Whoa whoa whoa.. not only did they make the Nazi that was cucked by Maeve a woman.. they also destroyed Butcher's primary hatred towards Homelander too? Without the rape of his wife by that guy, it kinda kills the man's desire to be where he is isn't it? He was pretty apathetic towards the supes before that shit happened. If they also got rid of the rape angle, did they still keep the photos of Homelander going apeshit eating a baby that the Boys were using to blackmail Homelander in to behaving?
Also remember, the picture of Homelander eating a baby was 'Black Noir', who was driving Homelander insane because he was his clone. Part of the reason Black Noir raped Butcher's wife was to drive Homelander insane, because he had no idea he had an insane clone running around. So he started to believe he had this alternate psycho personality and was mentally breaking down because of it. Which made him more and more violent.
No, Homelander did rape his wife and they did have a son together (Homelander and Butcher's wife). However Butcher's wife is still alive, along with Homelander's son. And she is raising Homelander's son who she loves. So she's not dead in the series. Neither is their child.
So its kind of more complicated, but Butcher is more 'right' in this version and Hughie is more 'wrong', but the story tries to keep it the way it originally was, which doesn't really fit the current scenario as it makes Hughie look like a cunt. Nor does it really justify Butcher's scheme and the development of a bioweapon to kill anyone exposed to Compound V, including civilians. It also really breaks the dynamic that Hughie is Butcher's foil and his conscious and kind of stifles his growth.
I've not read a lot of Ennis's work, maybe a fair representation, and "overindulgent" described all of it. But at least Crossed gave us Alan Moore's Crossed +100 and Beau Salt.
Ennis Punisher run was basically extremely subdued compared to his later works. But its the point he started writing 'Crossed' and 'The Boys' that shit just got out of hand. You saw some hints of this with 'Preacher' and his hatred for religion. But 'The Boys' combined his hatred of Super Heroes with his hatred of religion and he just went off on a fucking tear. It got extreme and the art suffered a lot in places. Another reason why I switched to Manga is consistent art style. With a Mangaka, there's one style for the entire work. But for American comics, you can have multiple artists of varying quality. For example, the miniseries 'Herogasm' is fucking AWFULLY drawn. It looks like absolute dogshit. Like holy fuck is it UGLY. A lot of comics are like this and it makes them very difficult to read anymore. Having one artist and one voice, even if they aren't fully colored is perfectly fine. As long as there is consistency.
I tried reading Crossed 100+ and holy fuck was it annoying as shit. Please don't invent bullshit language that I have to decipher.
Compound V being used by civilians introduces all kinds of problems with the logic of the comic. If the Boys can get Compound V, why not the CIA or some other merc group to fight the superheroes? If it's so common that whores HAVE to use it in order to sustain the marathon fuck parties, why is it not more common in society if fucking prostitutes are using it? It introduces a lot of things that could of have been explored like vigilantes using it, kids using it like roids to be like their heroes, etc. But the comic just neglects such plot holes.
In the comic, Compound V was basically the equivalent of a chemical pollutant like Dioxin. It got released into the environment, which is why random superheroes 'spawned' into the world. It was developed in the 1940s and got completely out of control, and released into the wild. So millions of people were exposed to it in varying amounts. This lead to the propagation of super heroes both born of the contamination and made by Vought. The supes made by Vought were much more powerful (Homelander) than those randomly generated.
Basically in the comics, Compound V is equivalent to an environmental disaster. Its like those towns where people are getting cancer for no reason. But instead people are becoming superheroes. Just like those townspeople don't know what that chemical is, neither do the people in the world of 'The Boys'. But it is known by the CIA and Vought. And I think the CIA in the comics basically jacked it from Vaught themselves, they didn't develop it. I can't remember, but it was NOT easily accessible.
Being exposed to Compound V doesn't give you superpowers. Millions of people in the comics have been exposed to it but they don't have super powers. When they have kids, its possible that they do have super powers. This is why superheroes are a much bigger issue in the comics than in the series, because Vought has completely lost control of what and who they can produce as heroes. That's why there needed to be a unit dosed with Compound V putting them in their place. Because there were thousands upon thousands of untrained crazies running around with powers and Vaught had completely lost control. It would be WAY worse in the comics for Vought to get supes into the military, because they claim all superheroes as their product. Including the 'naturally' occurring ones.
The government is written as having been in bed with Vought since WWII and the only way they can keep the supes in check is a covert group who have been dosed with V (equivalent to Homelander and the stronger super heroes).
Its actually VERY different from the comics. The basic beats are there, but a lot of the nuance is really missing. Vaught in the comics is basically the incarnation of corporate maleficence and government corruption. Also Compound V was nowhere near as secret in the start as it was.
The 'Boys' not having super powers does add a layer of tension to the proceedings. But its still very different to how the comic works.
EDIT:
Also Ennis is doing a six book mini-series as a follow-up. Currently its on issue 4 of 6. I'll let you know, I'm actually re-reading the boys and I stand by my word it suffers too much from his edgy shit in certain places and would have been better played straight with a bit less comic relief.
