The Boys - An Amazon Prime adaptation of the Ennis comic series

[Mega Black]

Watching this finally and, wow, it feels like it's written by people filled with a sense of spitefulness and hate that churns the stomach.

 

[Johan Schmidt]

Much of Garth Ennis' work boils down to him ranting about stuff he hates honestly. Like Preacher existing sometimes to just make Christians mad, Crossed being about him dunking on zombie survivalists by saying 'oh yeah well what if zombies were actually sadistic rape cannibals who kill, rape, and eat you in horrifically disgusting ways what now' and then later writers taking that to make even more degenerate edgy gore porn. It can get tiring and grating but in the case of The Boys there's at least something there to work with; the concept of 'how would superpowered celebrities with even less accountability than the usual rich, powerful and famous actually behave' is inherently at least a little interesting. Of course, it's been squandered by yet another wave of writers obsessed with portraying themselves as subversive underdogs struggling against their warped, exaggerated understanding of Bush's America. Frankly if there's a group that really deserves some vicious mockery it should be these kinds of people but the closest we get is 'corporate types use our noble and righteous causes to make money!'

The weird thing about crossed, is that the whole point of the OG Romero stuff; was that you wouldn't want to survive the apocalypse of the undead. It would suck, and be awful. Crossed is just that, plus weird sadomascochism barbed wire wrapped porno nuns.

 

[Iceland Heavy]

The weird thing about crossed, is that the whole point of the OG Romero stuff; was that you wouldn't want to survive the apocalypse of the undead. It would suck, and be awful. Crossed is just that, plus weird sadomascochism barbed wire wrapped porno nuns.

I think Crossed was less a reaction against that and more against the ZOMBIES! trend that really took off in the 2000s and the LARPing survivalists that he perceived as being the most obnoxious part of it. Frankly all the 'but what if it's humans that are the real monsters' that permeates it all got really grating to me anyway and Crossed is still that but with extra edge and shock value.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

All I can say is that I would love to go back to the days where we had corny Dudley Do Right protags as at least the sappiness can be enduring. Content like the Boys, GoT and others just is emotionally draining and makes me wonder how can this much cynical content exist when society while flawed is arguably the safest, most prosperous, and free relative to any other point in history?

That's why I always balance things like the Boys, Game of Thrones, and Warhammer 40K with things like OG Star Wars, Transformers, GI Joe, and Superfriends. Finding that balance is essential, if you watch too much grimdark stuff, and you'll want to kill yourself. If you watch too much sappy goody-goody stuff, and you'll think real life is a Saturday morning cartoon.

Much of Garth Ennis' work boils down to him ranting about stuff he hates honestly. Like Preacher existing sometimes to just make Christians mad, Crossed being about him dunking on zombie survivalists by saying 'oh yeah well what if zombies were actually sadistic rape cannibals who kill, rape, and eat you in horrifically disgusting ways what now' and then later writers taking that to make even more degenerate edgy gore porn.

It was the 2000s. The culture was still at most, rather safe and same-y. Gore porn wasn't that mainstream outside of M-rated video games that the older people will bitch at you for playing. So it makes sense that Garth Ennis and some other writers would make edgy shit for the sake of edgy shit. The only difference is, Ennis purposefully pissed people off with his writing, from superhero fans to Christians, which was in poor taste. Whereas other works like Duke Nukem or Shadow the Hedgehog were still violent and edgy, but still had enough camp and charm to carry through without offending people.

Not everything that's edgy is automatically shit. There's "Shadow the Hedgehog holding an assault rifle" edgy, and there's "most superheroes are violent, degenerate sex perverts" edgy. The former is fun to laugh at, and it's a guilty pleasure to sit through. The latter just feels like someone really hates superheroes for no good reason. And no, "superheroes sullying the medium of comics" is not a good reason, especially when the comics medium were carried by superheroes for almost half a century.

It can get tiring and grating but in the case of The Boys there's at least something there to work with; the concept of 'how would superpowered celebrities with even less accountability than the usual rich, powerful and famous actually behave' is inherently at least a little interesting.

One thing that still didn't make sense to me is why Vought was the only company making superheroes. Every time one company comes up with a product that makes them hot shit, other companies follow suit and try to make their own big thing. If all it takes is some blue juma-juice to make you a hero, then you can bet your ass that corporate espionage and sabotage would be through the roof, people will eventually figure out the formula for Compound V, and groups that range from other corporations to the US military would have their own supes.

Yes, there were plenty of times in human history where power was concentrated in the hands of a lucky few who were above the law. And you wanna know what they usually did? They spent most of their time fighting each other for control, not brutalizing the peons who work for them.

Of course, it's been squandered by yet another wave of writers obsessed with portraying themselves as subversive underdogs struggling against their warped, exaggerated understanding of Bush's America.

I never understood why leftists are still ragging on Bush's America. As if he was that much different from Bill Clinton outside of a few things like pro-life politics. Bill was just as trigger-happy as Bush, and even supported the latter's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of society did. It was only when those wars started shitting the bed due to Islamic infighting in Iraq did people turn against Bush II.

Frankly if there's a group that really deserves some vicious mockery it should be these kinds of people but the closest we get is 'corporate types use our noble and righteous causes to make money!'

I never understood that criticism from the left. Why are they that angry about the corporations flying their flags? I mean, sure, some people only do it as a mask, they really don't care, but that has been the case for most of human history; for any given cause, there are those who mean it, and those who seek to profit from it because they couldn't care less. Everything from religion, nationalism, and modern corporate politics have those within them who only support the current thing for the sake of clout.

I think Crossed was less a reaction against that and more against the ZOMBIES! trend that really took off in the 2000s and the LARPing survivalists that he perceived as being the most obnoxious part of it. Frankly all the 'but what if it's humans that are the real monsters' that permeates it all got really grating to me anyway and Crossed is still that but with extra edge and shock value.

The zombie trend was a big thing in the 2000s. God knows how many games wound up making them shotgun fodder. 2001's Halo, which was originally about a galactic war between two superpowers fighting over a weapon of mass destruction in space, wound up becoming a zombie survival horror game by the end, with both the protagonist humans and their alien foes fighting against an endless tide of zombies, and said zombies were the reason why the eponymous WMD even existed. 2002's Warcraft III, a continuation of the series that pit medieval kingdoms against orcs, became a zombie apocalypse game complete with a playable zombie faction eradicating the human kingdoms to trigger a demon invasion. Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead were solid, big-hitters in the gaming scene as survival horror games where you either tried to survive with limited supplies, or had to deal with endless waves of zombie shotgun fodder.

But I never understood why so much of zombie survival media is so interested in making the humans even shittier than the zombies. The zombies become window-dressing in their own genre while human shitstains are the real assholes, to the point where you start rooting for the zombies to kill them.

 

[Right To Bear Blarms]

How Bought juiced up babies for decades and never got caught also never made any sense. In Season 1 we can see an entire wing of a hospital dedicated to pumping babies full of V but none was ever stolen or intercepted until the Boys' cockamamie scheme after getting this info from Ezekiel?

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

How Bought juiced up babies for decades and never got caught also never made any sense. In Season 1 we can see an entire wing of a hospital dedicated to pumping babies full of V but none was ever stolen or intercepted until the Boys' cockamamie scheme after getting this info from Ezekiel?

I know, right? It's even sillier in the comics where the Boys are literally CIA agents who pumped themselves with Compound V. At this point, the government would know how V works, and they'd have their own versions of it and their own supes. Why stop at juicing up one squad of CIA flunkies in trenchcoats when you can have super-powered Marines, Navy Seals, or some other military experiment that can flip Homelander like a pancake? What the Emperor of Mankind in 40K took centuries to make, the US Government in the Boys comic could complete in a couple of years.

 

[MasterCornstalk]

would anyone go for a animated adaption of the boys in the style of that one episode of diabolical?

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=AW4H7k6Fjf4would anyone go for a animated adaption of the boys in the style of that one episode of diabolical?

If it came out, people would just shit on it for having gore/shit/depraved sex. It would just be a western hentai production.

 

[MasterCornstalk]

If it came out, people would just shit on it for having gore/shit/depraved sex. It would just be a western hentai production.

Some fans of the comic would like it. Don’t get me wrong I think the comics has its problems and I like the tv show as well. Those people who complain about it nonstop have no life.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Some fans of the comic would like it. Don’t get me wrong I think the comics has its problems and I like the tv show as well. Those people who complain about it nonstop have no life.

It would probably be some kind of direct-to-DVD thing that's hush-hush and off to the side. Like most hentai.

 

[MasterCornstalk]

It would probably be some kind of direct-to-DVD thing that's hush-hush and off to the side. Like most hentai.

It would be the best way to handle a adaptation like that. It’s under the radar and only a handful people would know about it.

 

[TheHarbinger]

How Bought juiced up babies for decades and never got caught also never made any sense. In Season 1 we can see an entire wing of a hospital dedicated to pumping babies full of V but none was ever stolen or intercepted until the Boys' cockamamie scheme after getting this info from Ezekiel?

The scale in the show (and comics) is just way off. Like not a single mother or father who put V into their kid blows the whistle on Vought. Super top secret facilities are guarded less than a local grocery store. The most important Russian military facility that contains Soldier Boy, a walking MOAB, is guarded by less people than can field a football team. Super heroes can survive massive falls and collisions with armored Brinks trucks but cannot punch through a wooden door. Super heroes can survive bullets to the face yet Becca Butcher throws a knife into Stormfront's eye. Homelander also gets a rod into his ears that is absolutely moving slower than a bullet from a sniper rifle. A sniper bullet should be able to enter his brain.

Butcher just walks into a hospital and kidnaps a super baby and uses it to laser the moron inept security guards. Frenchie walks into the top secret Vought lab that has like a wall sized refrigerator of V and V24 with ease. The Boys walk into an illegal hospital that is experimenting on mental patients with V. The show simply does not have the budget to have armies guarding these facilities. And it greatly hurts the believability of the show. Soldier Boy should have been guarded by tanks, helicopters, and thousands of soldiers.

Ezekiel sending V through the mail is also hilarious. Or A-Train just running V like a maniac through the streets. Imagine he ran into Robin and the V exploded all over the ground. How does Vought explain that?

I know, right? It's even sillier in the comics where the Boys are literally CIA agents who pumped themselves with Compound V. At this point, the government would know how V works, and they'd have their own versions of it and their own supes. Why stop at juicing up one squad of CIA flunkies in trenchcoats when you can have super-powered Marines, Navy Seals, or some other military experiment that can flip Homelander like a pancake?

The show making Compound V a well kept secret is a great change. Though it barely makes sense when you really examine things. But now that V is an open secret it would pretty much be open season on groups trying to infiltrate Vought to steal the formula. Also some super heroes might just steal some and sell it to the Russians or Chinese or the CIA on their own. V is just kept in the fridge like you would keep a can of soda.

A nobody super hero like Popclaw had bags of V in her house. She could have brought down Vought single-handedly by giving some to the CIA. I understand just ignoring this stuff so you can accelerate the plot. But now this all looks like bad writing in wake of the plot freezing season three finale.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

It would be the best way to handle a adaptation like that. It’s under the radar and only a handful people would know about it.

Exactly. The public wouldn't like it.

As I said, there's the kind of edgy where you have a cartoon animal holding an assault rifle and blowing up a bunch of soldiers and aliens, and there's the kind of edgy where everyone who aspires to be a hero is just a degenerate psychopath. The former is a guilty pleasure, the latter is just poor taste.

The scale in the show (and comics) is just way off. Like not a single mother or father who put V into their kid blows the whistle on Vought. Super top secret facilities are guarded less than a local grocery store. The most important Russian military facility that contains Soldier Boy, a walking MOAB, is guarded by less people than can field a football team. Super heroes can survive massive falls and collisions with armored Brinks trucks but cannot punch through a wooden door. Super heroes can survive bullets to the face yet Becca Butcher throws a knife into Stormfront's eye. Homelander also gets a rod into his ears that is absolutely moving slower than a bullet from a sniper rifle. A sniper bullet should be able to enter his brain.

Again, this is still the capeshit genre, power levels are whatever the author requires. Trying to put it through the lens of realistic physics just won't work.

Butcher just walks into a hospital and kidnaps a super baby and uses it to laser the moron inept security guards. Frenchie walks into the top secret Vought lab that has like a wall sized refrigerator of V and V24 with ease. The Boys walk into an illegal hospital that is experimenting on mental patients with V. The show simply does not have the budget to have armies guarding these facilities. And it greatly hurts the believability of the show. Soldier Boy should have been guarded by tanks, helicopters, and thousands of soldiers.

Shit, Soldier Boy should have been deep in some secret base guarded only by elite troops, complete with a reactor that can self-destruct like a nuclear bomb if he got loose.

Ezekiel sending V through the mail is also hilarious. Or A-Train just running V like a maniac through the streets. Imagine he ran into Robin and the V exploded all over the ground. How does Vought explain that?

At that point, you'd have no shortage of Compound V samples that the feds or other corporations can take and use to make their own heroes.

The show making Compound V a well kept secret is a great change. Though it barely makes sense when you really examine things. But now that V is an open secret it would pretty much be open season on groups trying to infiltrate Vought to steal the formula. Also some super heroes might just steal some and sell it to the Russians or Chinese or the CIA on their own. V is just kept in the fridge like you would keep a can of soda.

Not only that, but the feds would openly tell Vought to just hand over the formula or be closed down. Or, some spy would have already stolen more than enough samples for the feds or some other corporation to mass-produce or even improve upon it. Imagine when Homelander finally snaps, only to meet a stronger, more disciplined version of himself who pancakes him in half a minute because the guy was actually a trained CQC fighter before getting dosed up with V.

A nobody super hero like Popclaw had bags of V in her house. She could have brought down Vought single-handedly by giving some to the CIA. I understand just ignoring this stuff so you can accelerate the plot. But now this all looks like bad writing in wake of the plot freezing season three finale.

The whole series is just pop entertainment, the moment you start thinking about things, it all falls apart.

Superman posed a unique threat to his enemies because he was the last of a dead race, whose planet went kaput, so replicating his powers would be an enormous undertaking. All you need to make another Homelander is to steal Vought's notes on how he was made, as well as some Compound V samples/formulas.

 

[Iron Jaguar]

 

[MasterCornstalk]

Exactly. The public wouldn't like it.

As I said, there's the kind of edgy where you have a cartoon animal holding an assault rifle and blowing up a bunch of soldiers and aliens, and there's the kind of edgy where everyone who aspires to be a hero is just a degenerate psychopath. The former is a guilty pleasure, the latter is just poor taste.


Again, this is still the capeshit genre, power levels are whatever the author requires. Trying to put it through the lens of realistic physics just won't work.


Shit, Soldier Boy should have been deep in some secret base guarded only by elite troops, complete with a reactor that can self-destruct like a nuclear bomb if he got loose.


At that point, you'd have no shortage of Compound V samples that the feds or other corporations can take and use to make their own heroes.


Not only that, but the feds would openly tell Vought to just hand over the formula or be closed down. Or, some spy would have already stolen more than enough samples for the feds or some other corporation to mass-produce or even improve upon it. Imagine when Homelander finally snaps, only to meet a stronger, more disciplined version of himself who pancakes him in half a minute because the guy was actually a trained CQC fighter before getting dosed up with V.


The whole series is just pop entertainment, the moment you start thinking about things, it all falls apart.

Superman posed a unique threat to his enemies because he was the last of a dead race, whose planet went kaput, so replicating his powers would be an enormous undertaking. All you need to make another Homelander is to steal Vought's notes on how he was made, as well as some Compound V samples/formulas.

I’d go with guilty pleasure.

 

[DDBCAE CBAADCBE]

Damn, I didn't think of that. It's so stupid but it wouldn't surprise me, they use CGI to hand-hold everything in film now. No need for creative workarounds for effects or bad acting apparently.

The MCU is really bad about it. Everything looks and sounds so fake in those films. They can’t even get dynamic costume designs for their actors anymore. They all look like shitty cosplayers.

 

[Commander X]

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

The MCU is really bad about it. Everything looks and sounds so fake in those films. They can’t even get dynamic costume designs for their actors anymore. They all look like shitty cosplayers.

I laughed my ass off when they made those generic Avengers Endgame uniforms with matching colors. As if they forgot what superheroes are supposed to look like, each with their own costume, not Star Trek redshirts who wear the same lame outfit that looks less fashionable than Stormtrooper gear.

 

[DDBCAE CBAADCBE]

I laughed my ass off when they made those generic Avengers Endgame uniforms with matching colors. As if they forgot what superheroes are supposed to look like, each with their own costume, not Star Trek redshirts who wear the same lame outfit that looks less fashionable than Stormtrooper gear.

What’s especially egregious about it is, and I know I’m going to probably catch some shit for this, but the costumes from the original Daredevil movie, and Sam’s Spiderman trilogy were absolutely perfect. They looked like they were really there and like actual superhero costumes.

Meanwhile they can’t even manage to get Scarlet Witch a costume that fits, much less one that looks dynamic and eye catching. It doesn’t help that the actress they used looks like she’s a 45yr old widow with a smoking problem.

And Cumberbatch doesn’t even look human. He has a face that will never not look uncanny valley to me. Like Gumby or an alien. Vincent Price is the ONLY man who could have played the role of The Sorcerer Supreme properly. The next best thing would be a real good impersonator and let’s be honest Cumberbitch isn’t even close.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

What’s especially egregious about it is, and I know I’m going to probably catch some shit for this, but the costumes from the original Daredevil movie, and Sam’s Spiderman trilogy were absolutely perfect. They looked like they were really there and like actual superhero costumes.

Early 2000s superhero costumes actually had the look of comic book heroes. But as time went on and the MCU became more prolific, they moved away from that, until eventually, Avengers Endgame has them all literally wearing Star Trek-style uniforms. These guys don't look like they should be fighting supervillains, they look like they should be fixing the holodeck for the captain's next use:

Those don't look like superheroes. They look like standard recruits on a spaceship. They're more fitting for a military or corporate outfit than a group of individual heroes each with their own personality or style.

Meanwhile they can’t even manage to get Scarlet Witch a costume that fits, much less one that looks dynamic and eye catching. It doesn’t help that the actress they used looks like she’s a 45yr old widow with a smoking problem.

Well, it's not like she's made for the male demographic. A trend that continues from late 2012 to the Boys TV show is that they make fun of guys who want superheroines and action girls to look sexy. Especially in the show, when Starlight was forced to change her uniform to a more form-fitting outfit and some guy calls out to her to show her tits, or when Stormfront shamed that Vought movie director for being a nerd who writes all women as unknowable Hitchcock bitches or Michael Bay fuck-dolls.

Scarlet Witch isn't there to look sexy, she's there so that the girls and wine aunts watching can imagine themselves as her in the heat of the action. She looks fine, but they're not going to go the extra mile to make her look young.

And Cumberbatch doesn’t even look human. He has a face that will never not look uncanny valley to me. Like Gumby or an alien. Vincent Price is the ONLY man who could have played the role of The Sorcerer Supreme properly. The next best thing would be a real good impersonator and let’s be honest Cumberbitch isn’t even close.

He always looks so overwhelmed by the events that's happening and the weird sorcery that takes place. While that's good for the everyman trope to relate to the audience, it also calls into question his profession as a sorcerer since magicians see weird shit all the time in fiction. He shouldn't look or act surprised when weird shit happens around him; this is his life.