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nathanaracena's review against another edition
4.0
What to say in this one - the end. One thing I really like with Ennis is his ability to say when and how he’ll end. No never ending segways and continuous drawn out stories, he ends the lot, and when he does, boy does he end it. I did not expect half of what occurred in these final hundred odd pages. Heart tugging and enraging, he takes everything that’s built up slowly in the previous 11 volumes and kicks the shit out of it, in typical Butcher fashion. There’s no happy ending to be had here but that’s fitting of the collection. Whilst it waned a lot through the midpoint of the comics, the Boys really picked up again at the end and went out with a bang. I did feel some of the motives were a bit slack and unobviously obvious, but still a good read and showed the comic stands better when not over diluted with characters and focussing instead on the core group of players.
hagbard_celine's review against another edition
2.0
Ok, so this series does a bunch right: the premise is neat, Butcher is a compelling weirdo, and all the little mechanical bits of story structure just work. But i remain totally uninterested in Ennis's sexual/racial/etc politics. Regressive reaction masquerading as gritty enlightenment and fair-mindedness. Bah.
jasmiinaf's review against another edition
3.0
When I started reading The Boys I really liked it, but then it got maybe too weird for me. But at the end of this final volume I cried. I guess I'll miss The Boys.
helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
4.0
A good end to a good series. Ennis delivers a satisfying ending, wraps up what needs wrapping up, and by the time you get there, you kinda feel like it was the only way things could've gone.
Thanks, Mr. Ennis. The Boys was a lot of fun.
Thanks, Mr. Ennis. The Boys was a lot of fun.
olichoreno's review against another edition
4.0
Unlike the large number of comics that lengthen the story without contributing much, this one takes advantage of the leftovers of the world to present a final plot based on the hatred caused by the victims.
I once read a story of a woman discharging all the bullets from her gun into Mussolini's body, one for each of her children who died, after his body had been left lying in the street after hanging him, and this feels a bit like that.
The war is over and the bad guy is dead but there is still a courage trapped in the minds of those who lived through it and this chapter seems like a post war.
I once read a story of a woman discharging all the bullets from her gun into Mussolini's body, one for each of her children who died, after his body had been left lying in the street after hanging him, and this feels a bit like that.
The war is over and the bad guy is dead but there is still a courage trapped in the minds of those who lived through it and this chapter seems like a post war.
gustalapotat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bloomandgloom's review against another edition
2.0
The story of The Boys did drag along through done previous issues but I always managed to find something I liked enough to keep reading. Sadly, I wish I didn't keep reading because anything I could have imaged would have been better than the ending. All of the important stuff was rushed even though unimportant parts dragged on. I did like the twist but it didn't go anywhere. It was over within a few pages even though almost anything else would have been more compelling. Why build up Homelander as an invincible and unstoppable force if his stronger version can be destroyed so easily? Everything else was very sloppy. Mother's Milk, Frenchie, and the Female's deaths were pointless and Butcher's madness was very lazy. It was very obvious that Ennis knew that he didn't do enough to point out Butcher's descent into madness because he had to include the previous past mentions of it. Even though I know Ennis would complain about it in an issue, Butcher's "wipe out every supe even myself and the only people I have left that I care about" reeked of toxic masculinity. His wife was raped so he had to kill every single supe? Sounds like a plot from a bad 80's action movie. The book had so much potential and it was all wasted because Ennis couldn't find one compelling way to use all of the character interest that was built up. The art was as good as all of the previous issues, no complaints there.
achillleez's review against another edition
5.0
crying my fucking eyes out over mm frenchie and kimiko no lie
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.