Garth Ennis, the twisted brilliant mind behind comics like Preacher, Hitman, and Punisher MAX is one of the most iconic writers in modern comics. His works have been heralded for their tight character work, twisted sense of humor and controversial subject matter. With the writer long proclaiming his distaste for certain corners of superhero comics, his and co-creator Darick Robertson's ultimate thesis on superheroes, The Boys, is one of the darkest comics of his career.
With The Boys coming to Amazon Prime, CBR is taking a look back at the history of the highly controversial comic book series.
WHAT IS THE BOYS ABOUT?
The Boys takes place in a superhero universe inspired by both Marvel and DC Comics. However, this world is a considerably darker place than the type of universes that usually appear in comics by either of those mainstream publishers.
In this world, Superpowers, and by extension superheroes, are typically the by-product of Vought-American, a major megacorporation that funds many of the biggest superhero teams. Their early attempts to create super soldiers in World War II failed, but the company was able to create massively powerful teams of brightly colored heroes they could sell to the public.
The most prominent of these groups are the Seven, a thinly veiled parody of the Justice League. Consisting of Highlander, Black Noir, Queen Mavee, A-Train, the Deep, Jack from Jupiter and Lamplighter. To the public, they're the heroes the world loves. But in private, they're cruel, hedonistic monsters. Their antics cause untold damage and destruction on the innocent civilians of the world.
However, the team has been flailing in recent years. The team's attempts to avert 9/11 led to the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge instead of the Twin Towers. This disastrous failure led to the recreation of the Boys, a CIA group designated to take care of rogue supers, up to and including the Seven if the need be.
WHO ARE THE BOYS?
To stand up to the supers and their abilities, every member of the Boys receives enhanced strength and durability thanks to injections of Compound V. this is the same serum that powers most of the supers. Butcher is the leader and currently the longest-serving member of the Boys. The English brawler was actually the first-ever recruit to the team. He has a personal hatred for supers after the Homelander assaulted Becky, his wife. After she became pregnant with his superpowered child, the baby tore his way out of her womb and had to be put down by Butcher.
The series primarily focuses on him and the newest recruit to the Boys, "Wee" Hughie. As friendly Scotsman who'd normally never harm a fly, Hughie was changed forever when his girlfriend Robin was collateral damage in a battle between A-Train and a villain. Seeing a kindred soul in the soft-hearted but enraged Hughie, Butcher recruited him to the Boys, where he serves as the conscience of the team.
The other three members of the Boys are Mother's Milk, the Frenchman and the Female. Mother's Milk, otherwise known as M.M, is an incredibly strong, surprisingly compassionate man. He gained his powers when he was a child. Vought-American had been pumping chemicals into the water supply, inadvertently poisoning thousands. His mother was among those affected, and while breastfeeding M.M. as an infant gave him his powers.
The Frenchman is a very proud former soldier and one of the original Boys. He's an incredibly tough scrapper and can be set off into extreme violence by anyone insulting his (supposed) home nation. The Female was an infant when she accidentally ended up in a bucket of Compound V. This empowered her and sent her on a rampage. She spent most of her young life as a living weapon, before being taken in by the Frenchman. The Frenchman is the only person who can go near her without facing the possibly getting his face ripped off.
WHY WAS THE BOYS CANCELED?
With stories and imagery that regularly push the boundaries of what can be allowed in superhero comics, the series is both brutal and controversial, even by the standards of Ennis' other work. When he was first writing the book, Ennis said the book would "out-Preacher Preacher." But while Preacher was a western about a conflicted priest with fantastic abilities, The Boys takes on the world at large through the lens of a superhero universe where depravity and ultra-violence were the norm.
However, the series didn't shy away from exploring the consequences of its boundary-pushing content. For instance, one of the main characters in the series is Starlight, one of the only morally pure superheroes in the universe. Inducted into the Seven following the death of Lamplighter, she's abused by the rest of team. Her arc centers around her coming to terms with what happened to her and learning how to fight back against the ugliest pieces of the world, while still managing to be a hero.
Although the series was initially published by Wildstorm Productions, an imprint of DC, the series was canceled due to its mature, boundary-pushing content. After Dynamite Entertainment picked the book up, it spawned several short spinoffs and ran for 72 issues until 2012.
By any measure, The Boys is a dark series, but it's also one that Ennis has cited as including two of his favorite characters he's ever written. It explores a number of heavy topics with a surprisingly deft touch, as well as indulging in the crassest humor and most hardcore violence the superhero genre has possibly ever produced.