Posted on: September 11th, 2009 NERDWATCH – The Boys

Welcome to the first installment of NERDWATCH, a new regular column here at GKS. NERDWATCH highlights some of the must-read collected stories in comic books. No matter if you’re new to comics, or a seasoned veteran, NERDWATCH serves as your trusted comic book checklist.

There are so many mainstream greats when it comes to comic book stories. There’s just no disputing a top-ten list with Watchmen, Preacher or The Dark Knight Returns. For the first edition of NERDWATCH, I wanted to showcase a lesser known title, written by one of the medium’s finest writers – The Boys by Garth Ennis.

If you’ve read Preacher, one of the finest comic book stories ever told, you have a great idea of what Ennis’ writing is all about; he’s dark, gritty, wildly explicit and yet hilarious at the same time. Ennis is the master of the “nothing sacred” and “show no mercy” approach, but his work is not just shock value. He creates these indelible characters and develops them to a tee, while crafting stories that are near-impossible to put down. If you haven’t read Preacher, well, you are most certainly missing out. When I finished the last page of the ninth and final volume I, was touched but equally saddened that the ride was over.

While The Boys fits in an entirely different genre from Preacher, the superhero capes-and-cowls type, you can tell right away that it’s Ennis. Call it a chaotic comfort, if you will. Where Ennis only touched on sexual perversion and violence with Preacher, he downright embraces it with The Boys. The story is simple yet intriguing: Thanks to a new drug called “compound v”, comic-book superheros exist in our time, saving the day and stopping crime. But behind closed doors these heroes aren’t as righteous as they seem; wild sex, drugs, deplorable behavior and carelessness are the norm and the CIA has instated a small group of operatives, The Boys, to reign them in if needed. Led by Billy the Butcher, The Boys use extreme violence and tactics to maintain order.

The first two trades, collecting the first 14 issues of the series focus mainly on Billy the Butcher getting the team back in business, and Wee Hughie, the team’s newest recruit – a Scottish conspiracy-nut whose girlfriend is killed by a clumsy superhero. In one of the most obvious examples of celebrity emulation, you will almost immediately recognize the person which Hughie is drawn after, English actor Simon Pegg. The rest of the team is filled out by Mother’s Milk, the large African-American presence, The Frenchman, an elegant yet absolutely insane francophone, and The Female, never speaking and almost cherubic in innocence, yet terrifyingly lethal.

The pages of this book are just dripping with juxtaposition; colorful capes and smiles and heroes over-top of rough sex, prostitution, drugs, homo-erotic fantasy and extremely graphic death and physical destruction. The greatest thing about Ennis’ writing is his ability to make you feel depraved yourself for laughing, but he truly does make someone’s arms getting ripped off, funny. It’s not that the writing takes the low-road like a shoot-em-up action film, but yet he is such a craftsman with dialogue and pacing and even the situations themselves that you can’t help it. On the surface the book has the superflous impression of the superhero tales of yore, except the Superman archetype forces the Supergirl archetype to perform oral sex on him and the rest of the Justice League. And even considering all that, the rawness comes off very real, with mascara running, teeth flying and lips swelling. It should be noted that Darick Robertson’s art, a mix of realism and exaggerated comic style, aids and enhances the flow of the story quite nicely. 

I’ve only read the first two trades of the series and I was hooked with the first few pages of issue #1; this is an incredible read for casual or hardcore comic fans, as long as you’re cool with explicit language, violence and sexuality. So far their has been 33 issues released, over five trade paperbacks; Garth Ennis has stated that the series, published by Dynamite Entertainment, would end around the 60 issue mark.

But that’s not all, if it’s a comic book, there has to be a film in development, right? Well… maybe. Variety reported in February of 2008 that Colombia Pictures had acquired the rights to a film based on the book, with Neal Moritz (I Am Legend, Fast & Furious) producing. No other news on the project since August, 2008 when The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay (Aeon Flux) are handling screenplay duties.

I think it’s safe to assume that Simon Pegg would most likely be up for the role of Wee Hughie should The Boys make the jump to the big-screen.

Until the next installment of NERDWATCH, pick up The Boys and enjoy.

One Response to “NERDWATCH – The Boys”

1. Samuel Bayer to Direct THE BOYS Adaptation? « Giant Killer Squid - Film, Comics, News, Reviews and more Says:
   March 2nd, 2010 at 10:17 pm

   [...] small group of mercenaries hired by the CIA to keep reckless superheroes in check. We launched our inaugural Nerdwatch column with a more in-depth look at The Boys, do check that [...]

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