The Boys
Graphic Novel Summary: 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. 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! Volume 1 collects the controversial first six issues, and Volume 2 collects issues #7-14, featureing the 'legend' the story of the Tek-Knight and the team's journey to frozen Russia!
Codes: 76194125963500111 7.62E+016 76194125963500112 SEP073507 APR073555 DEC073542 MAR083595 DEC078191 JUN083809 AUG083955 NOV083957 DEC090814 JUN100910 FEB110946 MAY110976 SEP110973 JAN121023 MAY121033 9781933305738 9781933305738
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| Author: | Garth Ennis |
| Artist: | Darick Robertson |
| Cover Artist: | Darick Robertson |
| Author: | Darick Robertson |
| Artist: | Snejbjerg |
| Estimated Ship Date: | June 20, 2012 | In Stock? | Can be backordered, expected to ship in 7-20 days |
| Genre: | Western |
| ISBN: | 9781933305738 |
| Lists: | Not on any lists. Start your own! |
Customer Reviews
I love this series. I bought the first volume, and I've been waiting for every other issue to come out. I almost never buy individual issues (I always buy them in Volume form) but I can't wait that long for this series.
1 pts.
Two of my favourite comics of all time are the Garth Ennis-written Preacher, and the Darick Robertson-drawn Transmetropolitan. So, naturally when DC announced that Ennis and Robertson would be doing a book for it’s Wildstorm imprint, entitled The Boys, my head somewhat exploded.
Story takes place in present day, and follows The Boys, a team of CIA-type agents led by Billy Butcher, who’s job it is to keep an eye on the superhero community. The Boys are tasked with keeping the “Supes” in line, by any means necessary. Sometimes this means public humiliation, other times, savage beatings. One way or the other, this book promised to “out-Preacher, Preacher” according to Ennis.
When issue #1 hit the stands, I greedily devoured it. Then I was shocked 5 issues later, when DC abruptly canceled the series at issue #6. It seems that the anti-superhero themes of the book weren’t sitting well with the folks at DC, and just like that The Boys were out on their ear. I don’t blame DC for making the move they did. They treated the creators very well, allowing them to retain all the rights for the book, but as a fan, I was crushed.
Enter Dynamite, and a classy move by DC to allow Robertson to continue working on the book in spite of his DC-Exclusive contract. Dynamite picked up the book and quickly re-issued the first 6 issues as a trade paperback, and have published every wonderful off-colour, uncomfortably violent issue since, now numbering 17.
The Boys is all the best parts of Preacher meshed with the best parts of Transmetropolitan, and ground to a fine paste underneath an industry that once followed a “comic’s code.” The stories are violent and funny as only Ennis could write them, and Robertson’s art is so wonderfully disturbing and beautiful that it makes the perfect match to Ennis’ brutal writing style. These two manage to create a world that simultaneously makes the reader squirm with disgust, and laugh out loud. And no matter what, it makes you smile.
The Boys also deals with a lot of Superhero cliche’s like superhero resurrection, marketing strategies, and primarily what might become of a person who did develop superpowers, but not the Kal-El-like moral structure to do what’s right with them. Essentially, the theme of The Boys is “With great power comes great responsibility… and fame and money and women (and men), and all the trappings of super-celebrity.”
The Boys is a look into the seedy underbelly of Superheroing, and it’s one of the best books on the market!
2 pts.
Flipping through the pages of this story one might perceive it to be a comic equivalent of smut peddling, an excuse to see some tits and raunchy escapades drawn by Darick Robertson. Which by itself should be enough to peak anyone’s interest enough to pick up a copy run home and start reading immediately, in the case that this is not enough perhaps seeing a character who looks alarmingly like Simon Pegg with an introduction by said actor should do the trick. Given this information you should already have picked up a copy be sitting home in a comfortable chair, a few candles burning, and perhaps some light jazz playing in the back ground to help set the mood. It is now then you can actually begin to perceive the story that only Garth Ennis could tell. It is one that is vulgar, brutal, and brilliant. This is a tale that can be called a conspiracy theorists wet dream full of power hungry individuals and corporations that will let nothing stand in their way. There are no spoiler alerts here, this is just a must read story that you cannot afford to miss.
1 pts.
This is a great series. It is an action packed book about another side of super heroes and the people in charge of keeping them under control. What I really love about this book is that it doesn’t take itself to serious. I highly recommend it for a fun read that will make you go WOW, DID HE REALLY???
1 pts.