blogging by Andrew Wickliffe
And what does Ennis do for the finish? Pretty much exactly what I figured he’d do. There’s nothing really new to it, except maybe some gesture of humanity from the corporate jerk, which makes one wonder why Ennis bothered. Darick Robertson comes back (with assists from Richard P. Clark). It makes sense, since Robertson created […]
MoreFor the last regular issue–there’s one more, but this one ends the plot line of the the final arc at least–Ennis does rather well. He doesn’t recover the series, however. He turns in almost a standalone. One wouldn’t have to read the previous thirty or forty issues to still get a good experience. One definitely […]
MoreIt’s a fast issue. Hughie gets to meet some mentioned, but never seen characters. Well, let’s just say Ennis should have gone the Vera and Maris route because doing a Lovecraft thing? Not the best scene. He can’t even make it funny when he tries. Ennis resolves two mysteries the series never needed solving. Then […]
MoreI’d say another problem with Ennis’s big twist is how many twists does he really need for this comic book. He’s about to hit seventy issues–I’m not going to do the math, but his readers have dropped north of two hundred bucks on this series (especially since it’s so heavy on continuity–no jumping on late)… […]
MoreI don’t think I’ve ever quite read something like what Ennis is doing with The Boys. He’s making the reader feel bad about liking the comic. It’s a crazy thing, full of hostility. There’s also some other stuff. Some good stuff. Well, the one good moment where the Female finally talks. It’s an awesome moment, […]
MoreThe biggest surprise this issue–and the issue has three or four surprises, maybe five–has to be Ennis deciding to deport the Boys. Except Mother’s Milk. It’s a throwaway little bit, intended to show how Hughie is becoming more like Butcher, but it’s an unexpected complication. The other surprises? While Ennis hasn’t been foreshadowing them directly, […]
MoreEnnis opens with the most exciting thing in the issue–only he doesn’t intimate there’s not going to be anything else exciting in the issue. He also doesn’t explain the scene. He just lets it play out, then goes back to the fallout from the previous arc. The Boys sort of break up this issue. They […]
MoreAnd Ennis comes up with a huge surprise reveal–before teasing a surprise in the next issue. He doesn’t go as far with it as he could; he basically does a Brubaker. He reveals something in the characters’ history to change everything they knew and so on. He doesn’t do a full Brubaker though. I was […]
MoreThere’s so much talking. Ennis just has Butcher and Hughie standing around talking for what seems like six pages. They’re waiting at the White House for the big showdown, only there’s a secret they don’t realize–Black Noir is up to something and no one knows about it except Mother’s Milk…. And he decides to wait […]
MoreEven though Braun gets loose every other page (or maybe even panel) and Ennis’s big finish for Hughie and A-Train flops, the issue works. Things are finally coming to a close and Ennis is working at a breakneck speed. There are lots of callbacks to better issues, whether it’s the stuff between Frenchie and the […]
MoreI don’t know what’s going on with Braun’s art, but he gets positively cartoony at times this issue. It’s like he’s too enthusiastic with Ennis’s humorous moments, which mostly involve Butcher making a wisecrack. With Ennis trying to wind everything up, he’s dialed certain things back on The Boys. It looks a lot like the […]
MoreThe Boys is so far off the rails, it’s hard to even get excited about a decent issue anymore. And this issue’s decent. It’s not good or great, but it’s got a couple funny moments and Ennis doesn’t shortchange Mother’s Milk entirely–just partially. And there’s a funny bit where Ennis makes fun of the Teen […]
MoreOnce again, it’s very hard to determine whether Ennis had these plans for The Boys all along or if he rushed things along with contrivances. Because it sure feels like he’s rushing things along. Most of the issue is spent with the President, who’s sort of been a character but not one to run the […]
MoreEnnis inexplicably employs a third person narrator for the end of the issue, after Hughie breaks up with Annie. I’m nearly positive he’s never used it before in the series. It’s jarring, reminding the reader it’s just a comic. He also skips over giving the reader a look into Hughie’s thought process, as he acts […]
MoreButcher gets around to setting Hughie up for the whole truth about Annie, which implies he’s also messing with Mother’s Milk’s flask, but there’s also a big reveal about Maeve. It all of a sudden makes sense why Ennis has always been so careful with her character–he’s got major plans for her. Or at least […]
MoreActually, it wasn’t a soft cliffhanger last issue; Ennis takes the reader through Annie telling Hughie about her superhero life and Ennis and Braun show Hughie’s thought process in glorious detail. There’s a little humor with Frenchie and the Female as they infiltrate the superhero religion convention. Not a lot, but enough–with visual gags–to get […]
MoreI was going to comment on how different Robertson’s art looks, but it’s Russ Braun, not Robertson. Braun does a good job too, except Tony Avina’s colors do way too much, putting in cheekbones and the like. Ennis finally has a go at religion this time–corporate “700 Club” type religion, with some Scientology digs thrown […]
MoreIt’s another underwhelming issue. Ennis actually goes so far as to have Annie sitting in a coffee shop, writing Hughie an email all about her secrets. Why Butcher isn’t investigating her (or why he doesn’t have Hughie’s phone automatically tapped) is left untouched. One has to assume Ennis is trying to get the series somewhere […]
MoreRobertson has help on the art from Richard P. Clark. Not sure it’s actually help, given there are some really weak panels. Especially towards the end. Yeah, so… the end of Super Duper arc. Ennis introduces the ultra violence of The Boys into the Super Duper household and it terrifies the kids. Butcher terrifies the […]
MoreButcher’s suspicions–instead of him just resolving them–play out with spying and so on. It makes him less of a character. Ennis is now playing him for laughs. It’s a very strange misfire. The best scene in the comic isn’t actually with any of the Boys. Well, except a funny flashback. Otherwise, the best scene is […]
MoreEnnis takes the Butcher finding out about Hughie and Annie thing in an unexpected direction. It makes Butcher suspicious Hughie’s a double agent, which leads to a couple lengthy talking heads scenes of Hughie being normal and Butcher being suspicious. The first such scene is fine. The second’s practically unbearable. It just goes on and […]
MoreEnnis is tying some stuff up–or at least buying the laces–with McCrea and Burns on the art. It’s not the right issue for them, it’s all way too mundane. Butcher finally finds out about Annie, Frenchie tries to get the Female hooked on 2000 AD, we find out Mother’s Milk has some issues from his […]
MoreLots of jokes for the Female’s origin too. Frenchie has to tell it to Hughie, but there’re a few implications it’s an accurate retelling. Ennis plays it for violence and for laughs. The Female ingests the superhero juice as a baby, which leads to her being a caged killing machine from birth. She escapes, learns […]
MoreEnnis tells Frenchie’s story, which he does mostly for laughs. Robertson gets the humor well–the setting, a tranquil French village, helps a lot. There aren’t any surprises–Hughie even goes so far as to doubt its veracity–and only a couple real standouts. The first is short but awesome. As Frenchie recounts a touching summer love affair, […]
MoreOnce again, Ennis avoids the big question the flashback raises. Hughie and Mother’s Milk are still talking–I think Hughie went for coffee–and there’s a bit more back story. Not a lot. Ennis skips about fourteen years. He does get in a big fight scene, which Robertson draws quite well. But the issue–as none of the […]
MoreEnnis gets to Mother’s Milk’s story–and hints at something to do with the Female’s. M.M.’s story is a doozy. Ennis takes a somewhat traditional story–the giant corporation knowingly poisoning people with toxic waste–and adds the superhuman element. It’s devastating at times, even with some of the more amusing visuals. It’s like Ennis and Robertson are […]
MoreAnd the Ezquerras are back for the finish. It’s an awesome finish for with the Super Nazi going down–though, really, Hughie getting queasy over them attacking a super-powered Nazi is a real problem. Maybe with a vaguely sympathetic superhero it’d be different, but not this guy. I assume Ennis knows what he’s doing with it. […]
MoreI really wish I could remember the name of the Wonder Woman analog because Ennis does some great stuff with her this issue. He also does something interesting with the Homelander–setting him up to attempt being a superhero. But those developments are on the Seven side of things…. On the Boys side of things, Butcher […]
MoreMy bad, the Female doesn’t die. I thought she did (and I took it, as a reader, in total stride). But she makes it. And then the Boys get into a big fight with a second-rate super team. Lots of violence, but with the Ezquerra art it’s all very digestible. A couple things stand out […]
MoreHoly crap. Ennis kills one of The Boys (or so it seems). It’s a strange occurrence for a few reasons. First, it doesn’t seem like a big change in the series. Ennis has already done a lot of jarring things, so killing off a lead doesn’t faze as much as it could. But it should, […]
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