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readrampage's review against another edition
1.0
Explicit content: rape, sexual assault, graphic violence, homophobia, victimization of women
It almost qualifies as a DNF. Most likely, there should have been one. Don't let the title fool you. The story doesn't have much substance. The main character uses every homophobic slur he can think of, and superheroes fuck. Can you explain the prevalence of slurs in the book? I don't understand how they republished it today.
Aside from the terrible potty-mouths, the art is painfully ugly. I’ll look at characters boned all day. While that's not a problem, the art is extremely inconsistent.
The genres very well define its characters and they never go far beyond the bloody nature of their purpose in the story. There are a lot of uncomfortable stereotypes regarding the female characters in particular. The Boys’ women fall neatly into one of three categories: powerful and sexualized, objects to be sexualized, or raped to provide motivation for a man. Female characters always speak and never take part, unless the story requires it. This is the only exception.
No matter how you look at it, The Boys just lacks substance. My interest waned because of the lack of world-building and an overarching plot. The Boys are a letdown. I understand why it would be a good idea to show that superheroes are actually dicks, but it is a complete letdown.
Overall, The Boys is a gross read. I felt hopeless and disgusted as I made my way through the 300+ pages of perversion and gore. The Boys is a very disappointing book and should be avoided.
It almost qualifies as a DNF. Most likely, there should have been one. Don't let the title fool you. The story doesn't have much substance. The main character uses every homophobic slur he can think of, and superheroes fuck. Can you explain the prevalence of slurs in the book? I don't understand how they republished it today.
Aside from the terrible potty-mouths, the art is painfully ugly. I’ll look at characters boned all day. While that's not a problem, the art is extremely inconsistent.
The genres very well define its characters and they never go far beyond the bloody nature of their purpose in the story. There are a lot of uncomfortable stereotypes regarding the female characters in particular. The Boys’ women fall neatly into one of three categories: powerful and sexualized, objects to be sexualized, or raped to provide motivation for a man. Female characters always speak and never take part, unless the story requires it. This is the only exception.
No matter how you look at it, The Boys just lacks substance. My interest waned because of the lack of world-building and an overarching plot. The Boys are a letdown. I understand why it would be a good idea to show that superheroes are actually dicks, but it is a complete letdown.
Overall, The Boys is a gross read. I felt hopeless and disgusted as I made my way through the 300+ pages of perversion and gore. The Boys is a very disappointing book and should be avoided.
gracecatherine's review against another edition
i love the boys but the comics are a lot so maybe i’ll come back to it someday but that day is not today
caenerys's review against another edition
4.0
This is really fun and I like the style of the art involved - it's really gritty and grungy that helps reflect the story
mikibooks's review against another edition
4.0
Brutal mirada sobre la sociedad estadounidense, a través de un terrible retrato de los superhéroes. Tiene algunos pasajes implacables, tanto visual como narrativamente.
"Pozo séptico = yanquis"
"Son tan estúpidos, Hughie. Tienen tanto miedo de perder la poca fortuna que creen tener, que ni se les ocurre levantar la vista"
Muy bonita edición argentina.
"Pozo séptico = yanquis"
"Son tan estúpidos, Hughie. Tienen tanto miedo de perder la poca fortuna que creen tener, que ni se les ocurre levantar la vista"
Muy bonita edición argentina.
lisawreading's review against another edition
2.0
I love the TV version of The Boys, with all its crazy dark violence and humor, but I could barely tolerate the graphic novel. Not planning to read further in the series.
thowell's review against another edition
1.0
I picked up the first volume of this comic because I heard it was subversive and had loads of violence. My expectations about the sex and violence were met, but I did not find this to be a subversive take on superheroes--in fact it follows a lot of tired action tropes to where I could see my Dad enjoying The Boys. Women are relegated to few roles (mainly sexual), have virtually no important speaking roles, and are often "put in their place". There is a particularly cringy scene were Butcher lectures a teenage woman about her clothing choices and her disrespect for her father: a scene to which I'm sure conservative dads everywhere creamed their cargo shorts. Attitudes about women aside, there were issues with anachronistic words and beliefs that left me confused often as to when this story was supposed to take place. The story feels disjointed and I can tell its probably going to be episodic. I don't read much superhero comic books on the regular so maybe this is normal. It has a long story arc featuring gay characters and The Boys' attitude towards queer people is...troubling. Butcher tolerates and is neutral toward queer characters but uses their queerness as fodder for blackmail and constantly uses slurs when talking about them. So he is essentially that guy who is nice to gays on the surface but talks shit about them behind their back and will call you a snowflake for wanting to talk about queer people in a respectful manner or support gay rights. I'll sum up by saying if you want to read a truly great superhero deconstruction, look up the we serial Worm by Wildbow.
wesleyboy's review against another edition
3.0
After watching a few seasons of the show, I decided to revisit the source material. I remember reading the original TPBs years ago and enjoying the messed up take on superheroes. It’s still good, but I appreciate the depth and slight changes the show has made. There’s a lot of Ennis’ stuff that has aged poorly for me. He’s not that bad, but I just find myself finding someone fucking being slightly less hilarious than I used to. It was funnier when I was younger, I guess. Still good, but I prefer the tv show.
squeebacon's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this! It's got dark humor, gritty gore, and all kinds of dirty jokes that are wonderful! I'm excited to read the next ones and then watch the Amazon show.