I saw the Boys...

Due to writing/work assignments, I was tardy for "The Boys": Amazon Prime's adaptation of the Dynamite Comic series by Garth Ennis and Darick W. Robertson. In truth, "The Boys" is a companion to DC's "Watchmen" and Flaming Carrot Comic's "Mystery Men", blending the anxiety and wry humor of both titles. (In addition, the series offers elements of "Batman v Superman" and the horror-tinged "Brightburn".)  

I'm proud to report that I absorbed all eight episodes of the series this past week. The installments kept me engaged, even if I found the collection's slant disturbing. Hey, high carnage and a blatant lack of morals will do that to me...heck, anybody with a conscience.

But its merciless roughness is its point. It's not supposed to be nice and pretty. It shows naked corruption at the top...the superhero top, that is. That makes the concept an allegory for police corruption, I guess, but all the same, I wouldn't call it "Serpico". Frank Serpico was a good cop desperate to expose the bad ones, and yet it does seem that the Karl "Dredd" Urban's unforgiving Billy Butcher follows a similar moral track, uncovering some venomous, steroid stuff along the way. Thing is, will he be able to reveal the catastrophic Compound V for all the world to see? As with Serpico, the odds sure don't favor success (and to boot, there's an ugly, personal secret to accompany Butcher's revelation), and yet...

In any event, Butcher works for the Boys (and thus the title), a CIA offshoot...well, in the comics that the way it plays, anyway.  In the series, Butcher works in a more select manner, choosing only those indignant enough to usher his cause, such as the devout Billy Joel fan, Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid), whose girlfriend (Jess Salguiero) became "collateral damage" due to the Flashy and unheeding A-Train (Jesse Usher). 

To complement Butcher's members, we get Campbell's practical, if not misguided dad (Simon Pegg); Frenchie (Tomer Kapon), an arsenal-stacked outsider; Cherie (Jordana Lajoie), Frenchie's sexy significant other; Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso), the gang's voice of reason; Grace Mallory (Laila Robbins), Butcher's inspiration and catalyst behind the Boys; CIA agent Susan Raynor (Jennifer Esposito), Butcher's officious confidant who's wise to the Compound V saturation; and Madelyn Stillwell (Elizabeth Shue), the head of Vought, a company that promotes and designs "Supes" for political profit. (For the record, Billy "the Phantom" Zane cameos as himself, which is neat. Too bad, though, there wasn't more of him. Then again, too bad he never got to play the Ghost Who Walks more. Actors of his caliber should never go to waste with such grand opportunities at hand.)

Among the superleaguers, we're treated not only to A-Train, but his alluring, love interest, Popclaw (Brittany Allen), a naive Lady Deathstrike, and a lightning-speed competitor, Shockwave (Mishka Thebaud). There's also Deep (Chace Crawford), a morally soggy Aquaman/Sub-mariner; Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), a hushed, Black Panther understudy; Translucent (Alex Hassell), a perverted Invisible Man; Ezekiel (Shaun Benson), a puritanical and hypocritical Mr. Fantastic; Mesmer (Haley Joel Osment), a mind reader supreme; Kimiko/the Female (Karen Fukahara), a lethal lass with terrorist ties; Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), the resident Wonder Woman; and the reputed, greatest crusader of all time, Homelander (Anthony Starr), a Superman/Cap America surrogate, who though garbed in Old Glory doesn't embody truth, justice or the meaning of the flag. (In addition, there's an oft referenced, but never seen-in-the-flesh gent called Lamplighter: a sour chip off the ol' Green Lantern block.)

Starlight (Erin Moriarty) is the new Supe recruit, who's at first eager to serve, but soon questions her coworkers' motives after Deep harasses her at work. (She's also gets tight with the heartbroken Campbell, which makes her not only humble but identifiable.)

Like "Watchmen", "The Boys" is in constant search to right wrongs and expose lies. Starlight is a valiant exception to her team's blinders-on stances, but Butcher serves much the same soul-searching purpose: a pedestrian cross between Batman and James Bond (with perhaps a spicing of Rorschach and Wolverine), investigating anything that looks or feels in the slightest off-kilter. Though he's not a genuine Supe, he's still a staunch throwback to the earliest comic-strip and pulp icons: a man who works outside the system to mend it.

Even with that said, I've a hunch that the producers of "The Boys" (which includes Seth "The Green Hornet" Rogan) probably hold different views than my ilk when it comes to what makes an authority figure bad. In other words, I don't expect this series (presuming it continues) to offer an allegory on why charity funds evaded the Haitians. (Shed a damn tear for that, Anderson Cooper! Ha!) 

Nevertheless, "The Boys" remains open for interpretation, with its leads wavering within an ethical spectrum. One can press any their  ideas upon its characters, who act as substitutes for any number of real-world officials, regardless of their political or religious affiliations. The viewer has the choice to decide who's who and what's what. 

This makes "The Boys" daring enough (maybe fruitful enough) to pursue for any jaded comic-book connoisseur. As long as its sequel(s) stick to this track, the concept will gain popularity. However, if it ever dares to polarize (like Amazon's "The Tick", AMC's "Preacher" or CW's gag-me-with-a-spoon "Supergirl"), it'll likely crawl into a damning, elitist niche: a cult favorite to some, but an insult to others. Let's hope it stays where it is, expanding its audience instead of restricting it.