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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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The Boys # 2
Come and meet the boys… Under normal circumstances, the less said about the first issues of any miniseries connected with Garth Ennis the better…in particular, the scenes involving almost all of the Kev stories. In all of them, the story only really began to pick up in the second issue; isn’t it lucky for Wildstorm that I’m an Authority junkie? After the first issue with the fight between Kev and IRA/PIRA terrorists, it rather palled…and some of the ways of trying to bring it back were rather revolting. The Boys #1, however, was brilliant; it was the best first issue I’ve seen since Cla$$ War. The sequel had to live up to its promise, not exactly an easy thing to do with a team and a universe that would be completely new to readers. Ennis did not, it should be noted, have an easy task…but he succeeds brilliantly. The lack of ‘ka-pow,’ ‘wha-bam,’ ‘socko’ – and other naughty noises – action doesn’t detract from the story at all, allowing Ennis to be more thoughtful and reflective. I said in the last review that ‘contrast’ could have been the by-word for the book…and it’s just as true of this one here. Following on from last issue, we have Butcher – called one of the world’s most dangerous men – recruiting Wee Hughie, in between re-contacting the remainder of the original ‘Boys’ team. Ennis draws his characters beautifully, from contrasting Hughie with Butcher, and then contrasting him with a would-be bad black thug. Once again, the focus is on Butcher and Hughie, but this time we get to see more of their characters; Hughie shows more than a little naivety, just like Janine, contrasted with Butcher, who acts as the voice of experience. The discussion between Hughie and Butcher about the CIA and the legends surrounding it made me laugh. The other characters, Frenchman, The Female (of the species) and Mother’s Milk (wtf?) are only sketched in at present, but all of them show room for development. The artwork is almost as good as it was in the first book, and seeing it’s the same artist, that shouldn’t have been a surprise. Darick Robertson is showing his greatest talents with the facial expressions of the team, from the eeriness of the Female – who seems to be nothing more than a lost stray – to the sheer lunacy of the Frenchman…and Terror the Dog, [spoiler] who gets some ‘fun’ – yes, that’s it; ‘fun’ [/spoiler] – in this issue. The Dog is fast becoming one of my favourite characters…and a new twist on the ‘Snowy’ theme. Even the minor characters, from the tough guy and Janine (Mother’s Milk’s daughter), are perfectly drawn; one almost feels sorry for the hood. The background is, once again, almost perfect. The swift and subtle shifts between darkness and light, such as the meeting between Hughie and Butcher, and the scene in the CIA Director’s office, brings out exactly the right illustration of the story. I could rave about it for several paragraphs, but why bother – you already know I think that it’s brilliant. Overall, an excellent sequel…and we’re told that a confrontation with ‘The Seven,’ a superhero group with a member who killed Hughie’s girlfriend, is due in the next issue. I can’t wait. Five out of five.
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