THE BOYS: SEASON 4 (A WORLD ON THE BRINK)

Eric Kripke's Amazon Prime adaptation of The Boys, based on Garth Ennis/Dynamite's comic-book series, enters its fourth season, depicting a world on the brink, or so the grapevine proclaims. It always seemed to me that the world was already on the brink when the series started, with the lines of good and bad blurred to the extent of obscurity. I mean, isn't that the big distinction for this concept, as opposed to the customary tracks found among DC/Marvel characters?

Much of The Boys' mythological discomfort will now ride on the shoulders of Vought mole, Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), who's seized higher rule, with unwanted support from hypocritical supporter, Homelander (Anthony Starr). This leaves poor Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) with more vexation heaped on his already weighted shoulders, which includes Homelander's son now riding the unethical train. (For what it's worth, Jeffery Dean Morgan is said to be on board. The question is, will his reputed character, Monkey, land closer to Comedian or Negan? Either way, the outcome is bound to be quirky, though with Monkey said to be more in sync with the righteous Boys than not. All the same, maybe Susan Heywood's "brainiac" Sister Sage or Valorie Curry's nationalistic Firecracker could set things straight, but considering how the cards fall with Supes, I wouldn't count on it.) 

I guess Butcher and his Boys will need to prevail as the saga's ardent, saving grace, even if already beaten to the core. Ah, what the hell. The sadomasochistic peculiarities are what make this series specialized, and because it parades such brash originality, credit is due.  

On the other hand (and despite Ennis and Kripke's RanXerox/Watchmen slant), it would be interesting if the saga could twist its untraditional perspective. Think about it: A Supe (other than, of course, Erin Moriarty's Starlight, who's proven forthright under her secret conditions) decides to live up to his/her publicized creed, exposing full corruption to the public because, shoot, that's what any Supe must do. I know, the odds don't favor such a jarring about-face, but hey, you can't fault an old traditionalist from aspiring. 

The Boys: Season 4 begins June 13. 

Amazon's The Boys: Season 3 (More Good Is Bad)

The Boys: Season 3 has crept its way onto Amazon Prime. The new season, based on the Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson/DC title, has been highly anticipated, but it's quiet advent works to its allegorical advantage. The Boys is a surreptitious saga, after all, and its subversive (and often outlandish and gory) tactics are most impactful when stoked by a slow burn. 

For the new jaunt, the incensed, rebel leader, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), still pursues the great Vought reveal and deconstruction, empowered at this pivotal point by laser-zapping, Compound V (in)sight. That means he presses folks to know the dark underbelly of Homelander (Anthony Starr), a perverted, Kal-El knockoff, and his many fickle super-friends, but this time the stream  exposes the left (equipped with all the media horseshit that defines that sordid thing): a refreshing twist, which indicates that no one can be trusted, except of course, the stunning Starlight (Erin Moriarity) and (though it should go without mention) Butcher's tireless brigade. 

A "new" superhero of shaky morals joins the show's ranks, Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). He's a Captain America doppelganger (with Bucky Barnes/Winter Solider modifications), but in a way, so is Homelander, though Soldier Boy was formed first. Soldier Boy is there to make us doubt our patriotic views. (Sorry, but I don't need to question my patriotism within The Boys' sprawling context. That's because Butcher is patriotic enough in his own whistle-blowing right: a blueprint for what the good ol' U.S.A. embodies. So much for the show's alluded cynicism. Thank you, Mr. Butcher, for setting us {pun intended} right.)

Crimson Countess (Laurie {The Walking Dead} Holden) also makes her debut this season. She's untrustworthy, self-serving, a swell singer/porno star and damn easy on the eyes: a visual combination of Marvel's Scarlet Witch and AC's She-Cat. Hey, good, bad or otherwise, I ain't complain'. 

In addition to the Countess, there's another newbie, Trenton, NJ's Blue Hawk (Nick Wechsler), a super-cop (not featured in the comics) who's as controversial as the other Vought creations (maybe more so, due to his explosive temper, which rivals even Homelander's). That he hails from my backyard is both exciting and unnerving, since he's to be portrayed as far from virtuous, but then again, some locals tell me the hometown references are are geared for superimposing (and clever dubbing), depending on where one watches, and if so, how insincere! 

The Boys is open to interpretation, and its layered meanings can reflect any number of ideas to those who dare bend their brains. Hell, there are even times (must I confess it?) when I identify with Homelander's ardent perspective (especially during those movie mock-up interludes), though only to the point that his fulsome arrogance (and heartless need to kill) seeps through. Does that make me a goodie or baddie? Who knows? But then such ambivalence is the core of The Boys' irony. 

The Boys: Season 3 commenced June 3 (with three loaded installments) and will run for a total of eight, with one, new episode premiering each week thereafter. Where this Brightburn-ish, upside-down world delivers viewers is yet to be seen, but they're assured to be big-time jarred along the delectable, Jitter Bean way.  

The Boys Presents Diabolical: Amazon's Animated Anthology

The Boys has proven a rousing success for Amazon Prime, enough so that an animated bridge will premiere on March 4. Diabolical is an apparent way to keep watchers in sync before The Boys' Season 3 surfaces this year.  

As most no doubt know, the live-action series is renown for its Compound V irreverence, which is a nice way of saying it's crass, but could a cartoon take the flipside edginess to higher sex-and-violence heights?

We'll soon see, but it does appear that the misleading Homelander and the tenacious Mr. Butcher will appear throughout the eight-part anthology (if only at best and most in a spiritual way), with toddling, Vought-sprung Laser Baby seizing centerstage at an early point. (The separate-yet-connecting idea is in sync with the original Heavy Metal movie, as is its rich, varied, animated samples, though with ample Looney Tunes and Family Guy stitch in.)

From Diabolical's burger-joint trailer, one gets the impression that this Boys variant will poke fun at its live-action counterpart, much as the latter pokes fun at DC/Marvel mythologies. This somber, sardonic jest should help sharpen the content for Boys' third outing, acting as animated footnotes for Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson's uncanny scenarios and personas. 

Diabolical is destined to attract loads of viewers: yep, a guaranteed hit, even if it should fail to gain the acclaim its foundation has achieved. All the same, I'm betting this one will secure the same faithful following and (given a year or two) conceive more iniquitous installments.  

An Alternate Reality: The Boys are Back In Town (Season 2 Starts)

In a time when cowardice is proclaimed the equivalent of courage (wanna debate, anyone?), stimulus checks hang in limbo and Neo-Nazi adages infiltrate schoolroom sorcery, "The Boys" makes perfect sense. What's right? What's wrong? What goddamn difference does it make?

Actually, it makes a ton of difference, for the reliable thread of Amazon's show (based on Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson's DC/Vertigo comic-book series) is to seek, confirm and expose the truth (discern virtue from deceit). Season 2 (of which there are now three episodes to view, with more to arrive on following Fridays) continues that tradition, toying with concepts found in such aligned works as "Watchmen" and "Brightburn". 

As should be no surprise, what manifests is disturbing and dark-humored, but more so the former than the later: mostly it's messy like some drawn-out splatter effect in an H.G. Lewis flick. How could the sentiment be otherwise, with an emblematic protagonist who's really an antagonist, even if he does sport the sacred designs of Kal-El and Steve Rogers. (He's called Homelander, by the way, and played by the versatile Anthony Starr; and his prime elbow-rubber in "heroics" is Dominique McElligot's Queen Maeve, a stunning, alternative-lifestyle Wonder Woman knockoff, though maybe not quite as ethical as her inspiration. Get the picture?) 

Right off the bat, Season 2 hits its dubious, Supe Seven ball right out the park, sailing it into foreign lands, for it appears that these uber-fueled individuals are global pawns for an implied "Rollerball", each created more to please their masters than protecting the common citizenry. In other words, the good-guy-vs-bad-guy angle is a lark, except that there are genuine good guys in this twisted plot. They're just popped-out-of-the-womb humans, unlike the callous, Compound V phonies they wish to defame. (For a wee tit-for-tat, the sides sometimes blur, thanks to Giancarlo "Breaking Bad/Saul" Esposito's Mr. Edgar, who isn't afraid to remind Homelander of his synthetic flaws {and foibles}; Aya Cash acts as the boss' outspoken {and therefore down-to-earth?} Storm-inspired Stormfront; and Chase Crawford's doleful Deep milks big-time empathy, for we all know a Supe isn't really rotten if he sheds mere-mortal tears.)

Karl "Dredd" Urban portrays the real-deal, head-honcho good guy, Billy Butcher. He's an embittered, Bondian Batman/Punisher of sorts (even though Nathan Mitchell's Black Noir might, in fact, occupy that part) and administers white-knuckled virility into his crusade to bring the Supes down. As such, he and his "boys" (played by Jack Quaid, Karen Fukahara, Tomer Kapon and Laz Alonzo) are labeled as bad, if only for fake-news differentiation.  

So far, Season 2 doesn't seem as shocking as the first (the series' established harshness is too familiar at this point), but its morbidity still proves entertaining in its expected, warped way. 

I generally don't like shades of gray in my action/adventure sagas (case in point, Kathleen Kennedy's reconstructed "Star Wars" or the way AMC's "Preacher" turned out: the latter, incidentally, culled from another Ennis title, also co-produced by Seth "Green Hornet" Rogen). "The Boys", however, at least attempts to distinguish good and bad with a deeper line drawn in the sand and a little Billy Joel to give it a healthy second wind. 

For me, it's all part of the concept's specialized scheme, and as long as the meticulous balance prevails, I'll be accepting of the good, the bad and the ugly, maybe even enough to look forward to the preordained Season 3.