Optional Book Club Discussion: The Boys, Vol. 1: The Name of the Game by Garth Ennis - October 2013 (may contain spoilers)

[[deleted user]]

Hello everyone. This is the topic for our optional Book Club Discussion for October 2013, which is as addressed above.

If your post will contain spoilers, then please type SPOILERS in capital letters at the top of your post (or use the html code for spoilers) so that members who are still reading or have not yet read the book can avoid critical details that can spoil their reading.

Enjoy our official book club discussion everyone.

[Jesse]

The first volume is good, though I felt the other characters aren't fleshed out. Nothing a couple of future issues can't fix. Still, I felt that Billy's a typical anti-hero and him stringing in the new guy is something I've seen done a lot before, like Men in Black for example. The characters need more personality.

I find the sudden switches to depictions quite comedic and frankly immature, as this kind of stuff is prevalent in drama or comedy TV. The sex here isn't graphic though, just something that you would expect in a restricted teens film.

What I liked about this volume though is that it portrays how a world with superpowers is in my imagination: chaotic and deadly. It shows what people know happen behind superhero stories but are sweeped away by those who are afraid that all is not as easy as it seems. With powers that could change the world, every superhero book should have been showing a lot of blood. They show carnage, but rarely casualties and torn limbs. I am not a sucker for violence and gore, but I think this book's portrayal of a world with powers is the way how a real one would work.

Further onto realism, I'm pretty sure if a lot of people had powers, some of them are bound to abuse them. Hey, even now, politicians or just about anyone who has power over people can use it for their personal gains, and a lot of them do. It sickens me, but that is how the world works.

I'm probably just blabbering now, so I'll get back on track. The art isn't that distinctive from other works and some of the colors are too dark, but it works for the theme of the story. Also, sometimes I find Billy says some things that don't make sense. The female is also your standard littlr deadly girl, alongside the girls from Sin City and Kick-Ass.

Everything said and done, I've enjoyed volume one and I'm looking forward for the other volumes.

[Zedsdead]

I love graphic novels that turn the superhero genre on its ear (Powers, The Cape, A Hero Somewhere) and The Boys is the standard against which all others are compared for me. It probably could stand just a little restraint on the Ennisian dementedness but it really hit on all levels for me.

[Alex]

I love this whole series, one of the first few scenes is what convinced me to buy it while leafing through it in a book store.

There is a bleakness to the portrayal of the side effects of superheroes on regular humans that is really visceral.

The big event at the start for Hughie (or Simon Pegg, as he is based on) really hit me, it was graphic enough to make him a very sympathetic character and I could really empathise with him.

Butcher is a great protagonist and has enough character to carry the book. Luckily, we also have Hughie, who has a very interesting and most 'normal' story (particularly in some of the later books, which I won't go into here!).

As Jesse said above the other characters aren't really fleshed out very much in this volume, but there is definite scope and potential in all of them, particularly The Female. I don't think it's fair to call her 'generic', the fact that she doesn't quip about everything definitely makes her more interesting than a lot of other characters in comics.

This is a great opening to the series, and I think the very first issue is the highlight of this first volume.

[Adam]

I found The Boys really disappointing - it just felt like Ennis going over old ground, particularly his work on Hitman. The jokes are still funny, but it's formulaic and just felt lazy, to be honest. Hey ho.

[Corto]

Adam wrote: "I found The Boys really disappointing - it just felt like Ennis going over old ground, particularly his work on Hitman.

I had to think of Hitman too (one of the funniest series btw) but didn't get the impression of lazyness. More the feeling that Ennis is trying to do it again, with all the things he wasn't allowed to do at DC. So I did quite enjoy this series as well, even though I laughed more, when I read Tommy Monaghan's tale.
Whether Ennis succeded to top his work on Hitman or not is up to debate and personal taste, I think. As said, I like Hitman more, but on the other hand I always enjoy ridiculed Superheros ;-)

[Andrew]

I found it disappointing. I can see what he's going for, but it's just not quite doing it for me.

Powers by Bendis is a better adult satire of the superhero world imo.