Comic Art

I am currently subscribed for around 25 ongoing comic series, some of them proved to be good, many disappointing and rarely they come out better than expected, The Boys by Garth Ennis and Richard Robertson (Transmetropolitan, Space Beaver, The Punisher, Spiderman) turned out to be the brightest example of the last category. Sure I knew it was Ennis, the man who wrote some of the best Hellblazer stories, created the Preacher, turned The Authority into a great book, made even the Punisher an almost likeable character and left his personal touch in so many other books (Pride and Joy, Legends of the Dark Knight, 303, Judge Dredd), but there is a skeptic part in me after so many disappointments, mistrustful even to the safest bets. Luckily The Boys were a great creation, cynic, funny, breathtaking, but the disappointment didn’t take long to arrive, after 6 issues Wildstorm seems to have canceled it!

Rumors are that DC was deeply concerned about the extreme content of the book, the violent scenes were too messy and the part with the mouse crawling out of someone’s pants was more than they could endure in a Wildstorm title, so they canceled the whole thing and announced that it will probably continue with Dynamite in June, when there will be also a trade paperback with the first 6 issues originally published by them. If you have pre-ordered #07-#09 (they were available until recently in the official Wildstorm site) you might want to check it, DC announced also that all orders concerning The Boys have been canceled also. On the other side Ennis and Robertson seem quite comfortable with the developments, they thanked their former employers for the easy transaction and now have a working environment where any kind of censorship will be unlike, I suppose Dynamite is thrilled to have a sure winner in their roster.

If this is the first time you meet The Boys, it’s a typical Ennis story, it mind remind you a little the Authority. This is a world where super-powered humans run the show, but if you’re looking for heroes you’ll be frustrated. They’re mean, they’re stupid, they’re ambitious and greedy, most of them are even perverts! A special group of people with even greater powers is assembled to keep them in line but if you expect them to do it in the conventional way, well, that’ll be your second frustration in the series. Hugh, their latest member is a relatively normal guy (who looks suspiciously like the man from Shawn of the Dead) who saw his girlfriend die in a horrific way when a super team happened to pass through, he joins The Boys for revenge, justice, change, a chance to the American dream! I should warn you, if you don’t have a good stomach you should consider leaving this one for the rest of us though…