The Boys

I may have mentioned it once or twice but...I like comic books. I think they’re a valid expression of literary and artistic talent, and I have invested a great deal of time and money adding them to my library now that I can afford one of the pricier entertainment mediums. So I have a lot of friends who ask me where to start, what to read, etc.

My primary advice is just pick what catches your eye. Like actual books, there’s so much material covering such a wide variety of topics, that there is no right answer. However, in my limited expertise, I always say “The Boys” is the closest I get to calling something mandatory reading.

I remember flipping through the first volume at Stormwatch comics years ago while I was shopping for Magic cards, and the gore and content was above anything I expected out of comic books at the time. When my collection seriously started to build, this was one of the earliest runs I ever picked up.

Wee Hughie(whose likeness is based off of Simon Pegg) joins a group of CIA-backed, trench coat wearing motherfuckers who curb the wanton hedonism and violence of superheroes, or “supes,” in their universe through intelligence gathering, blackmail, and unbelievable violence...sometimes with a crowbar. Some asshole in spandex kills a sex worker because they think the world is their personal playground? The Boys come beat your face in.

Over the course of a staggering 72 issues, they cover every topic you can imagine: corporate greed, revenge, war crimes, power exploitation, government corruption, personal relationships, and all the people that get crushed underfoot. To even begin to give you one of my broad takeaways would be glossing over a lot of what this story is. I re-read it every once in awhile and I still find new things that just tear my heart out. Every single character feels real, and very few stories(comics or otherwise) manage the same feat of personal realism achieved here.

It is by no means a perfect story, the artwork isn’t all aces and the writing drags at certain points, but especially at a time where superhero fiction is more popular than ever, The Boys is a jarring look at how this kinda shit might play out in real life.

I strongly encourage you read it for yourself.