By issue #19, Hughie is season in Butcher’s world. And as readers, having taken the journey with him, we’re ready to see one of the most powerful truths in this book…
There are no good guys.
There’s no heroes. Even Hughie’s not heroic. He’s just out for revenge.
From there, we explore superheroics as a medium.
During this storyline, we begin to see how The Boys is the culmination of everything Garth Ennis has ever wanted to say about superheroes, from his mainstream work through his groundbreaking Hitman series for DC. What if Captain America were real? Easy. The military industrial complex would make hundreds of him. How far would a corporation go to promote its own version of Superman? Easy. They’d fake 9-11. And in days where tobacco companies add sweeteners and use cartoon mascots to attract kids, that’s not such a stretch.
Being a normal human agaist supers means you lack the power to go head to head, so Hughie goes Jerky Boys…
Hughie prank calls the super hero base and his girlfriend answers…Awkward!
And have I mentioned Terror the Dog yet? He’s the best. In fact, he’s one of my all-time favorite side characters.
I know Garth Ennis says he hates supers, and this series certainly brutalizes the hell out of costumed heroes, but at the same time you can’t write like this unless you love what you write.