The Boys #72 (Dynamite)

writer: Garth Ennis
artist: Darick Robertson

So that's it, then, the final issue of The Boys.  It's more of an epilogue, really.

I should note before I go much further that I was not a regular reader of the series nor much of a fan.  In fact, very early on I became a tad bit infamous by denouncing The Boys as all but ridiculously offensive.  Clearly that's what Garth Ennis was going for, at least as fans of superheroes go, because Garth Ennis is not himself a fan of superheroes, or at least writes as such.  Ennis is best known for Preacher and Hitman, both of which feature antiheroes.  So does The Boys, the title referring to a team of ordinary individuals who have dedicated themselves to policing the excesses of the superhero community.  It's as much to say that Ennis is a cynic as far as capes go.

I read the odd issue here and there but not for several years.  In fact, I was surprised that there ended up being so many issues.  The series began at WildStorm but soon enough migrated to Dynamite.  I don't know if this had any appreciable impact, but here it's been, along with several supporting projects.  The character who might as well be defined as the most distinctive and therefore main character of the series, Wee Hughie, is firmly in the spotlight in The Boys #72.  Wee Hughie has the distinction of being the second most famous comic book character to have his appearance based on an actor, after the Ultimate version of Nick Fury took the likeness of Samuel L. Jackson.  Wee Hughie looks exactly like Simon Pegg.  I happen to like Simon Pegg.  Either I don't know him as well as I think I do, or Wee Hughie acts nothing like him.  It's just as well.

The character receives a happy, romantic ending that probably plays better to regular readers, although it's another affirmation for me that Ennis is perhaps best understood as a writer who just wants comics to feature normal people.  There's a few final digs at superheroes, of course, but it's almost a resignation to the fact that The Boys has had absolutely no effect on the popular landscape.  Superheroes will continue to do what superheroes do, Boys or no Boys.  I don't know if Ennis ever thought the result would be different.

Darick Robertson has apparently not been around for the complete run, but he was the original artist and does the honors in the final issue as well.  My tiny bit of notoriety arose from criticizing Robertson's work along with the rest of the comic.  His fans really didn't like that.  I have since reconciled myself as part of his fanbase.  He currently illustrates Grant Morrison's Happy!, although that's not the reason I must continue to apologize for earlier remarks.  Although there are no dogs in this issue, so I cannot give a final statement about that.

So long and thanks for all the filth.