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View Full Version : The Boys #51: Full Recap and Review!



Kamakazi
02-18-2011, 07:12 PM
Our tale starts at some sort of White House gathering. There's the typical cynical banter that Ennis thinks is how people talk. Suddenly, out of nowhere, it's everyone's favorite Supergroup: The Wheelchair Girl Brigade! And where there's athletic paraplegic women, can Monkey be far behind? I SAY THEE NAY!

What? You haven't read the book yet, so nothing I'm writing makes sense? Guess what: the book won't help you much. Apparently, Dakota Bob wants to incorporate crippled women into the Military. Don't ask me- I don't write this stuff.

Anyway, so Butcher walks in. It's possible that he walks past Vought Man. The art in this title makes it impossible to tell. Maybe it's just Vic the Veep and some random nobody. It suddenly occurs to me that this is precisely why superheros/villains wear costumes: so I can recognize them when they appear in the book.

So anyway, Monkey is planning to molest one of the Wheelchair Girls. Man, I never in a million years would have seen that coming. We're next treated to one of those "Only in a comic by Garth Ennis" moments, where Monkey tries to sexually assault a cripple. He mentions that "a man kicked him so much that his junk doesn't work", and I assume that man to be Butcher. The problem is, I have no idea who Ennis intends us to empathize with. For all we know, Monkey was perfectly normal before he met Butcher. Anyway, I'd like to go just ONE friggin' Arc without Ennis including a dildo. But I guess then I'd just be reading Warren Ellis.

Wheelchair Girl proceeds to beat the hell out of Monkey. You know what's wrong with this scene? Everything. From Butcher managing to magically materialize inside the locked room without the girl noticing, to the fact that I've been given ZERO reason to get joy out of seeing Monkey beaten up. All we know about Monkey is that Butcher showed up one day and started assaulting him, and now he's impotent. You know who was a GOOD villain? Jesus deSade, from Preacher. We had reason to hate him. We were shown why he was a bad person. When Jesse finally kicked the crap out of him, we felt a sense of completion. Monkey is just a lazy cartoon of a character.

...and speaking of lazy, in the next scene, we have Vought Girl looking at Butcher's file... and the artist has literally filled it in with "blah blah blah". You know, when the Creative team doesn't even care, why should I? This title has managed to slog on for years now based on little more than the fact that there will always be a market for meretricious pornography, but come on. "Blah blah blah"? I'm a bit amazed that Braun isn't just doodling stick-figures, and signing the whole thing "who gives a shit?"

Speaking of not giving a shit, I'd TOTALLY forgotten that Hughie's last name was "Campbell". Anyway, Vought Chick, who is apparently on the phone with Vought Guy, indulges in the kind of stilted conversation that's obviously meant to confuse us as readers. Sadly, I cannot be arsed to care.

Vought Chick suggests using the Boys against the Seven, and vice-versa. Vought Guy thinks it's an interesting idea. They apparently think it's time to do away with "Costumed Heros". Which is completely retarded, because if they have a way to make competent, non-costumed heros, they really only have to deal with Homelander. Once he's gone, the others go back to being circus freaks.

Vought Girl suggests that they play a game of Yu-Gi-Oh! using the Boys and the Seven as their Power Cards. Even Vought Guy thinks it's a stupid idea. I'm really not getting this entire scene. You can't go from cripples and dildos directly to too-clever-for-it's-own-good nudge/wink nuance and expect me to stay on board.

...fortunately, I don't have to, because in the next scene we're back to dildos and lowbrow humor. And bestiality, because we hadn't had enough of that lately. Wonderful.

Next, Butcher walks in on Rayner. My Retardo-Meter explodes before I even finish reading the page. See, a lot of you might not know this, but the U.S. Government consists of precisely five people, and none of them are ever guarded. You could walk right in to any of those five people and start threatening them, and there wouldn't be a thing they could do about it. Fortunately, Butcher knows this carefully guarded secret, so he just walks right in.

They talk about the coming Supe Apocalypse. Then Butcher, in probably the most stunning swerve in history of this title, comes as close as he's likely to come to apologizing. He tells Rayner that he never would have actually killed her children. I'm not sure I believe him. Rayner recounts half of a story. That's happening a lot this issue. Oh well. Rayner reminds Butcher that he once said they deserved each other. Butcher, in a stunning moment of self-awareness, tells her that NOBODY deserves him. Heh. Very nice.

They of course end up having sex. Butcher has been recording the entire thing. Oh, I suppose I should mention that Butcher sets up the inevitable deus ex machina that will finish off the entire series: Supes have brain waves that can be tracked by missiles. Whatever.

Back with Vought Girl, we find that she's finished her Boys vs Seven RPG, and it show that the Seven would win against the Boys. Duh. But the silly part is that it shows only Homelander and Black Noir surviving, with a "maybe" on Maeve. I mean for hell's sake, Jack is invulnerable, even A-Train should be able to deal with anyone in the Boys.

...and there you have it, issue #51! Notable mainly for taking us back several months in the plot, to a time when Monkey was ineffectual, Rayner was having sex with Butcher, and we were being subjected to pointless mysteries about Mother's Milk's Mom. Yes, we get it, she's a giant monstrous pile of mammary glands. Sheese, already.

saidestroyer
02-19-2011, 08:26 AM
But... but... but... you didn't ENJOY IT? That part's not clear.


Eh, forget it. I haven't read #51 yet. I'll pick it up on my way back from college today. Cheers!

Boris
02-19-2011, 01:03 PM
Oh, well, I suppose I'm the good cop this turn.


While I'm not particularly happy about this issue, there are some points to discuss.



1) The "Supes: The Gathering" simulation by Vought Girl assumes Starlight and Maeve will take sides with the Seven, a detail not to take for granted; also, Hughie is not currently part of the Boys (ok, he will inevitably join the grand finale, and so will be Mallory, but are things ever so simple?); plus, there are all sorts of random players to account (U.S. Government, the rest of Vought, the Legend, and let's not forget Love Sausage and of course the mighty warriors of SuperDuper!). An obvious guess is that A-Train and Jack will go down in a heartbeat (A-Train will inevitably behead himself running into a piano string or some other basic trick, and Jack is gonna shout "titty-f...OUCH!" before being eaten alive by the Female), while Black Noir will end his days trying to have sex with Terror in the very middle of battle.
So all bets are still open.


2) The Air-to-Supes Missile solution is TOO CHEAP to work.
I can already figure a panel showing a post-nuclear wasteland with the Homelander rubbing the dust off his cape and commenting "Not enough gun".
(However, it's the dumbest idea in the history of Ennis comics. If Vogelbaum already knew a "cure" for supes, why in heaven the US Government would have wasted his money to form the Boys???)


3) Not that I can prove it, but a dog violating your most beloved body part shouldn't be much worse than a gigantic dildo. Yeah, I know, even you couldn't wait to discuss this specific point.

Chrisnuttall
02-19-2011, 01:20 PM
Rather a sad return to form after last issue.:mad:

Chris

Kamakazi
02-19-2011, 01:27 PM
But... but... but... you didn't ENJOY IT? That part's not clear.


You can tell which issues I really hated, because I didn't write anything about them. For example, there is no Recap for the the Female's origin issue. :)

I mildly liked this issue, even though (as Chris stated) it's a giant leap back to the Status Quo. Disappointing after the last few issues, but at least it wasn't the Origins arc. :) Here's how I score issues of the Boys:

Did it move the plot forwards? +1
Were there dildos? -1
Was Maeve naked? +3
Was Hugie naked? -14
Did Butcher do something sadistic yet hilarious? +5
Did Butcher do something moronic just to advance the plot? -5
Was The Legend in it? +1
Was a hooker blowing him? -1
Did Vought Guy appear? +2
Was it impossible to recognize him? -2
# Of Racial Slurs -1 each
Does anyone say "Fook me rigid?" +1 per incident
Is it an Origin Issue? -500

So, using the Kamakazi Scale, this issue gets... a Seven, which is kinda ironic. :)

Kamakazi
02-19-2011, 01:36 PM
Oh, well, I suppose I'm the good cop this turn.


Exactly what I was hoping for. The best threads (at least from my point of view) are the ones where you and I are taking different points of view. I'll tell you a secret- I only write these recaps so that the our little group has something to talk about once a month. I enjoy these threads more than I do the actual comics. Heh.

saidestroyer
02-20-2011, 06:59 PM
Get a room, you two! And make sure Terror's not around.

Hot_Ch0c0
02-23-2011, 12:55 PM
saidestroyer: Thanks for breaking those two up... You know how they get when they get that look in their eyes! :eek:



So anyway, Monkey is planning to molest one of the Wheelchair Girls. Man, I never in a million years would have seen that coming. We're next treated to one of those "Only in a comic by Garth Ennis" moments, where Monkey tries to sexually assault a cripple. He mentions that "a man kicked him so much that his junk doesn't work", and I assume that man to be Butcher. The problem is, I have no idea who Ennis intends us to empathize with. For all we know, Monkey was perfectly normal before he met Butcher. Anyway, I'd like to go just ONE friggin' Arc without Ennis including a dildo. But I guess then I'd just be reading Warren Ellis.

Wheelchair Girl proceeds to beat the hell out of Monkey. You know what's wrong with this scene? Everything. From Butcher managing to magically materialize inside the locked room without the girl noticing, to the fact that I've been given ZERO reason to get joy out of seeing Monkey beaten up. All we know about Monkey is that Butcher showed up one day and started assaulting him, and now he's impotent.

Okay, this is probably the most contrived plot device in the whole series... Just to re-establish Butcher as having the power in his relationship with Kessler...

1. MM and Butcher see a White House reception for a wheelchair athlete Monkey wacked off to back in Russia...

2. Butcher decides to just "hang out" at the "black tie" reception (while dressed in a black trenchcoat and T-shirt) and stalk Monkey, just in case... errr... Monkey tries something "inappropriate" with the lady... And.... ummm... stands two feet from him at the party for hours without Monkey noticing... (That's the ticket!)

3. Ummmm... Monkey, who is now "drunk with power" due to his promotion... or something... uhhh... all of a sudden escalates from pervert to kidnapper/rapist... hmmmm.... and decides he can go rape the famous athlete woman with a big black dildo... because his "junk doesn't work" thanks to Butcher kicking him repeatedly where the sun don't shine... (ummm, sounds like a great plan for a new CIA Director concerned about keeping his job!) Besides, didn't Monkey already have problems in that department? (when Butcher set him up with the wheelchair hooker to steal his hard drive?)

4. After the temp CIA Director gets his ass kicked *poof* out pops Butcher (who has been lurking in the shadows undetected for hours following Monkey around waiting for just this moment, which he never could have predicted would happen) with his handy-dandy ID badge that grants him instant access to the White House, Pentagon, NORAD, Wal-Mart and 1000 free tokens at Chucky Cheese to take full advantage of the situation

5. The woman.... ummm... decides it's really Okay NOT to press charges if someone just made an attempt to kidnap and rape her... uhhhh... and she let's Butcher handle the situation....errr, and goes off to have a drink by herself...

6. Leaving Butcher to strip and strap down Monkey, then sodomize him with his own plastic wanker (Butcher doesn't seem to be the K-Y type either) ... And SOMEHOW... Monkey agrees to do whatever Butcher wants him to do (without questioning how a woman in a wheelchair managed to strip him, drag him to the bed and strap him down in the short time span he was unconscious)...

7. As Kessler's reward for agreeing to do whatever Butcher says...ummm... Butcher lets Terror have his beastly way with him....(who wants to bet the whole thing was captured on video, just in case?)

Not only is the sequence of events completely illogical (unless Kessler secretly called MM and told him he planned to rape the woman and then forgot what Butcher looked like), but after the events of that night Monkey would probably be traumatized, depressed and paranoid to the point he would be completely useless rather than his normal incompetence... He would be more likely to believe Butcher set him up than to believe that "his good buddy Butcher just happened to be on the spot to save the day!". I guess we're supposed to believe Monkey waddled into work on Monday like everything was fine.... except for needing an extra pillow for his office chair...

----

Boris: I look at "The Sims: Bakugan Battle Brawlers" version of The Boys vs. The Seven as a cheap gimmick to show a screen with little "X's" over The Boys' faces.... "Ooooo! Look, the threat to their lives is REAL..." We (the reading public) already KNOW The Seven would kill The Boys...That was established years ago... You brought up excellent points that several key players/scenarios were left out of that card game....

*sigh* A version of the supe brainwave thing was exactly what did in all those European supes in Russia... Why couldn't Raynor develop something similar? Why bother with homing missles when you could develop a device to disable the brainwave frequency, or overload it? I agree it would make more sense for the US Gov't to research it's own solution to supes once they got their hands on that research (which was kept from them for years, why? exactly?)

I do wonder if the surface to air missles that Vought used against the G-Men had the brainwave homing signal in them...

I agree that 99% of this issue was just to re-establish the status quo of the series... I for one, will be happy to go back to flashbacks of Mallory and co. in action..

Kamakazi
02-23-2011, 08:18 PM
Hot_Ch0c0, you really need to write more often. :) Beautiful post! One comment:



several key players/scenarios were left out of that card game....


It suddenly occurred to me that the only way the simulation results make sense is if Vought actually DID consider the possibility of Starlight and Maeve turning on the rest of the Seven. Vought Guy has to know that Maeve is the mole, and even without probable psychic powers, he'd be an idiot not to realize that Starlight despises her teammates.

Boris
02-24-2011, 06:10 PM
Good news for Kamakazi:


I CAN'T FIND MY WEE-WEE STICK!


(somebody had to say that)

Boris
02-24-2011, 06:14 PM
Hot_Ch0c0, you really need to write more often. :) Beautiful post! One comment:



It suddenly occurred to me that the only way the simulation results make sense is if Vought actually DID consider the possibility of Starlight and Maeve turning on the rest of the Seven. Vought Guy has to know that Maeve is the mole, and even without probable psychic powers, he'd be an idiot not to realize that Starlight despises her teammates.


Given the tone of his phone talk with Vought Girl, and his general consideration of killed supes, I'd guess Vought Guy couldn't care less if the Seven and the Boys slay each other.
In fact, it looks like he's trying to make it happen at all costs (and when it will happen he'll casually find a viable scapegoat in the person of Vought Girl...).

saidestroyer
02-26-2011, 02:19 PM
Good news for Kamakazi:


I CAN'T FIND MY WEE-WEE STICK!


(somebody had to say that)

Hey, that was my line! :mad:

I found it, though. It was in my pocket. With Geordie's leggie.