We Covered ‘The Boys’ #1 Because We Hadn’t Gotten to ‘The Boys’ #1 Yet

When you need someone to watch the watchers and engage in some gratuitous sex, you know whom to call. The Boys #1 is written by Garth Ennis, illustrated by Darick Robertson, colored by Tony Avina, lettered by Greg Thompson and published (originally) by WildStorm.

It’s the end of the line for someone. Someone that’s not named Easton Newburn. Newburn #8 is written by Chip Zdarsky and drawn by Jacob Phillips. Backup “Spook-a-Rama” is written by Casey Gilly, drawn by Soo Lee and lettered by Toben Racicot. Published by Image.

Death is in the cards. All of the cards, actually. But that’s the least of their problems in I Hate This Place #2, written by Kyle Starks, drawn by Artyom Toplin, colored by Lee Loughridge, lettered by Pat Brosseau and published by Image/Skybound.

Will Nevin: Ian, do you remember what you asked for this week when we were picking what to cover? Maybe specifically how you wanted something “cursed”? Well, are you happy with yourself now?

Ian Gregory: I felt like Garth Ennis deserves a fair shot. Sure, I’ve never liked anything I’ve ever read from him, but I haven’t specifically read The Boys. I also haven’t seen the TV show, for all that my friends love it. So, yeah, I opened us up to a little bit of cursed comic liability, but hey: It’ll be great for our SEO.

Will: Dan, make sure we work “The Boys” as many times as we can in the headline.

[Grote’s Note, thick Chicago accent edition: Da Boyz.]

The Boys #1: Ennis Doing Ennis Stuff

Will: The show is in the news, what with it dropping its third season and all a few weeks ago and with some conservative types still not understanding that Homelander is not supposed to be a hero. But in this issue here — which came out all the way back in ought-six — there is no Homelander or anyone else I happen to recognize from the stray bits I’ve seen from social media or other promotional materials. (Note: I haven’t seen the show. At all. No spoilers!)

No, this (which came out at DC under its Wildstorm imprint before the book was canceled and resurrected at Dynamite) features a surly, vulgar bastard named the Butcher who does little of note aside from casual misogyny and engaging in the fairly rote quest of “getting a team together.”

Typical Ennis outside of Preacher is either gratuitously graphic (his stuff at Avatar) or boring (all of the World War II stuff) but somehow, this was both.

Ian: I like that the first page of this comic is someone’s face getting squashed in by a boot — it’s got nothing to do with the rest of the issue, but it’s a real tone-setter. Letting the reader know what they’re in for. I recognize Butcher and Hughie as the main characters of the TV show, but what few clips I’ve seen have them acting very differently.

Butcher, in this comic, is every stereotypical power fantasy rolled into one: He’s rude, he’s violent, he has nonsequitor sex with government officials, but in all that there’s basically nothing going on. His ideology, that superheroes need to be watched in case they realize they can use their powers for more than playing cops and robbers, isn’t insane — it’s just common sense for a world with superhumans.

So while Butcher may make sense as a character, he also doesn’t really interest me in any real way. Hughie, at least, has a bit of an ultraviolent tragic backstory to make him interesting, even if it does involve killing off his girlfriend in a record-breaking eight panels.

Will: I’ve seen more of Darick Robertson’s contemporary stuff, like his work on a couple of Batman titles, but it never does anything for me. He handles the gore pretty well here (and there’s plenty of it!), but the faces seem wrong to me.

Ian: It doesn’t help that Hughie is just an exact doppelganger for Simon Pegg (intentional, on Ennis’ part, but very distracting). Everyone feels just a little ripped-from-the-headlines, as if they were modeled in too close detail to real people, except for Butcher, whose smarm transcends realism. I often found this book uncomfortable to look at, and not in the scenes of gore (which, generally, don’t bother me), for reasons I am having a hard time understanding. Everyone appears just so slightly wrong, and the coloring is overwhelmingly bland, that I really wasn’t compelled by any of the art.

Will: Finally, despite being pretty underwhelmed by this, I went right to #2 in my dusty stacks of Comixology impulse buys I’ve never read. Does that make me a bad person?

Ian: Ennis does something right in this first issue by seeding lots of little bits of world-building. It’s interesting that The Boys existed at some point in the past, and it makes the reader curious about what happened to them, and how they might manage to kill superheroes. It’s a good hook, especially because it doesn’t dive right into the Evil Superman stuff in the first issue. I didn’t really like this issue, but it also wasn’t repulsive or valueless.

That said, Ennis’ tone just has never worked for me. The endless quips, chauvinism and, you know, Ennis-ism just makes me want to close the book and read something less self-satisfied.

Newburn #8: Easton’s Cranky

Will: We’ve come to the end of the first volume, and what a ride it’s been. Newburn has gone from a former police detective with all the right plays as he solves mysteries for the mob to a guy who seems more than a little frazzled — and even a little prickish as he tells his former partner that he runs New York City. Do you think this is a momentary blip, or are we seeing who he really is?

Ian: It doesn’t surprise me that Newburn’s got more than a few delusions of grandeur, but I also wonder how much of the “I run this town” stuff is him taking on the kind of persona he needs to survive doing mob detective work. Newburn runs on his legend, and while he may have started to believe his own hype, he still needs it to do his job. I also liked to see Newburn at his wit’s end here, and how he still managed to drive away his old partner, who was essentially his ally and really sticking his neck out for Newburn. Of course, if Newburn really were in it just for himself, would he have gone so far to help out Emily? I’m not so sure.

Will: The solution to Emily’s problem and Newburn’s unsolved murder is more than a little convoluted — Killer A takes the fall for murder B, while Killer Emily goes on living and Assistant Killer and Occasional Weasel Cop Sydney experience … unpleasantness — but it does tie up everything here. What did you think about the overall story here — Easton’s turmoil aside?

Ian: Something bothered me, so I went back to the last few issues to double check Sydney’s side of the story. He sold out Emily to the Albanos, so I’m not sure why setting up Shigeyuki solves Emily’s problem — the Albanos still know she was the killer. Did Newburn manage to make them doubt Sydney’s story? Obviously, just getting someone arrested wouldn’t satisfy the Albano family’s desire for revenge, since the whole point was to kill Emily. I’m just not totally convinced that everything gets wrapped up so nicely.

Will: Maybe Easton gave up Sydney to the Albanos? That would satiate his personal need for vengeance for Emily and explain why we’ll probably never see ol’ Syd again.

Ian: That said, this issue was really gorgeous, and I want to shout out Jacob Phillips’ colors. I love the deep blues of the night-time streets, the washed out white and beige of the police station and the warm colors of Shigeyuki’s apartment. Really striking stuff this week.

Will: I thought the backup ended nicely — making peace with what happened, passing on what she’s learned and then getting the fuck out of town.

Ian: I like that there’s no big action scene or chase scene, no major catharsis. The killer is in the wind, but the main goal — making people know the truth behind her friend’s death, has been accomplished.

Will: *Not* catching the killer was a nice touch. Life is messy and unsatisfying, especially when crime is not as tidy as an episode of Law & Order.

I Hate This Place #2: Big Time Funny Spooky Stuff

Will: No offense to folks into tarot cards, Ian, but I really enjoyed what happened to the reader in this issue. Does that make me a bad person?

Ian: Not at all. The slapstick horror is a core part of this series, and while all sorts of terrible things are happening, Kyle Starks is telling lots of jokes. I really enjoy the tone of this series, because I feel like it believes in itself. I Hate This Place knows it can be campy and still be scary. It knows it can have interesting and relatable characters and put them in terrible situations. It’s a pleasure to read a book this confident in its visual and narrative style.

Will: This was a much different read from the first issue, which was a book that tried to set out the rules of what happens on this here spook ranch. In issue #2, though, Starks is content to have the weird shit happen, and he brings out more of his traditional comedy and love of Big Meaty Men Who Solve Problems with Thunder Fists like Dante Howitzer.

Ian: I like the side-cast of rancheros and one murderous bank robber. It gives us a few perspectives to switch between and see the different and myriad ways this ranch is haunted. I think a core part of the appeal of this series is our main couple, who are totally manic: They’re laughing at the slightest joke, fighting back against jokes and freaking out. I appreciate that they’re the active kind of horror protagonist, using their limited knowledge to fight back against the world. Maybe Starks goes a bit too far in literally having the characters mention the parallels between being a mixed-race lesbian couple and being a horror movie protagonist though.

Will: I think a big part of what worked for me in this issue was Lee Loughridge’s colors — they were just electric.

Ian: If Newburn this week made excellent use of washed-out colors, then Loughridge is doing great work with extremely deep and rich tones. A study in contrasts.

Does This Smell OK?

Rapid fire questions:
- Favorite superhero TV show?
  - Will: Peacemaker
  - Ian: Justice League Unlimited
- Favorite copaganda TV show?
  - Will: Law & Order: SVU (only the Stabler era, though). Close second: Quincy
  - Ian: Columbo
- Favorite spooky TV show?
  - Will: Tales from the Crypt. Put it on HBO Max, cowards!
  - Ian: OK, I’m gonna be honest — I watch basically no TV, so I’ve got nothing. If I had to pick my favorite spooky movie? Psycho Goreman.
Sound Effect Watch: I’ve gotta give it to the scratchy “SFFT”s in I Hate This Place when the Death tarot cards start spilling out of the fortuneteller’s hands.
Scientists are out here inventing new environmentally friendly ways to keep those leftovers safe: “Like the webs cast by the Marvel comic book character Spider-Man, the stringy material can be spun from a heating device that resembles a hair dryer and ‘shrink-wrapped’ over foods of various shapes and sizes, such as an avocado or a sirloin steak.”