The first thing to note when reading The Boys is that this isn’t your father’s superhero comic book. In fact, it’s so far removed from the typical comics about superheroes, it would be easy to disregard it as violent for fun’s sake. That being said, when looking closer at the adventures of the anti-superhero group known as The Boys, a different picture begins to form. That is, a particularly clever breakdown of our culture’s obsession surrounding superheroes, while also offering a wide range of perspectives. Garth Ennis’s The Boys presents brings a wide range of perspectives to explore while also offering a deconstruction of the traditional superhero mantra in the most diabolical way possible.
The somewhat obscure comic book started on the DC comics circuit in 2006. Written by Garth Ennis, known for his lengthy work on The Punisher series, once more collaborated with artist Darick Robertson to create some of the most graphic content of their careers. Unfortunately, The Boys was a short-lived success at publisher Winterstorm, a subsidiary of DC at the time, and was canceled after a measly six issues. Fortunately, Dynamite Entertainment renewed the comic mere weeks after its cancellation at Winterstorm. DC wanted the duo to tone down its trademark violent tone filled with sex, drugs, and oh so much blood. Additionally, Ennis and Robinson had peppered in DC properties ads (Clark, 2014) into the first few issues, and the corporate suits didn’t want their family properties to be associated with the consistently violent pages within The Boys. Coincidently, this is why the twisted ‘supes’ in the comic book are not part of the DC universe, considering the implications of a paramilitary group watching the actions of so-called superheroes. Obviously, that would impair a lot of the chaos in the larger DC extended universe.
The larger story surrounding The Boys is also one that is truly chaotic. The story takes place in a world where superheroes are somewhat plentiful and are highly regarded by the general public. The superheroes are under control by the uber-powerful Vought corporation, which manages their public relations and markets their heroes in lucrative media deals. The problem is that most of these so-called ‘superheroes’ are actually extremely violent and corrupt individuals that profit from being devoid of any moral backbone. Whenever a superhero messes up, Vought protects their reputation by passing the blame to the victim. This is the world where we find Hughie, an Irish gentleman that was enjoying his life and the fair with his girlfriend. That is until a ‘supe’ known as the ‘A-Train’ speeds through and murders Hughie’s girlfriend, Robin1. Distraught, Hughie is recruited by William Butcher and joins the ranks of The Boys, a paramilitary group loosely affiliated with the Central Intelligence Agency, that hunts down supes that get out of line. It’s important to note that the group known as The Boys is a vigilante group hellbent on taking supes down a peg. They are part of a counter-culture that despises superheroes and has had first-hand incidents with morally corrupt superheroes. These interactions have led them to join The Boys in hopes of seeking revenge for the lives that Vought has disregarded as ‘collateral damage’.
When discussing polyphony in comics, it’s important to consider the vastness of different terms of polyphony and how they can expand your story. The use of polyphony in regards to literature dates back to Mikhail Bakhtin’s readings on Dostoevsky, in which he develops the idea of ‘polyphony’, in which a narrative work is “unmerged into a single perspective, and not subordinated to the voice of the author. Each of these voices has its own perspective, its own validity, and its own narrative weight within the novel” (Robinson, 2011). And here we can see a distinct shift between traditional superhero comics and The Boys, where narration has seemed to take a back seat, while also holding some relative weight to the narrative. As an example, I would like to bring up the classic issue of The Amazing Spider-Man: If This Be My Destiny. In this comic book, as well as the majority of other Spider-Man comics, there is an unknown party that is narrating the exploits of our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man throughout New York. The narrator, who we can assume to be Stan-Lee considering he wrote the comic, has an absurd knowledge of the world that Spider-Man inhabits, to the point of following Spider-Man on his adventures, and even gaining access to the villains’ hideouts throughout the issues. When discussing polyphony, narration is typically taken as a bias, since the author is imposing his own voice on the characters and their world. That is exactly what we see in Spider-Man where Stan-Lee is establishing the world and the characters within it as an objective truth, rather than a “plurality of consciousness” (Robinson, 2011) that we see present in The Boys.
Polyphony, as we see it in The Boys, takes a distinctive shift from the limits that narration puts on a narrative, and dramatically expands the world in which we are dropped in. In terms of narration, the story relies nearly independently of a narrator telling us what’s what in the universe of The Boys. In the issue that I read, entitled “The Name of the Game Pt. 2”, narration is used only as a reference guide for inner monologue and as a means to introduce the characters that make up the vigilante brigade2. We’re not relying on the narrator to carry the story, rather we are carried by the sequential polyphony representing each character’s worldview. Take for instance the ‘A’ plot of “The Name of the Game Pt. 2” issue, and its use of sequential polyphony to show the process of recruiting Hughie into The Boys, during which time we see Butcher convincing each former member to join back up. As the issue opens, we read Susan Raynor, deputy director of the CIA’s inner monologue as she is regretting approving The Boys for reentry in the field in light of the atrocities present in their files3. Immediately following this opening page, we are transported to the recruitment of Hughie, intercut with each members’ reenlistment by Butcher, finally ending with Hughie’s agreement to go to the States to meet the squad.
Here we can see polyphony at work within The Boys, since we are not subject to a single person’s perspective throughout the work. If that were the case, we as the readers, wouldn’t see the complex world each of the characters see themselves in. Moreover, we can further certify that this is a polyphonic work by taking a look at the sequence in which the stories are structured, by telling a common storyline across different times, while still revolving around a primary story structure. Accomplishing this with a single narrator’s view on the world wouldn’t have the same effect as it does by lending conflicting views in the same narrative.
Another concept we can apply when reading The Boys, is the term of metonymy and its use of symbolism to convey hidden meanings throughout the narrative. Metonymy is when a concept or thing is referred to by using an object closely related to that concept. A good example of this is when someone is referring to horse racing, but uses ‘the track’ as a way of communicating, since the track is commonly known as the places where horses race. Applying this to The Boys, we can see a litany of symbolism that connects to the moral corruption of each of the characters.
The very beginning of the first issue shows a superhero’s head getting smashed by a boot. The grotesque image starts out our violent comic to remind us that this isn’t the typical superhero comic book that we are acquainted with, rather the book sets out to remind its audience that this is a world where superheroes are evil and those fighting them are doing the good work. Another metonymy symbol is the black trench coats sported by The Boys throughout the issue. When we are first introduced to Butcher, we immediately learn about his hatred for supes, but consequently, we see his black trench coat form an outline that looks suspiciously like something out of a Batman comic4. What we see here is a subtle nod to the salvation this supe hating figure holds, by emulating another dark, yet heroic figure from mainstream comics. That being said, we must understand that these characters are much darker that Batman could ever dream, namely due to their alliance with the CIA and their mission which allows them to “not look over our shoulders before we put some poor [bollock] in the hospital” (Ennis, Cherry, 9). We can see this foreshadowed in the midst of recruiting Hughie to join The Boys, where half of Butcher’s face is covered with shadow, excepting the glint of his pupil. This panel symbolizes the darkness present within Butcher’s soul and his hatred for supes is representative of that. The little glint of light of his pupil is indicative of the good this violent group is capable of spreading in a supervillain controlled world.
Although The Boys was cancelled at Dynamite Entertainment after a run of 72 issues, and like most properties these days, Hollywood was eager to make an adaptation. An adaptation finally came six years after the last issue in the form of an Amazon Prime original, and subsequently became one of the platform’s most popular shows, no doubt due to its gory deconstruction of our society's obsession with superhero media. The television show includes different story arches than the comic, that goes without saying, however The Boys on-screen counterparts amplify the sequential polyphony that makes The Boys comic series so great. The show’s ability to switch between perspectives seamlessly, highlights those same elements in the comic, albeit with different narrative threads. Metonymy is present throughout both adaptations and is used to drop subtle clues along throughout the narrative. The Boys expertly uses polyphony as a tool to expand the violently thematic visual-narrative storyline while offering deeper-than-expected commentary on superhero culture.
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