably in terms of its profanity, sex and violence. I’m not sure that anything could out-Preacher Preacher, but The Boys certainly gives it a shot. And ultimately it may be for the best, as I prefer The Boys. It told a better story, and if anything, seemed less purely gratuitous for its own sake than Preacher – although the TV series certainly leaned into the shock value. (Although don’t get me wrong – I liked Preacher or at least it got stuck in my mind as you certainly never forget it).

The series takes place in a world where superheroes exist, although such that you would prefer they didn’t. On the superhero side, you have the Seven, the world’s leading superhero team – sponsored by the powerful corporation Vought International – and mostly copies of the Justice League, led by its equivalent of Superman (with some Captain America thrown in), Homelander, who more than earns the description of diabolical and invokes the trope Beware the Superman.

And on the other side, you have the titular Boys, vigilante cape-busters forced to use their smarts, skills and willingness to fight dirty (including some of the superheroes’ own weapons) against their adversaries – led by Billy Butcher, perhaps the series’ most compelling character to rival his primary adversary, Homelander.

The comic has layers to it that the television series did not – and diverged substantially (and progressively) from the latter with each season.