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

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True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
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So I'm really psyched for this and it premieres in 2 days.. the cast looks great and it seems like they're keeping the violence and swearing in.


Already got renewed for season 2.
 
I read about 2 issues of the comic before stopping. It was the most edgelord shit I've ever read. Their universe's equivalent of superman rapes a woman, then the super fetus punches its way out of her stomach, killing her, then the woman's husband beats the baby to death with a lamp. I don't really need to say anything more than that.
 
Finally, a more accurate depiction of superheroes with the combined clout-chasing narcissism that comes with being a celebrity and the corporations that would own them.
 
The Manglement said:
I read about 2 issues of the comic before stopping. It was the most edgelord shit I've ever read. Their universe's equivalent of superman rapes a woman, then the super fetus punches its way out of her stomach, killing her, then the woman's husband beats the baby to death with a lamp. I don't really need to say anything more than that.
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The Brat Pack is worse, or better depending on how much edge you're willing to stomach. It has molestation, racism, corporate corruption, a villain that looks like this...
bratpack-comics-467f0131-878b-4263-a49f-7a5415cfc4b-resize-750.jpeg
 
I read every single issue of the comics. The edge factor that previous kiwis are referring to is intentional by the author, and is an integral part of character development throughout the story. I'm just hoping amazon doesn't fuck it up because the moral of the story is very anti-Amazonesque. The comic called out the blatant degeneracy of people in positions of absolute power and is focused on class warfare rather than any sort of race warfare tropes that amazon is so keen on displaying.
 
It's hard to get excited about yet another "deconstruction" of superheroes that never appears to go any deeper than "What if there were superheroes and they were murderous jerks?!?" Maybe Ennis' series had loftier goals but I've seen too much of the aforementioned sort of deconstructions to want to check it out. Superheroes have been deconstructed, reconstructed and then deconstructed again and again over the past few decades and rarely if ever is it actually entertaining.
 
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The Boys is really a story begging for a grimy, unpleasant, gory and extremely uncomfortable adaptation like what we got with Dredd. Its really a story designed to pull you down into the mud and give you almost no hope. It has a very Dredd-like world where everything is shit, people are shit, superheroes are shit, you get things done by shooting the people you don't like, and the only force of order is either made up of total assholes or funded by total assholes. I dunno what to call it really. Grimdark, maybe, but there really needs to be a better term for settings that are designed to just be an endless horrorshow meant to make you depressed.

It does have a really dopey absolute-power-corrupts-absolutely/superior ability breeds superior debauchery plotline that I can see being handled really poorly in the hands of someone not willing to go full cynical on it. This looks like a ripoff of The Avengers, which might actually be the point, to try and update the setting for a new generation. I think they're gonna fuck it up, modern superhero movies are too clean, grey and sanitized to fit into this kind of setting.
 
IDK the lighting and general marvel brightness juxtaposed with this story could be really great.
 
HeyYou said:
Grimdark.
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It says a lot about the state of fiction that the term Grimdark has migrated a lot in recent years and now we probably need a new word to describe fiction that is as edgy and unpleasant as possible, but not quite on the level of being full-on stupidity.
 
gobbogobb said:
IDK the lighting and general marvel brightness juxtaposed with this story could be really great.
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This is exactly what makes me think that this is going to be a good adaptation.

Word is that Kripke wants to couch the series in a more showbiz/superhero celebrity worship kind of vibe, which is very complimentary to the source material themes.
 
It's going to be a watered down, decaf version of the comics. I have very little hopes for this.
The Vinyl Solution said:
I read every single issue of the comics. The edge factor that previous kiwis are referring to is intentional by the author, and is an integral part of character development throughout the story. I'm just hoping amazon doesn't fuck it up because the moral of the story is very anti-Amazonesque. The comic called out the blatant degeneracy of people in positions of absolute power and is focused on class warfare rather than any sort of race warfare tropes that amazon is so keen on displaying.
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Also, yes. What the previous posters considered "edgelord material" is kind of the point of The Boys.

Superheroes are always portrayed as paragons of morality -and ultimately, very unidimensional- but never like any of the flawed humans around them, albeit extremely powerful. What if Superman, all of the sudden, says "fuck it" and goes on a killing spree? or Wonder Woman is a nympho fucking dudes to death (even if it's a great way to go for the poor sod who wants WW to sit on his face)? that is what The Boys addresses.
 
I turned on the first episode.

Amazon literally put every single warning they had on content. Like, every single one. It filled up the entire screen. It was hilarious. Got to give them props for going balls fucking out with it.

Also Garth Ennis hates superheroes a lot. Like a fuckton. He just went wild with it in 'The Boys'. So you have to take that into consideration. Its why his run on 'The Punisher' was so good with Max. No 'marvel humor', just naked brutality.

With 'The Boys', as a comic, it started off good but I think Ennis got carried away with his personal feelings and it came to feel a little self-indulgent. Don't get me wrong, it was still well-written, but like I said, his feelings REALLY shine through on how he feels about superheroes. If you really love superheroes, you probably won't like this show as it basically shits all over them. Sometimes literally.
 
Eh, I’ve never been too big a fan of the whole “WHAT IF HEROES WERE JERKS?!” deconstructions that pop up all the time. Some are good, but a lot of times people just go to the other extreme of “everyone is an evil racist rapist that eats babies” instead of striking a balance between the two.
 
Secret Asshole said:
I turned on the first episode.

Amazon literally put every single warning they had on content. Like, every single one. It filled up the entire screen. It was hilarious. Got to give them props for going balls fucking out with it.

Also Garth Ennis hates superheroes a lot. Like a fuckton. He just went wild with it in 'The Boys'. So you have to take that into consideration. Its why his run on 'The Punisher' was so good with Max. No 'marvel humor', just naked brutality.

With 'The Boys', as a comic, it started off good but I think Ennis got carried away with his personal feelings and it came to feel a little self-indulgent. Don't get me wrong, it was still well-written, but like I said, his feelings REALLY shine through on how he feels about superheroes. If you really love superheroes, you probably won't like this show as it basically shits all over them. Sometimes literally.
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Oddly, there is ONE superhero Ennis doesn't loathe, and that's classically-written Superman.

Granted, he abuses the fuck out of Superman-pretenders...
 
SteelPlatedHeart said:
Eh, I’ve never been too big a fan of the whole “WHAT IF HEROES WERE JERKS?!” deconstructions that pop up all the time. Some are good, but a lot of times people just go to the other extreme of “everyone is an evil racist rapist that eats babies” instead of striking a balance between the two.
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Its not so much a deconstruction as Garth Ennis just reveling in his pure distaste of the Superhero. It works because he has a legitimate dislike and knows the genre intimately. Its an analysis of absolute power taken to the logical extremes. He revels in it a little TOO much if you ask me.
 
I remember really coming to enjoy the comic after it morphed from a parody into an espionage thriller that happened to have superhero parody characters.
 
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