The most pointless RECAP and REVIEW of ALL TIME: The Boys #65!

[gwiereng]

I don't think the whole Boys universe rests on the assumption that all people are fundamentally evil, though. I think it's more of a case of 'unearned power + Vought's influence + temptation + peer behaviour = evil (or at the least, a distinct lack of moral fibre)'. There are a few good supes out there, after all: Annie and Vaz, most obviously.

This is a good point and a good summation of the "supe formula" so to speak, but I think Ennis went just a little too far with it, and it's really my one big complaint with the series. Annie and Vas notwithstanding, there truly appear to be NO decent people amongst the superhuman community. (And I'm not even sure how much Vas counts, since he's just kind of ridiculous and insane.) There really should've been at least one storyline at some point about a small group of supes who were decent people and disapproved of the excesses of their colleagues and were committed to trying to change things from the inside, and had formed up along those lines. Just one story like that would have added a WORLD of nuance to the overall plot, and the acknowledgment of a (admittedly very small) minority like that would've blunted so much of the legitimate criticism of this "Black Hats vs. White Hats" system we've been reading about in this series. Plus, it would've been interesting to see how Butcher reacted to a group like that. (He's probably too prejudiced to give them any credit; I imagine he'd just consider them childish and unrealistic and still too dangerous to be allowed to exist. Still, it'd be interesting to watch him have to deal with some supes that aren't blatantly deserving monsters so that there'd be a little bit more of an ethical consequence in how he chose to handle them.)

Portraying 99.999999% of supes as irredeemable crapbags just made it too neat and easy. "Most" would've been okay, but not "all".

[MisterS]

Annie and Vas notwithstanding, there truly appear to be NO decent people amongst the superhuman community. (And I'm not even sure how much Vas counts, since he's just kind of ridiculous and insane.) There really should've been at least one storyline at some point about a small group of supes who were decent people and disapproved of the excesses of their colleagues and were committed to trying to change things from the inside, and had formed up along those lines. Just one story like that would have added a WORLD of nuance to the overall plot, and the acknowledgment of a (admittedly very small) minority like that would've blunted so much of the legitimate criticism of this "Black Hats vs. White Hats" system we've been reading about in this series. Plus, it would've been interesting to see how Butcher reacted to a group like that.

Have you read the arc about the group SuperDuper?

Also I agree that Ennis went too far with the 'great power corrupts' concept. I don't like how the series focused more on the 'taken out of the picture completely' concept rather than watched and controlled. Otherwise, it's pure Ennis!

[Dannycat]

Im with quiereng on this one Super Duper just wasnt enough good supes in my opinion realistically out of all the thousands there are (I remember Butcher once said there were 200,000 supes) there should be more supes who arent all that bad.

[Kamakazi]

Im with quiereng on this one Super Duper just wasnt enough good supes in my opinion realistically out of all the thousands there are (I remember Butcher once said there were 200,000 supes) there should be more supes who arent all that bad.

I agree, but then, I've been beating that particular drum since Issue #1. And really, the only reason SuperDooper gets to be "good" is because they're all basically retarded, except for Auntie Sis, who's just a babysitter.

I guess in fairness though, there were at least a couple members of the G-Men that didn't appear to be completely evil- Cold Snap seemed decent enough, although that might just be because he only got a dozen words in the entire arc. And Tek Knight didn't seem to be a bad guy- his "affliction" was caused by a "tumor the size of your fist", and it would appear that he died saving a woman and baby from falling bricks. He was homophobic, but I'm not sure Ennis sees that as a bad thing, given the shear deluge of homophobia that permeated every page of early issues of The Boys. Even Shoutout didn't really seem to be "evil" other than being gay, which in EnnisVerse is shorthand for "evil". And yes, I know I've kicked this horse to death, but seriously: ever notice that the only gay people allowed to be "good" in EnnisVerse are cartoonishly effeminate, or pre-op transexuals?

[Dannycat]

Also I remember Oh father said that only 60% of the supes would be willing to go with Homies plan so perhaps the 40% that didnt participate might be allright but theyll probably euthanized knowing ennis

[MisterS]

I agree, but then, I've been beating that particular drum since Issue #1. And really, the only reason SuperDooper gets to be "good" is because they're all basically retarded, except for Auntie Sis, who's just a babysitter.

I wouldn't call them retarded, like Vic the ex veep/prez. They just had powers that they couldn't control properly, like Stool Shadow, or Black Hole.

Interestingly, we never learned Auntie Sis's powers...

[Dannycat]

I wouldn't call them retarded, like Vic the ex veep/prez. They just had powers that they couldn't control properly, like Stool Shadow, or Black Hole.

Interestingly, we never learned Auntie Sis's powers...

I always thought she had no powers since she didnt do anything when the heroic Malchemical attempted to stop her and those dastardly children in Super Duper!

[DJETHANOL]

Hey guys, first time actually posting although I have to admit I've been stalking for quite some time haha I guess Dynamite finally approved my account -__- anyway did anybody else have complaints towards the final demise of homelander? I mean it was good and all, I was just hoping for a little more than 1 page...also why the hell was McCreas artwork randomly inserted for one page? I felt it took away from that image of blacklander stumbling out with HL's torso...oh well at least we didnt have to endure a whole episode of cardboard cutout hughie crying. Malchemical needs to be resurrected lamplighter style.

[saidestroyer]

Not at all. X-ray vision can show you the bones under the flesh, not the skin under the dress. Look at the panels where Homie (R.I.P.) uses it on Maeve (it shows her breast implants, not Maeve's wonder boobs).

Dammit, Boris! It's The Boys we're talking about here! Stop using that "sense" and "facts" nonsense in these forums!!

[Simon Rogerson]

Fair point though... it all goes back to the point about the supes having poor control over their powers.