Up next in 10
When The Boys first premiered on Amazon Prime, it took the world by storm. It was the first time other than Deadpool we saw Superheroes in a gritty, violent, R-Rated environment. Audiences were instantly pulled into this heightened reality of superheroes in real life. Though the original comics of The Boys written by Garth Ennis doesn't quite hold up to the TV Series.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
That was diabolical
0:06
Garth Ennis and Derek Robertson's The Boys might appear as though they've taken the world by storm
0:11
thanks to their highly successful Amazon Prime TV series, animated spinoff, and incoming landslide
0:16
of in-universe TV and film projects. But they've been around for quite some time
0:21
Beginning in late 2006 and running until 2012, they've had quite a life on the printed comic book page
0:27
But it wasn't until Arab Kripke and the other writers involved in the boys' TV series
0:32
made some simple tweaks to the narrative setup that the property truly captured the imagination
0:36
of the public. Don't want to be late to your first official meeting. I had a whole welcome speech planned
0:44
The titular team of superhero hunting comic book characters, Huey, Butcher, Frenchie
0:48
Mother's Milk, and the female, collectively known as the boys, ran for 72 issues with
0:54
three spinoff miniseries to boot. The book follows five broken and emotionally traumatized super cape killers as they attempt
1:00
to navigate an increasingly dour future populated by super-powered beings. Yeah, that's right
1:05
They're normal humans who perennially battle corporately controlled and owned superheroes. Movie tickets, merchandising, theme parks, video games, a multi-billion dollar global industry
1:18
In the world of the comics, all superheroes are owned and run by a mega corporation called
1:22
Vought American. Their primary assets are a group of characters called the Seven, who are obvious doppelgangers
1:28
of the DC Comics Justice League. This is writer Garth Ennis' way of making a meta-textual statement around his views on
1:35
superhero comics and superhero culture. Typically speaking for me, this stuff usually falls flat on its face
1:41
Garth Ennis is a great writer in some genres, but his distaste for superheroes rubs me the
1:46
wrong way more often than not, which brings us to the first major difference between the
1:50
comics and the show. See, people love that cozy feeling of soups given
1:55
The Boys TV show is a bleak look at the world today through the lens of the superheroes
1:59
But it's not resentful of the fact that it a superhero TV show whereas the original comics are made out of spite ostensibly The simple truth is that Garth Ennis is more concerned about being Garth Ennis and therefore he uses the boys comic to create a cynical and mean narrative
2:15
about the inherent problems with superhero stories. Instead of being a canvas that can be used to tell any manner of stories
2:22
Ennis views superheroes as a fascist metaphor and nothing else. Together, we will make sure that this never happens to our great nation ever again
2:31
This is distinctly different from the TV show, which is far more concerned with actually
2:36
interrogating ideas of power and superhero-dom through the tropes of the superhero genre
2:42
Despite my complaining that The Boys is a cynical take on superheroes, they really developed
2:46
quite a following. After Dynamite picked them up, they found some really solid sales numbers
2:52
It is without a doubt a good time to be in the superhero business
2:57
There were rumors of the book being optioned almost as soon as it was released, though
3:01
there are many contradicting reports about the truth of these claims. Eventually, it was optioned
3:06
to be a movie. Rumors of Simon Pegg actually playing Huey bubbled up. But that never happened
3:11
Subsequently, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the producers behind the Garth Ennis and Steve
3:16
Dillon book Preacher being adapted, set it up as a series with the supernatural creator Eric Kripke
3:21
and acted as showrunners and primary creative forces behind the TV adaptation. The main difference
3:26
between the comics and the show is a simple and yet very important one. In the show, the boys are
3:31
just people. No powers, no extraordinary abilities other than their wits and ingenuity. In the comics
3:38
they all take compound V in order to gain powers and temporarily be able to hold their own with the
3:43
corporately controlled superheroes. In terms of a metaphor, this doesn't work nearly as well. By
3:48
keeping the boys as normal humans, it draws the emotional line in the sand. It shows the frailty
3:53
of the human condition. It shows the will and internal strength of the characters
3:58
even if they're foul-mouthed superhero assassins. That one change right there makes them all so much more complex
4:09
In the comics Butcher even injects Huey with the drug against his will and takes him out on a raid against a team of teen superheroes Woefully underprepared and reeling from ostensibly being hit with superpowered PCP against his will Huey accidentally kills a teen superhero by punching through his chest
4:26
The key distinction for the boys' TV show is that they're always the underdogs. This helps
4:31
the audience root for them and feel more sympathetic for their admittedly Herculean
4:35
journey. Having them constantly need to use their wits also makes all of the characters in the boys
4:40
deeper and more complex. It shows them being more inventive because they have to plan ways of taking
4:46
the superheroes down with their brains and natural abilities. It also makes Huey more part of the team
4:51
because he's actively choosing to help as opposed to being constructed against his will in a drug
4:55
addled murder spree. In the comics, Billy Butcher is a frat boy who has a sadistic sense of humor
5:01
and brutal mean streak. At one point, he sabotages a jetpack of a character that he could have easily
5:06
turned over to the police, ostensibly murdering him for the fun of it. He also stabs Jack from
5:11
Jupiter for literally hours. It's so extreme that Jack passes out, and when he wakes up
5:16
Butcher is still stabbing him. On the printed page, Billy Butcher's motivation stems from
5:21
Homelander murdering his wife. His wife dies by giving birth to Homelander's superpower child
5:26
and then, in a fit of rage, Butcher murders the infant. On the screen, his motivation is set up
5:31
the same. However, towards the end of the first season of the TV series, there's a big reveal
5:36
that his backstory isn't the whole truth. In fact, Butcher's wife is alive
5:41
and is the mother to Homelander's son, Ryan. She's been secreted away by Homelander
5:45
and kept in a safe house, completely removed from the rest of society
5:49
It's a horrible nightmare scenario for Butcher and makes him infinitely more compelling
5:54
Remember what I told you. Don't be a c**t. The subplots involving Vaught American
6:00
are also more complex and intricate than in the books. James Stilwell is the primary antagonist of the boys in the comics
6:07
He's the corporate figurehead that they go up against. He's the puppet master pulling the strings of the seven
6:13
Some people have said that he's just a sociopath and kind of one note. Most of James Stilwell storylines are being repurposed during season two and given to Giancarlo Esposito Stan Edgar the Vaude American CEO James Stilwell is changed for the show into Madeline Stilwell a darkly mangled person who has a complex
6:30
relationship with Homelander. Additionally, Homelander is far more complex in the show
6:35
In the comics, he's just a petulant crybaby. In the show, he wants to be needed and liked
6:39
and goes to extraordinary lengths to prove his worth and value. He's so unstable that even his
6:45
team members are scared of him, which is a great twist on the character. Overall, the show is
6:50
constructed with both a sense of humor and deep well of empathy for the characters, something the
6:55
comics have in rare supply. The show takes setups, some of which are one-to-one archetypal jokes
7:01
and develops them into complex and multifaceted characters. Some of these changes are also for
7:06
comedic purposes on the surface, like the Deep having gills. But they always loop back around
7:15
and become major plot points or developmental markers for the characters. Full disclosure, as I'm sure you've been able to tell from this video
7:22
I don't really enjoy the boys' comics. I don't subscribe to much of Garth Ennis' worldview on superheroes
7:29
but that's just me. I like chunks of his work, just not the boys'. For me, the boys' comic is just too damn cynical
7:35
and obviously frustrated by the limitations of the corporately controlled sector of the genre
7:40
It's a book written about superheroes because that was the only way that Ennis could figure out how to pay rent
7:46
It's something he's deeply resentful of, and it comes through on every page
7:51
In an interview with the LA Times, Ennis is quoted as having said, Personally, not having grown up with superheroes, I find them completely moronic
7:59
Comics take years of your life to create. Seems like there's got to be something better to do with your time rather than focus on negativity
8:05
The TV show Adaptation, however, takes this same basic premise, changes a few key elements and makes it instantly more accessible
8:12
while still maintaining the core of the idea. That core idea? That our heroes can't be trusted
8:18
Which leads you to the inevitable question, what does it say about our culture that we see paragons of truth
8:24
justice, and the American way as evil? It says we're in trouble
8:28
Maeve, think. We're done here
#Comics & Animation
#Cartoons
#Comics
#Film & TV Industry
#TV Shows & Programs
#Spoofs & Satire