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

[BiggestKai]

God, imagine if Homelander wins though

>Homelander kills them all and wins
>freeze frame
>"OI CUNTS, DIS IS WHATS 'APPENIN' ROIGHT NOW BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT FOIGHTING AGAINST BLUMPF 'ARD ENOUGH. FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR FREEDOM, FOR THE SAKE OF 'UMANITY, FOR THE SAKE OF MY WOIFE'S SON, FOIGHT BACK, OTHERWISE IT WON'T BE...... DIABOLICAL"
But its Hughie saying it because Urban refused to say that speech or something.
That or Homelander actually wins in a shock scene but it's Sister Sage's predictions or dreams or something before the REAL events occur.

 

[Gay Sex Enjoyer]

That or Homelander actually wins in a shock scene but it's Sister Sage's predictions or dreams or something before the REAL events occur.

Bro not the fucking Twilight ending

 

[regalterry]

This show hits the same kike and libshit writing point as Invincible down the abortion plotline. Complete lack of creativity.

"Superheroes are actually evil/crazy" had already been done to death a decade before Ennis subjected the whole of humanity to the Boys, his only "contribution" to the idea was adding more gratuitous, infantile porn and gore, as is in his nature.

The really sad part is that none of it is actually particularly daring or boundary-pushing - both Invincible and the Boys are incredibly passe and prosaic, the safest kind of edgy slop imaginable. One could argue both are the gore equivalent of safe horny.

Neither Ennis, Kirkman, or the writers of the TV show or cartoon are capable of doing something actually risqué, or violate liberal religious orthodoxy. It turns out all those liberal "freedom of expression" advocates were not actually making shock content to prove a point, but simply doing it because they get off on all the gore, porn and degeneracy on display.

I shit on Moore all the time, but whether intentionally or not, he actually did give Rorschach a fair shake. Then again, that was decades prior to the Current Year, so blatant attempts at bad writing would have been ridiculed.

Audiences have been subjected to this kind of trash for more than 20 years now and are completely desensitized to all of it.

The only retards that think they're being clever are Ennis and Kirkman, who are morphing into the Gen-X equivalent of boomers, now perpetually mentally stuck in a fever dream of the mid-00s, masturbating themselves raw at the outrage and shock their content is causing to conservative sticks in the mud like Jack Thompson.

 

[Gay Sex Enjoyer]

I shit on Moore all the time, but whether intentionally or not, he actually did give Rorschach a fair shake. Then again, that was decades prior to the Current Year, so blatant attempts at bad writing would have been ridiculed.

Moore's problem with Rorschach was that instead of tearing down his ideology (you know the thing that matters) he instead just threw every surface-level negative trait he could think of at him and assumed that was enough to make people think Rorschach was bad and wrong and crazy.

Rorschach was a smelly, homeless, ginger, misogynist, homophobic, abrasive asshole manlet, but in the end he was still right. Rorschach is a caricature in all the ways that don't matter, meanwhile his core beliefs and motivations remain pure as driven snow.

He was the only one that didn't pussy out and stop fighting crime just because the government said it's a no-no, and he was also the only one that refused to cover up mass genocide because Ozymandias is autistic and thought he could play god. He believed that there is good and evil, and evil must be punished. You cannot compromise with evil, it must simply be fought, even if doing so is pointless or suicidal.

TLDR: Moore is British and tried to satirize a right winger, the typical result ensued.

 

[regalterry]

TLDR: Moore is British and tried to satirize a right winger, the typical result ensued.

Even since the comic came out he's been seething that people identify with Rorschach's "childish" morals, which is genuinely hilarious, because who else are they supposed to agree with?

The Comedian is an amoral nihilist - a rapist, war criminal and murderer.
Dr. Manhattan is a coward that pretends to be above it all, and ultimately just runs away.
Nite Owl is a normie cuck, getting everyone's sloppy seconds, and betraying his best friend in the end.
Silk Spectre is a whore with daddy issues that has no opinions of her own.
Ozymandias is genuinely insane and so narcissistic he thinks he has all the answers, but ultimately outs himself as a sham when he asks the blue retard if he's doing the right thing.

The only person with a relatable moral compass is Rorschach, who, despite claiming "And I would whisper no!", still risks his life to stop Ozymandias' plan, and when that fails, dies trying to expose his crimes.

The fact Moore fails to understand why people relate to Rorschach to this day just goes to show how alien liberal "morality" truly is.

 

[Chilson]

Moore's problem with Rorschach was that instead of tearing down his ideology (you know the thing that matters) he instead just threw every surface-level negative trait he could think of at him and assumed that was enough to make people think Rorschach was bad and wrong and crazy.

Rorschach was a smelly, homeless, ginger, misogynist, homophobic, abrasive asshole manlet, but in the end he was still right. Rorschach is a caricature in all the ways that don't matter, meanwhile his core beliefs and motivations remain pure as driven snow.

He was the only one that didn't pussy out and stop fighting crime just because the government said it's a no-no, and he was also the only one that refused to cover up mass genocide because Ozymandias is autistic and thought he could play god. He believed that there is good and evil, and evil must be punished. You cannot compromise with evil, it must simply be fought, even if doing so is pointless or suicidal.

TLDR: Moore is British and tried to satirize a right winger, the typical result ensued.

Its even funnier that, as time has gone on, him being a anti-government misogynist homophobe has flipped to being positive traits and a sign of someone with high moral character in modern society outside batshit insane lefty urban shitholes.

 

[Gay Sex Enjoyer]

The cold war ending IRL with people just mutually agreeing that dying sucks after the comic came out vindicates Rorschach more than anything else.

Ozymandias was a fart-huffing dipshit that spent his free time masturbating to the idea of the "greater good" and didn't understand humanity. Rorschach did. Objective reality agreed with Rorschach.

Lol, lmao.

 

[God of Nothing]

Morality requires close-mindedness and belief in if not outright objectivity. Immorality is caused by open-mindedness to things that are unnatural, disruptive, and degenerate. The open-mindedness leads to subjectivity, which is the equivalent of validating everything however well-intentioned. Liberalism leads to immorality through misplaced ideas of equality and liberty. Specifically regarding fundamentally different peoples and the ability to do things that are innately self-harming (homosexuality, genital mutilation, and partaking of controlled substances).

This is how you get Soldier Boy coming out of Season 3 looking like the best moral authority out of everyone in spite of being a dick. He doesn't back down when challenged by people whose morality seemingly changes on the dime. His enemies are people more degenerate than him and traitors. No one liked him getting fucked over at the end for a reason.

 

[Samuel Fuller]

The cold war ending IRL with people just mutually agreeing that dying sucks after the comic came out vindicates Rorschach more than anything else.

Ozymandias was a fart-huffing dipshit that spent his free time masturbating to the idea of the "greater good" and didn't understand humanity. Rorschach did. Objective reality agreed with Rorschach.

Lol, lmao.

Ozymadias didn’t give a shit about any kind of greater good, he was a psychopathic narcissist who wanted to rule the world.

 

[StarkRavingMad]

Moore's problem with Rorschach was that instead of tearing down his ideology (you know the thing that matters) he instead just threw every surface-level negative trait he could think of at him and assumed that was enough to make people think Rorschach was bad and wrong and crazy.

Rorschach was a smelly, homeless, ginger, misogynist, homophobic, abrasive asshole manlet, but in the end he was still right. Rorschach is a caricature in all the ways that don't matter, meanwhile his core beliefs and motivations remain pure as driven snow.

He was the only one that didn't pussy out and stop fighting crime just because the government said it's a no-no, and he was also the only one that refused to cover up mass genocide because Ozymandias is autistic and thought he could play god. He believed that there is good and evil, and evil must be punished. You cannot compromise with evil, it must simply be fought, even if doing so is pointless or suicidal.

TLDR: Moore is British and tried to satirize a right winger, the typical result ensued.

Also, Moore gave Rorschach all of those negative traits while giving him a tragic AF backstory.

Yeah, he's got some screws loose, because the poor man was abused by his whore mother (and most likely her customers too), witnessed some dogs eat the remains of a little girl who was kidnapped and raped, and continued to witness the absolute worst that society has to offer. That would break literally anyone's spirit, so the readers immediately understand why Rorschach is the way he is.

So Rorschach was not only completely in the right, but he was also the most sympathetic character in Watchmen BY FAR.

I find it hilarious that Moore accidentally wrote one of the best comic book characters ever, lol.

 

[FK009]

accidentally

And this is the part that really gets me with these writers. They strike gold, not because of skill or intuition, but luck. I can only imagine the stories that could be written in todays age, if they did have moral, and heroic protagonists, with a hardline objective code.

 

[Not A Bunny]

>Homelander kills them all and wins
>freeze frame
>"OI CUNTS, DIS IS WHATS 'APPENIN' ROIGHT NOW BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT FOIGHTING AGAINST BLUMPF 'ARD ENOUGH. FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR FREEDOM, FOR THE SAKE OF 'UMANITY, FOR THE SAKE OF MY WOIFE'S SON, FOIGHT BACK, OTHERWISE IT WON'T BE...... DIABOLICAL"

Could you imagine? They did this shit during the pandemic for The Blacklist.

I can't find the clip before the animated ending to the episode (season 7 finale), but I remember watching it back then and I'm like, "they halted the episode just to virtue signal about fucking COVID". It was one of the most bizarre things I ever saw and I kind of knew even back then it wasn't the end of the fucking world.

 

[RSU 1741]

The only person with a relatable moral compass is Rorschach, who, despite claiming "And I would whisper no!", still risks his life to stop Ozymandias' plan, and when that fails, dies trying to expose his crimes.

Rorschach is batshit insane on several levels. He's still far more human than most of the other characters: there's a single point where Rorschach meets with his landlord after fleeing the prison (an atrocious screeching subhuman that made up a story about him being a sex pest to sell to the tabloids). By his own "code", she would require horrible punishment. For a moment he stops, notices the crying children behind her and simply goes away. Because he sees something of himself in the children. And they are innocent.

I find amusing to reflect about Watchmen in a Boys thread. Moore wrote Rorschach as a negative character, but he's still a hero. He resonates with the people because there's something primal in us that screams that we should act when something is wrong, that there's a righteous anger somewhere. After all, what's Rorschach greatest sin? That he's a terrific loser? Despite being poor, uneducated and a bigot, he tries to do the right thing. Compare and contrast with all the other Watchmen that are essentially morally bankrupt or detached from humanity.

Rorschach is human, fallible and heroic. People naturally respond to that.

Compare and contrast with The Boys where everyone is simply an asshole. Imagine Rorschach written by Ennis, where the only two options we could are lone wolf spec ops too cool 4 u soldier man or pedophile loser rapist. Has Ennis ever written a character that has any finesse?

 

[Steam Deck Verified]

Alan Moore did his usual "old man yells at cloud" about the HBO miniseries but I'm sure he smugged out about misguided Rorschach fanboys being ebil white supremacists while the strong black woman becomes a god at the end, considering how he donates profits en masse to BLM.

As for The Boys, shocker, people like the handsome, well-acted, charismatic and layered villain over a bunch of retarded, fuck-ugly, do-nothing Reddit-tier protagonists who are repeatedly choke-chained away from being remotely cool. Insane how the writers have been chimping out about this exact issue since season 1 when Homelander instantly became the breakout favorite, and yet no amount of hammered-in Drumpf metaphors, boob milk-drinking, and tantrums could dissuade people away from preferring him instead of Frenchie.

 

[The Incredible Gassy]

All because Garth Ennis hates superheroes. A lot.

Yeah but we got Punisher max so it evens out.

 

[God of Nothing]

Compare and contrast with The Boys where everyone is simply an asshole. Imagine Rorschach written by Ennis, where the only two options we could are lone wolf spec ops too cool 4 u soldier man or pedophile loser rapist.

Ennis would make him a raving lunatic and nothing else. A character with actual depth and legitimate flaws that don't serve to make them more of a brooding anti-hero is vastly out of his reach. We've gone over his writing and fake tough guy armyfag shit before. The idea of someone who is legitimately fucked doing the right thing is alien to him who envisions people who are superficially fucked doing the wrong thing because it can be rationalized as the right thing through sheer contrivance.

Has Ennis ever written a character that has any finesse?

I'll still hold to Stillwell despite Ennis ruining him in the unnecessary cash grab sequel.

Yeah but we got Punisher max so it evens out.

This worked more because it was the Punisher than it was Ennis writing him. Family man who lost everything to gang violence has a zero tolerance policy towards crime. Impossible to fuck this up if you actually, you know, let him be that instead of whatever the fuck nonsense they're trying to pull now because muh "problematic."

 

[Hijo de D. Woodchucks Jr.]

In that regard I have to concede the issue isn't the quality of the satire, but that Trump is beyond parody.

Nah. Your shit's all retarded, their "jokes" suck and real life is funnier.

>Homelander kills them all and wins
>freeze frame
>"OI CUNTS, DIS IS WHATS 'APPENIN' ROIGHT NOW BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT FOIGHTING AGAINST BLUMPF 'ARD ENOUGH. FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR FREEDOM, FOR THE SAKE OF 'UMANITY, FOR THE SAKE OF MY WOIFE'S SON, FOIGHT BACK, OTHERWISE IT WON'T BE...... DIABOLICAL"
But its Hughie saying it because Urban refused to say that speech or something.
That or Homelander actually wins in a shock scene but it's Sister Sage's predictions or dreams or something before the REAL events occur.

Right as 'Uey is screaming like a little girl watching everyone die and all the nukes in the world explode at the same time (because Ohm Landa killed democracy or some shit), 'Uey suddenly is back to the moment when A-train ran... a train (ba dum tss!) through his girlfriend.

But now instead of being a butthurt little bitch, 'Uey has the Dreamworks face because he can do things right!

 

[dame dudi jench]

Rorschach is batshit insane on several levels. He's still far more human than most of the other characters: there's a single point where Rorschach meets with his landlord after fleeing the prison (an atrocious screeching subhuman that made up a story about him being a sex pest to sell to the tabloids). By his own "code", she would require horrible punishment. For a moment he stops, notices the crying children behind her and simply goes away. Because he sees something of himself in the children. And they are innocent.

I find amusing to reflect about Watchmen in a Boys thread. Moore wrote Rorschach as a negative character, but he's still a hero. He resonates with the people because there's something primal in us that screams that we should act when something is wrong, that there's a righteous anger somewhere. After all, what's Rorschach greatest sin? That he's a terrific loser? Despite being poor, uneducated and a bigot, he tries to do the right thing. Compare and contrast with all the other Watchmen that are essentially morally bankrupt or detached from humanity.

Rorschach is human, fallible and heroic. People naturally respond to that.

Compare and contrast with The Boys where everyone is simply an asshole. Imagine Rorschach written by Ennis, where the only two options we could are lone wolf spec ops too cool 4 u soldier man or pedophile loser rapist. Has Ennis ever written a character that has any finesse?

Yeah really well said. I always hated everything Ennis did bc he is so mean-spirited and small. He is a miserable human being locked in teenage ODD so everything around him has to suck. These Gen X guys - Ennis, Millar, got away with being huge assholes under the guise of being edgy and I'm glad ppl are reappraising. Grant Morrison is insane, Neil Gaiman and that Dresden doll chick are just more creepy aging goths, and Alan Moore is a blowhard but they at least like people, care about real art in their spare time, and wanted to connect with humanity in their stories.

The misanthropic deconstruction of superhero things isn't even new. Larry Niven did it in a 10 page short story in the 70s where he points out Superman would ejaculate like an mg42 and kill anyone bystanders. It's a great joke but it's really short, you don't need to stretch it into a multi volume comicbook series or the abortion of a TV show they are milking to death like the capeslop they were supposed to be parodying. The most Ennis could achieve is was homelander's tiny pink jerkoff shot.

@Gay Sex Enjoyer the thing I struggle with on adapting your take on what Moore thought of Rorschach is that Rorschach wins, the leak comes out and all the horrifying moral compromises the other "heroes" made were for nothing. So his entire worldview gets vindicated

 

[regalterry]

By his own "code", she would require horrible punishment.

Rorschach cares more than he lets on. We start the story with him claiming he would refuse to save all the people when they scream for salvation, yet near the end he goes to stop Ozymandias with the full knowledge the other man is stronger, faster, smarter, better equipped and prepared than him in every way. He goes with the full knowledge he is likely to fail and die, but it is the right thing to do, so he does it.

Rorschach is human, fallible and heroic. People naturally respond to that.

Rorschach's moral event horizon is him killing a pedophile like an animal after he finds the pedophile's dogs eating the remains of the girl he abducted, raped and killed. Rorschach cares, and cares deeply.

It says a lot about Moore that he thought a character that did this would be seen in a negative light by the audience.

More importantly, Rorschach is genuine, and his conviction is pure. Every other cape gave up when things got tough, or simply walked away from the life once they got rich and famous.

Everyone besides Rorschach was playing pretend, while Rorschach is still out on the streets stopping muggings, rapes and murders.

Besides all that, Rorschach is the first POV character we are introduced to, we uncover the mystery through his eyes, he has by far the coolest outfit/mask, and most of the iconic fights and scenes are either centred around him, or feature him in a major capacity.

he is so mean-spirited and small. He is a miserable human being locked in teenage ODD

Ennis also shat out Crossed, so that description fits him to a T.

the thing I struggle with on adapting your take on what Moore thought of Rorschach is that Rorschach wins, the leak comes out and all the horrifying moral compromises the other "heroes" made were for nothing

It's left ambiguous. Rorschach does send his journals to a right-wing publication, but it's little more than a fringe rag, and even if they publish his journals, which read like the ramblings of a schizophrenic hobo, it's unlikely that the public would believe them, especially since Ozymandias would still be alive and in control of his business empire. Only real hope is for Nite Owl to develop a fucking spine and come out with the truth, but he's too much of a cowardly cuck to do it.

I imagine the Watchmen world in the 2000s, with /pol/ denizens posting excerpts from Rorschach's journal and pointing out all the holes in the NY alien attack narrative, ala what people were doing with 9/11, and being called crazy for doing so.

 

[RSU 1741]

HBO miniseries

Holy fucking shit I forgot the miniseries. 2019 feels like a lifetime ago, it aged like milk. The amount of clumsy racial grievance bait that it did was something to behold. Probably on a rewatch it would feel incredibly quaint and childish, but that was the zeitgeist of the era. Thankfully it's almost entirely forgotten.

It says a lot about Moore that he thought a character that did this would be seen in a negative light by the audience.

I never truly believed that Moore "hated" Rorschach. Moore is a complete weirdo (he's proud of Lost Girls! Proud of Lost Girls!) but he's a skilled writer. Rorschach may have been born as a parody of The Question or whatever, but there's enough care in how he's presented that it's clear that Moore liked writing him. He's the POV character of the first half of the comic, we follow the story of his life through the black psych (ahh, a black character that is shown to be fallible and not a stereotype!), he goes out swinging and with dignity. That's not the fate of a character the author hated.


Now I wonder, what's worse, The Boys adaptation or the Watchmen miniseries. I'd say the second, there's more value in The Boys memery before it became muddled and confused.