some_okie_dude27's review against another edition
Ennis got his start in the mid to late 90s, establishing a reputation as an extremist in the comics community alongside Warren Ellis, though Ennis would become the Grant Morrison to Ellis' Alan Moore, with Ennis sometimes going to extremes without letting his story threads come together in a natural way. Does that mean Ennis is a bad writer? Of course not. He wouldn't be a favorite of mine if that were the case. While The Boys doesn't entirely reach the heights of some of Ennis' finer outings like Preacher or Punisher MAX, The Boys proved itself to be another interesting series in Ennis' catalogue.
Garth Ennis is never one for the easily offended, the copious amounts of sex, violence and mayhem that inhabits this series can test even the most mentally and physically strong of people, as I said earlier Ennis is rather extreme with his content. Though luckily, Ennis does know how to pace himself and provide a good plot to keep you invested unlike some of the other artists and writers from the uber grimdark period of comics (cough cough, Rob Liefeld, cough cough, Frank Miller). Ennis, much like Alan Moore, makes a point to show that if superhumans were to exist in our world, they would bring about an apocalyptic sense of change to the world. Though unfortunately, I'm not quite as sure that Ennis is as thorough in his exploration as Moore was. He never fully goes deeper in his critique of superheroes, which is rather unfortunate. Though unlike Moore, Ennis pulls no punches when taking shots as superheroes, this is unsurprising given his well known disdain for the superhero genre, yet again, I don't find that his satire nearly goes far enough to make a grand point of it all.
While The Boys' satire is admittedly simplistic unlike something that is more nuanced like Watchmen, we see Ennis' reputation for characterization shine through, with Billy Butcher being a standout and even Ennis himself lamenting that he was his favorite character to write. Most of the characters in The Boys are strongly developed and their depth and likability is reminiscent of Preacher, but we also see how they change over time. Wee Hughie in particular changes from a mild mannered normal person into a hardened, but still well intentioned person. The satire of The Boys, while sometimes going overboard and becoming crude, usually does its job, with targets being of corporatism, crony capitalism, and the incompetence of government, in particular the Bush era.
I have often complained about how many modern comics have problems with pacing. But luckily Ennis doesn't have this issue, and I would lobby him alongside Ed Brubaker as having a mastery of pacing, as Ennis knows when he should slow things down and when to let things speed up. It is nice to find someone else to use as an example of how to pace your stories in a way to where you won't lose your audience, and Ennis definitely knows how to keep his audiences attention, for better or worse.
Few problems come through in the series, Ennis's writing teeters in quality near the end, with some unexpected twists coming in that shakes up the story at hold and not in a way that feels natural. Though luckily Ennis manages to make it work as best as he can and manages to wrap his story up in a satisfying way. While Ennis is ruthless in his mockery of the superhero genre and its conventions, some of his edgy, extreme humor doesn't really seem to go anywhere, which is a problem that pervades through much of his work. Though unlike Preacher or Punisher MAX where he manages to tamper it with volumes of excellent story, The Boys sometimes does get brought down by its over the top extremes. The art from Derrick Robertson, while very good and well drawn, I often compare to his extraordinary work on Transmetropolitan, and I found that he hasn't ever surpassed the strange and surreal visuals from that series.
Cruel and crass as The Boys may be, Ennis rarely forgets character motivation or good plotting to keep readers invested, while he may lose some of his steam by the end of the series, The Boys remains a strong and enjoyable outing from Ennis' catalogue.
Garth Ennis is never one for the easily offended, the copious amounts of sex, violence and mayhem that inhabits this series can test even the most mentally and physically strong of people, as I said earlier Ennis is rather extreme with his content. Though luckily, Ennis does know how to pace himself and provide a good plot to keep you invested unlike some of the other artists and writers from the uber grimdark period of comics (cough cough, Rob Liefeld, cough cough, Frank Miller). Ennis, much like Alan Moore, makes a point to show that if superhumans were to exist in our world, they would bring about an apocalyptic sense of change to the world. Though unfortunately, I'm not quite as sure that Ennis is as thorough in his exploration as Moore was. He never fully goes deeper in his critique of superheroes, which is rather unfortunate. Though unlike Moore, Ennis pulls no punches when taking shots as superheroes, this is unsurprising given his well known disdain for the superhero genre, yet again, I don't find that his satire nearly goes far enough to make a grand point of it all.
While The Boys' satire is admittedly simplistic unlike something that is more nuanced like Watchmen, we see Ennis' reputation for characterization shine through, with Billy Butcher being a standout and even Ennis himself lamenting that he was his favorite character to write. Most of the characters in The Boys are strongly developed and their depth and likability is reminiscent of Preacher, but we also see how they change over time. Wee Hughie in particular changes from a mild mannered normal person into a hardened, but still well intentioned person. The satire of The Boys, while sometimes going overboard and becoming crude, usually does its job, with targets being of corporatism, crony capitalism, and the incompetence of government, in particular the Bush era.
I have often complained about how many modern comics have problems with pacing. But luckily Ennis doesn't have this issue, and I would lobby him alongside Ed Brubaker as having a mastery of pacing, as Ennis knows when he should slow things down and when to let things speed up. It is nice to find someone else to use as an example of how to pace your stories in a way to where you won't lose your audience, and Ennis definitely knows how to keep his audiences attention, for better or worse.
Few problems come through in the series, Ennis's writing teeters in quality near the end, with some unexpected twists coming in that shakes up the story at hold and not in a way that feels natural. Though luckily Ennis manages to make it work as best as he can and manages to wrap his story up in a satisfying way. While Ennis is ruthless in his mockery of the superhero genre and its conventions, some of his edgy, extreme humor doesn't really seem to go anywhere, which is a problem that pervades through much of his work. Though unlike Preacher or Punisher MAX where he manages to tamper it with volumes of excellent story, The Boys sometimes does get brought down by its over the top extremes. The art from Derrick Robertson, while very good and well drawn, I often compare to his extraordinary work on Transmetropolitan, and I found that he hasn't ever surpassed the strange and surreal visuals from that series.
Cruel and crass as The Boys may be, Ennis rarely forgets character motivation or good plotting to keep readers invested, while he may lose some of his steam by the end of the series, The Boys remains a strong and enjoyable outing from Ennis' catalogue.
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
2.0
While my biggest problems with parts of The Boys series is its over-the-top, unnecessary schlock, this book suffers from being a dull waste of time.
Hughie's origin story, that he and his friends were a cut-rate Hardy Boys who all grew up to be unusual adults doesn't add anything to the story at large. It isn't until Starlight shows up, and they spend two issues hashing out their problems in a way that doesn't warrant more than three or four pages, that this series seems to have any purpose other than Garth Ennis wants to be shocking, but isn't really.
Of the two of Hughie's young friends, one smells so bad that his family and him have to wear gas masks, and the other was the town jock who is now a transvestite (not a trans person, not someone exploring being non-binary, I'm using outdated language because it is an outdated character ... the character isn't treated insultingly but nor is the character just allowed to be a person who happens to be a large man dressed in clothes that are deemed feminine). I get it, Hughie has always been an outsider. This also could have been expressed in about two or three pages, as opposed to an entire mini-series.
You can easily skip this volume entirely when reading The Boys, and just assume that Hughie and Starlight made up off-panel after volume seven. You don't lose any plot points, character development or helpful insight.
I'm also really glad that they won't have to bother even trying to incorporate a single page of this into the TV series, since pretty much every part of this story conflicts with the canon of Season One.
Hughie's origin story, that he and his friends were a cut-rate Hardy Boys who all grew up to be unusual adults doesn't add anything to the story at large. It isn't until Starlight shows up, and they spend two issues hashing out their problems in a way that doesn't warrant more than three or four pages, that this series seems to have any purpose other than Garth Ennis wants to be shocking, but isn't really.
Of the two of Hughie's young friends, one smells so bad that his family and him have to wear gas masks, and the other was the town jock who is now a transvestite (not a trans person, not someone exploring being non-binary, I'm using outdated language because it is an outdated character ... the character isn't treated insultingly but nor is the character just allowed to be a person who happens to be a large man dressed in clothes that are deemed feminine). I get it, Hughie has always been an outsider. This also could have been expressed in about two or three pages, as opposed to an entire mini-series.
You can easily skip this volume entirely when reading The Boys, and just assume that Hughie and Starlight made up off-panel after volume seven. You don't lose any plot points, character development or helpful insight.
I'm also really glad that they won't have to bother even trying to incorporate a single page of this into the TV series, since pretty much every part of this story conflicts with the canon of Season One.
littlemustard's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
geesammy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
reillykid7's review
adventurous
dark
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
philipf's review against another edition
4.0
This is the volume that makes it clear that one of the themes in this series is toxic masculinity.
luana420's review against another edition
4.0
Dear lord am I happy Ennis redeems himself in this one by explicitly and emphatically condemning Hughie's misogyny in the last volume as a character flaw to be excoriated by the very woman who was on the receiving end of it, reducing the poorly conceived Simon Pegg lookalike to a mess of tears, rather than the righteous anger of a Nice, Regular Guy In The Face Of Foul Decadence.
While perhaps a diversion from the main superhero plot, small town Scotland and its simple-minded denizens are pretty close to what Ennis knows, and I found the low stakes drug dealer plot interspersed with scenes from Hughie's childhood pretty entertaining in all.
Big Bobby will probably send a lot of people running to the tumblr alarm bell, but in the opinion of this solitary non-binary person, I found her a fairly well-intentioned trans woman made to fit in the crudity of working class Ennis Scotland.
While perhaps a diversion from the main superhero plot, small town Scotland and its simple-minded denizens are pretty close to what Ennis knows, and I found the low stakes drug dealer plot interspersed with scenes from Hughie's childhood pretty entertaining in all.
Big Bobby will probably send a lot of people running to the tumblr alarm bell, but in the opinion of this solitary non-binary person, I found her a fairly well-intentioned trans woman made to fit in the crudity of working class Ennis Scotland.
rocketbebop's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5