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The Boys Oversized Omnibus Vol. 2
All-new printing collecting amazing issues of the critically acclaimed series, currently running on Amazon Prime!
THIS IS GOING TO HURT.
In a world where costumed heroes soar through the sky and masked vigilantes prowl the night, someone's got to make sure the "supes" don't get out of line. And someone will. Billy Butcher, Wee Hughie, Mother's Milk, The Frenchman, and The Female are The A CIA-backed team of very dangerous people, each one dedicated to the struggle against the most dangerous force on Earth - superpower. Some superheroes have to be watched. Some have to be controlled. And some of them - sometimes - need to be taken out of the picture. That's when you call in The Boys.
Contains the HEROGASM, THE SELF-PRESERVATION SOCIETY, NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD, LA PLUME DE MA TANTE EST SUR LA TABLE, THE INSTANT WHITE-HOT WILD, WHAT I KNOW, THE NNOCENTS, BELIEVE, and HIGHLAND LADDIE. Also includes all covers and bonus materials, including script pages, special introductions, alternate covers and more.
THIS IS GOING TO HURT.
In a world where costumed heroes soar through the sky and masked vigilantes prowl the night, someone's got to make sure the "supes" don't get out of line. And someone will. Billy Butcher, Wee Hughie, Mother's Milk, The Frenchman, and The Female are The A CIA-backed team of very dangerous people, each one dedicated to the struggle against the most dangerous force on Earth - superpower. Some superheroes have to be watched. Some have to be controlled. And some of them - sometimes - need to be taken out of the picture. That's when you call in The Boys.
Contains the HEROGASM, THE SELF-PRESERVATION SOCIETY, NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD, LA PLUME DE MA TANTE EST SUR LA TABLE, THE INSTANT WHITE-HOT WILD, WHAT I KNOW, THE NNOCENTS, BELIEVE, and HIGHLAND LADDIE. Also includes all covers and bonus materials, including script pages, special introductions, alternate covers and more.
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
730 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 22, 2022
35 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Garth Ennis
2,626 books3,173 followersEnnis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997, and several follow-ups from Avatar.
Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.
Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.
Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.
While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.
Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.
After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.
In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.
Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.
In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.
In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis
Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.
Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.
Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.
While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.
Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.
After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.
In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.
Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.
In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.
In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 21, 2022
Finally some character development!!!!! Much better than volume 1. It’s getting warmer and very good. Onto Vol 3.
December 31, 2022
(Zero spoiler review) 3.25/5
Well, that was certainly a fall from grace of sorts. After the ball bustingly good opening salvo that was the oversized omnibus volume one, things go a little bit off the rails here. Losing sight of a great many things that made volume one so special. First off, the art. Darick Robertson is The Boys, just as much as Ennis is. The fact that his art encompassed almost the entire first volume, yet ew get precious little of it here goes a long way towards why this was a much less enjoyable read. I believe there were three, if not four alternative artists on this collection, so we got little in the way of consistency when it came to replacements either. None of them could hold a candle to Robertson, with their far more cartoonish style losing much in the way of storytelling ability. Robertson is a pro when it comes to subtlety and nuance in his artwork, having the characters tell the story as much as Ennis' words. All others failed to varying degrees at this. With character models fluctuating wildly, and quality in general resembling the yoyo of a kid after a gallon of red cordial. Russ Braun being the only one who came close to imitating Robertson' style. Why we couldn't have him do all the issues Robertson couldn't, I'll never know. But then again, why we couldn't just have Robertson... His issues were by the far the best collected here, and I refuse to believe it was simply cause Ennis brought his A game to those ones alone.
Story wise, we get an awful lot of wheel spinning here. The opening volume was tight, well plotted, well paced, and quite intriguing. Here, whilst certain plot threads are continued, its lost much of the allure, much of the appeal these storylines had initially. Mostly because the stories surrounding these ongoing threads aren't as interesting, and the better elements are tainted by association.
The 'edgy' elements here, much as I dislike that term, don't feel as organic as they did originally, and as a result, it comes across as trying just a little bit too hard. But then again, I really was quite dejected looking at the significant downgrade in art, so I imagine that did affect my enjoyment of thee stories maybe a tad more than they should. But the final arc, the Hughie spin off was a very bland and boring finish to an up and down collection. It might just have sneaked a higher 3, and thus four stars, but this last arc really was twice as long and twice as boring as it should have been.
Don't see myself rereading much of anything contained here, sadly. Hopefully volume three ups its game for a stronger finish, and we actually get a decent amount of Robertson art to go with it. I'm not holding my breath, though. 3.25/5
OmniBen.
Well, that was certainly a fall from grace of sorts. After the ball bustingly good opening salvo that was the oversized omnibus volume one, things go a little bit off the rails here. Losing sight of a great many things that made volume one so special. First off, the art. Darick Robertson is The Boys, just as much as Ennis is. The fact that his art encompassed almost the entire first volume, yet ew get precious little of it here goes a long way towards why this was a much less enjoyable read. I believe there were three, if not four alternative artists on this collection, so we got little in the way of consistency when it came to replacements either. None of them could hold a candle to Robertson, with their far more cartoonish style losing much in the way of storytelling ability. Robertson is a pro when it comes to subtlety and nuance in his artwork, having the characters tell the story as much as Ennis' words. All others failed to varying degrees at this. With character models fluctuating wildly, and quality in general resembling the yoyo of a kid after a gallon of red cordial. Russ Braun being the only one who came close to imitating Robertson' style. Why we couldn't have him do all the issues Robertson couldn't, I'll never know. But then again, why we couldn't just have Robertson... His issues were by the far the best collected here, and I refuse to believe it was simply cause Ennis brought his A game to those ones alone.
Story wise, we get an awful lot of wheel spinning here. The opening volume was tight, well plotted, well paced, and quite intriguing. Here, whilst certain plot threads are continued, its lost much of the allure, much of the appeal these storylines had initially. Mostly because the stories surrounding these ongoing threads aren't as interesting, and the better elements are tainted by association.
The 'edgy' elements here, much as I dislike that term, don't feel as organic as they did originally, and as a result, it comes across as trying just a little bit too hard. But then again, I really was quite dejected looking at the significant downgrade in art, so I imagine that did affect my enjoyment of thee stories maybe a tad more than they should. But the final arc, the Hughie spin off was a very bland and boring finish to an up and down collection. It might just have sneaked a higher 3, and thus four stars, but this last arc really was twice as long and twice as boring as it should have been.
Don't see myself rereading much of anything contained here, sadly. Hopefully volume three ups its game for a stronger finish, and we actually get a decent amount of Robertson art to go with it. I'm not holding my breath, though. 3.25/5
OmniBen.
November 30, 2022
Still brilliant -- see my previous review. Flawed but deeply compelling characters, an unpredictable and forceful story, and just lots of chutzpah.
I do have to add one criticism: the main characters seem way too powerful. Apart from one incident with the Female, they just never lose fights, and honestly they never even seem to be in any physical danger. That’s not just boring. It also doesn’t cohere with the worldbuilding. Your strength as a superhero is supposed to be proportional to the purity of the dose of Compound V you get, plus some random factors. But lots of these characters get very, very diluted doses, yet are for some reason absurdly powerful – Mother’s Milk being a great example.
Okay, I lied, I have another criticism: the origin stories of the Boys were handled clumsily. We just get them all at once, in a random info dump. It would have been much smarter and more compelling to have them doled out separately, when narratively appropriate.
Despite all of that, this has been one of the most compelling things I’ve recently read. What a story!
I do have to add one criticism: the main characters seem way too powerful. Apart from one incident with the Female, they just never lose fights, and honestly they never even seem to be in any physical danger. That’s not just boring. It also doesn’t cohere with the worldbuilding. Your strength as a superhero is supposed to be proportional to the purity of the dose of Compound V you get, plus some random factors. But lots of these characters get very, very diluted doses, yet are for some reason absurdly powerful – Mother’s Milk being a great example.
Okay, I lied, I have another criticism: the origin stories of the Boys were handled clumsily. We just get them all at once, in a random info dump. It would have been much smarter and more compelling to have them doled out separately, when narratively appropriate.
Despite all of that, this has been one of the most compelling things I’ve recently read. What a story!
March 23, 2024
Another decent entry into the world of The Boys. Although this one starts with a bang with the Herogasm arc, it just didn't seem to contain the same punch as the first Omnibus. What I am finding more and more interesting is the supes corporate connection, how controlled they are with the different teams, and what they are allowed to do or not do based on Vaught American's plans on how they want the super teams especially The Seven to be viewed by the public.
At this point, I am not sure I am buying the idea of superheroes making the ridiculous amount of money that for example the Seven have by selling comic books. I see that the super teams are trying to be kept out of military and defense purposes connected with the government. But let's face it they would be involved in military development one way or another. If not with the government, then a different government, or private organizations. Maybe it's a knock on the industry to how they are compensated compared to other media sources or maybe it's Garth's sense of humor showing its head but it just seems that if there were superheroes in the world they would be making money in vastly different ways than selling comics and going to sponsored events.
I also find the way some female supes are portrayed to be quite inaccurate. Exhibit A; Herograsm. It makes sense that the male supes would act like crazy horns dogs trying to have sex with everything but the female supes as well. The female supes even act more adult than their male counterparts but when it comes to debauchery they seem to adopt the adolescent mind of a 15-year-old boy. It's just another one of those things that I am not completely sold on.
There are a lot of mysteries still left to uncover which I am excited to see unfold in the last omnibus. I am curious and excited to see how it is all going to end and to uncover some of the missing parts that have been masterfully kept from us up to this point.
At this point, I am not sure I am buying the idea of superheroes making the ridiculous amount of money that for example the Seven have by selling comic books. I see that the super teams are trying to be kept out of military and defense purposes connected with the government. But let's face it they would be involved in military development one way or another. If not with the government, then a different government, or private organizations. Maybe it's a knock on the industry to how they are compensated compared to other media sources or maybe it's Garth's sense of humor showing its head but it just seems that if there were superheroes in the world they would be making money in vastly different ways than selling comics and going to sponsored events.
I also find the way some female supes are portrayed to be quite inaccurate. Exhibit A; Herograsm. It makes sense that the male supes would act like crazy horns dogs trying to have sex with everything but the female supes as well. The female supes even act more adult than their male counterparts but when it comes to debauchery they seem to adopt the adolescent mind of a 15-year-old boy. It's just another one of those things that I am not completely sold on.
There are a lot of mysteries still left to uncover which I am excited to see unfold in the last omnibus. I am curious and excited to see how it is all going to end and to uncover some of the missing parts that have been masterfully kept from us up to this point.
October 15, 2023
Man,
I tell you. What a great storyline but it is extremely graphic. I wish some of the Marvel and DC stories were like this too.
I tell you. What a great storyline but it is extremely graphic. I wish some of the Marvel and DC stories were like this too.
November 17, 2023
Just as good as the 1st Omnibus and the 3rd and final I can't wait
Just one of the smartest, funniest, raunchy, and every positive you can think of. Art, great. Story and character development, amazing. Backstories or brief times of past talked about, great. Again one of the most interesting looks at if superheroes were real and what it would be like but examined through the eyes of someone who will take what humans do and say well supes would be going at this level. And it makes for some of the best storytelling I've ever had the pleasure to read, comic book or regular book anything, it's in the top of my favorite books ever, Watchmen and then regular novels but add this now into. But I highly recommend giving this a read and experiencing it for yourself
Just one of the smartest, funniest, raunchy, and every positive you can think of. Art, great. Story and character development, amazing. Backstories or brief times of past talked about, great. Again one of the most interesting looks at if superheroes were real and what it would be like but examined through the eyes of someone who will take what humans do and say well supes would be going at this level. And it makes for some of the best storytelling I've ever had the pleasure to read, comic book or regular book anything, it's in the top of my favorite books ever, Watchmen and then regular novels but add this now into. But I highly recommend giving this a read and experiencing it for yourself
October 11, 2023
The Boys Oversized Omnibus, Volume 2 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, collects 26 issues of the critically acclaimed series, currently running on Amazon Prime! It contains the stories: Herogasm, The Self-Preservation Society, Nothing Like it in the World, La Plume de Ma Tante Est Sur La Table, The Instant White-Hot Wild, What I Know, The Innocents, Believe, and Highland Laddie. It also includes all covers and bonus materials, including script pages, special introductions, alternate covers and more.
The series is very upfront about its anti-superhero and anti-corporate messages, but even with the lack of upfront subtlety, it still feels overly preachy to many readers.
The series is very upfront about its anti-superhero and anti-corporate messages, but even with the lack of upfront subtlety, it still feels overly preachy to many readers.
October 1, 2024
While slightly less fatally dumb than volume one, it still does not qualify for any kind of recommendation.
For a longer explanation, read my review of volume 1 and 3.
For a longer explanation, read my review of volume 1 and 3.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews