The Boys is a hit TV series on Amazon Prime Video since 2019. Before the TV show, there was the comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson.
The comic book takes place in a world where superpowered individuals are recognized as heroes by the general public and work for the powerful corporation Vought International. In public, those superheroes are exemplary, but away from the camera, they are, most of them, arrogant, corrupt, depraved, and more.
The Boys are a team of vigilantes led by Billy Butcher, working for the CIA in order to keep an eye on the superhero community. And like the superheroes they worked so hard to stop, they are also fuck up people. Everything starts when Wee Hughie – based on Simon Pegg – watched his girlfriend being killed in front of him by a superhero who didn’t care about the collateral damages. Butcher invites him to join his team in the US and teaches him all he needs to know about the birth of superheroes and how they are just propaganda material for a failed military consortium.
The Boys is full of Marvel and DC references, there’s also an Animal House storyline and a lot of really dark and disturbing things, you know, like in a Garth Ennis comics. It’s a satirical comic, with The evolution of Hughie and Butcher at the heart of the story. And like a classic Ennis comic, it’s full of rage, violence, and dark and twisted humor, with interesting characters and some pure emotions.
The Boys Reading Order
The first two short storylines of The Boys were published by Wildstorm before the series got canceled because DC didn’t like the tone and the subject. After that, the series was picked up by Dynamite Entertainment. There’s the main series and some mini-series. Here is the reading order :
- The Name of the Game
Collects The Boys #1–6 (“The Name of the Game” and “Cherry” story-arcs). - Get Some
Collects The Boys #7–14 (“Get Some” and “Glorious Five Year Plan” story-arcs). - Good for the Soul
Collects The Boys #15–22 (Good For The Soul” and “I Tell You No Lie G.I.” story-arcs). - We Gotta Go Now
Collects The Boys #23–30 (“We Gotta Go Now” story-arc). - Herogasm
Collects Herogasm #1–6 (miniseries). - The Self-Preservation Society
Collects The Boys #31–38 (“The Self-Preservation Society” and “Nothing Like It in the World” story-arcs, plus the stories “La Plume De Ma Tante Est Sur La Table” and “The Female of the Species Is More Deadly Than the Male”). - The Innocents
Collects The Boys #39–47 (“What I Know”, and “The Innocents” and “Believe” story-arcs). - Highland Laddie
Collects Highland Laddie #1–6 (miniseries that takes place right after the “Believe” story-arc). - The Big Ride
Collects The Boys #48–59 (“Proper Preparation and Planning”, “Barbary Coast” and “The Big Ride” story-arcs). - Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker
Collects Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #1–6 (miniseries). - Over the Hill with the Sword of a Thousand Men
Collects The Boys #60–65 (“Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men” story-arc). - The Bloody Doors Off
Collects The Boys #66–72 (“The Bloody Doors Off” story-arc and “You Found Me”). - Dear Becky
Collects Dear Becky #1-8 (An eight-issue epilogue series published eight years after the conclusion).
The Boys: The Omnibus Edition
Once Upon a Time (between 2008 and 2014), there was the Definitive Edition of The Boys, but they’re out of print and since, Dynamite Entertainment has released a new collection, the Omnibus Edition!
With the success of the TV adaptation, Dynamite also put out their special edition of those Omnibus volumes featuring a photo cover from the series!
- The Boys Omnibus Vol. 1 (exists also with a photo cover from the series)
Collects The Name of the Game & Get Some. - The Boys Omnibus Vol. 2 (or with a photo cover from the series)
Collects Good for the Soul & We Wanna Go Now. - The Boys Omnibus Vol. 3 (or with a photo cover from the series)
Collects Herogasm & The Self-Preservation Society. - The Boys Omnibus Vol. 4 (or with a photo cover from the series)
Collects The Innocents & Highland Laddie. - The Boys Omnibus Vol. 5 (or with a photo cover from the series)
Collects The Big Ride & Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker. - The Boys Omnibus Vol. 6 (or with a photo cover from the series)
Collects Over the Hill with the Sword of a Thousand Men & The Bloody Doors Off.
And the Oversized Omnibus:
To Celebrate the 15th Anniversary, Dynamite is offering three all-new oversized hardcover omnibus volumes of The Boys.
- The Boys Oversized Omnibus
Collects The Name of the Game, Get Some, Cheery, Glorious Five Year Plan, Good for the Soul, I Tell you No lie, GI and We Gotta Go Now.