genmegusta's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
rebecanunez's review against another edition
3.0
Me gusto, pero creo que porque ya había visto la serie, y sabia como era. Se sale del común de los cómics de superhéroes, la verdad es que no es para todas las sensibilidades, ya que tiene un alto contenido de violencia y sexual. Es un experimento interesante leerlo, si, pero es un cómic bastante brutal, mucho mas que la serie. Un dato importante es que las historias en el cómic, tienen puntos en común con la serie, pero no van por los mismos lugares, por lo que no, no es como leer en cómic la serie.
mooluvs's review against another edition
1.0
Read the first two-three volumes but couldn’t finish the rest. Seemed like it was trying to hard to be edgy and instead ended up as immature, unfunny and borderline misogynistic.
Loved the premise and the tv adaptation, though.
Loved the premise and the tv adaptation, though.
spanish_chey's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
mschlat's review against another edition
3.0
Note: this is good talent working on a very nasty book.
I've read and liked superhero nihilism in the past, specifically [a:Rick Veitch|63220|Rick Veitch|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66-e07624dc012f2cce49c7d9aa6500c6c0.jpg]'s [b:Brat Pack|302699|Brat Pack|Rick Veitch|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328036707s/302699.jpg|293757] and the Marshal Law works by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill. The Boys works in the same vein (superheroes are a bunch of basterds), with more of the Marshal Law take (the Boys will reign in the heros). I liked the character setups for the protagonists, but the take on the superheroes was broader and more vulgar than I wanted to see.
I've read and liked superhero nihilism in the past, specifically [a:Rick Veitch|63220|Rick Veitch|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66-e07624dc012f2cce49c7d9aa6500c6c0.jpg]'s [b:Brat Pack|302699|Brat Pack|Rick Veitch|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328036707s/302699.jpg|293757] and the Marshal Law works by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill. The Boys works in the same vein (superheroes are a bunch of basterds), with more of the Marshal Law take (the Boys will reign in the heros). I liked the character setups for the protagonists, but the take on the superheroes was broader and more vulgar than I wanted to see.
janedoelish's review against another edition
1.0
This series is so deeply misanthropic and garishly brutal that the only appropriate reaction to it is shaking your head and walking away in disgust without dignifying it with another glance.
Teenage edgelords will LOVE its crassness and probably confuse it for some subversive masterpiece of taboo-breaking black humour. It is not.
Teenage edgelords will LOVE its crassness and probably confuse it for some subversive masterpiece of taboo-breaking black humour. It is not.
ugmug's review against another edition
5.0
Who watches the Watchmen? These fuckin' guys. Dark. Depraved. Deconstruction.
ostrava's review against another edition
2.0
Update: While I continue to feel cold about The Boys does seem to have some good stuff in hindsight. It just doesn't do it for me because I prefer the excellent TV show, and by a mile.
Also found it the wrong kind of edgy. But I'm very sure that if I had given it a proper a chance it would have been, maybe not good, but enjoyable in a way. I'll rather try out the rest of Ennis repertoire for now tho...
Also found it the wrong kind of edgy. But I'm very sure that if I had given it a proper a chance it would have been, maybe not good, but enjoyable in a way. I'll rather try out the rest of Ennis repertoire for now tho...
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.
alexperc_92's review against another edition
2.0
I admit that I found the comic after seeing the teaser trailer of the series. Graphic to a fault filled with corruption and heroes who are acting like egoistic, megalomaniac celebrities, this comic could have been better. I am not going to judge the art, this is the creator's work and I respect the time any artist gives to their work.
But I hoped the plot wouldn't make me gag half the time. I'll try to read the rest because I simply want a scene where Billy just punches Homeland in the face.
But I hoped the plot wouldn't make me gag half the time. I'll try to read the rest because I simply want a scene where Billy just punches Homeland in the face.