The Boys (comics)

The Boys is a comic series based in a world where super-powers are real, but almost no one who has them is a hero. They put on a good public face, but behind the scenes nearly every one is terrible. And a small group of operatives, who are pretty terrible themselves, track down the secrets and hand out punishments.

All that sounds like it's a fun concept, and it would be, if the writers of The Boys weren't so fond of going over the top with every kind of the worst excess and immorality. Most of it is sexual, though there's plenty of violence as well. Some of it actually matters to the plot and world-building, and that part I don't mind. But I'd say that's maybe a third of what's actually presented, with the rest being just unnecessary crude sensationalism and humor.

It's possible to do this kind of "if super-powers were real people would be terrible with them" thing in a different way. I know because it already was done, back in 2003 with Supreme Power. That series had its share of sex and violence, but it wasn't thrown in your face on every page, and most of it had a purpose in the story.

I read the first collection volume of The Boys for a few reasons. I have friends who have liked it, I was looking for a new graphic novel to read anyway, and also I'd heard there was going to be a TV series made. But if the TV series holds true to the style of the comics, I doubt I'll want to watch it.

The world-building, the characters, the story plots...all that stuff is interesting and fairly well executed in The Boys. If the writers could have just restrained their impulse to cram crude language and humor into every possible nook and cranny of their creation, I'd have really liked it. But as it is, I can't say the good parts are worth the sludge you have to read through on the way.