by Garth Ennis, Darrick Robertson
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Format: Paperback
Release Date: October 1st, 2008
Volume 1: The Name of the Game Review / Volume 2: Get Some Review
Three volumes in and yeah, I absolutely bloody love this series. At this point I am completely and totally invested, and hopefully will continue being able to get the next volume as and when I can. Good for the Soul does well at building on the previous volumes, giving us some interesting interactions between both The Boys and The Seven, as well as dealing with individual characters.
Oh, and honestly? The characters feel realistic. The way Hughie stumbles into one situation after another feels like a guy just trying to make sense of what he’s experiencing. Annie turns to her faith to try and deal with what’s happening to her, and considering the overall tone of The Boys, the romantic interactions between those two are actually really bloody sweet.
Volume 3 gives us the beginnings of Vought American, as well as a standoff between Butcher and Homelander. If you’ve seen the TV series, there are a few parts of Volume 3 – slightly more-so than the previous two – you’ll recognise. The Legend walks Hughie through history, and of course we get some gross out humour throughout, which is to be expected by this point.
The Boys really does work well as a critique not just against superheroes, but American culture in general. It explores the ideas of what happens when someone has that much power, the way capitalism would use and exploit super-powered humans, and a shallow world that prides appearance over what’s right.
This is definitely a series well worth picking up, and if you’ve read the first two, Volume 3 shows it’s also a series worth continuing with.
Unwrapping Words 