The Boys 40

Not a bad issue at all (of course, anything would have looked good compared to the last issue, but ho hum.)

Good points:

-The Legend raises most of the practical objections to Hughie being a spy.

-Superduper comes across as very nice and very naive.

-We find out what Butcher has on the Homelander.

Bad Points:

-Butcher is being frigging stupid here. The chain of events that suggests that Hughie is a spy is too thin. Hughie had no reason to sign up with VA after Robin was killed and having her death planned...well, there were too many things that could go wrong. Butcher found Hughie on his own; VA didn't help, unless we assume that Monkey is a VA spy. (Which would explain a lot, come to think of it.) And VA would have had to allow Hughie to kill the Blarney Cock, and allow him into the G-Mansion. And Hughie would have to be stupid enough to take Anne far too close to the Flatiron.

I can understand Butcher being shocked and not a little paranoid. I think he's taking it too far.

Chris

[Boris]

Good news, this is a key arc. We finally know Vought Man's motives: to get rid of superheroes. From his point of view, supes are as troublesome to manage as easy to profit from, and if the objective is defence contracts and other serious business, they simply can't work. Nobody will buy your exclusive-invulnerable-ready-for-use Superman for security purposes, not if he can't even rescue a cat from a tree, and expecially not if he eats children alive. So, to hell with superheroes, let's work out something safer.

I bet his plan is: let the Seven and the Boys annihilate each other, send mercs to take care of the rest, cover all up and case closed.

Then, there is bad news. Butcher's paranoia on Hughie is maybe the weakest point of the entire series. Come on, you simply can't think he's joined the enemy. If I were him, knowing what I know on Annie, I would at best assume Vought is using her to seduce the unaware Hughie and gain a huge leverage on the Boys (and that isn't entirely impossible, come to think of it). And, at least, I would take my time to dig up a little more details before bestowing capital punishment on him. So we are asked to believe that Butcher is a complete idiot, other than just an heartless bastard.
But then, Butcher's last line reassures me a little. Maybe he isn't sure of what to think, and the Superduper (speaking of which: don't get too enamored of them, I bet they will all be dead before June) mission will provide proof of where Hughie is standing.

Then again, even Butcher can't believe that Hughie doesn't know who Annie really is.

[Kamakazi]

Superduper (speaking of which: don't get too enamored of them, I bet they will all be dead before June)

That was my immediate thought as well.

[Hot_Ch0c0]

Poor Superpooper...err duper...

Why go to the trouble of introducing them if they will all be trashed soon?

But, their powers seem like a joke (so far) and they seem to have little value other than being a plot device to bring out internal conflicts within the Boys. I have a feeling VA will do in the majority of them... Maybe VA sent Malchemical to cause some "training accidents"...

Butcher is battling his paranoia. But, the thing about paranoia is it lets a person connect the dots in all sorts of threatening ways, and Butcher is not going to let anything threaten his chance to take out the Homelander... (My bet is MM tries to call Mallory back into things in order to save Hughie)