Kind of skimmed through the first three or so issues of the original The Boys comics, my thoughts so far:
Comic Hughie and Butcher > the show. I find comic Hughie so fucking endearing.. probably because he’s Scottish and I (Irishman) relate to their struggles o_O. I understand what they’re going for in the show by having him be a meek audience surrogate but his introduction scene in the comic where he’s telling his girlfriend about pink gay aliens had me hooked. As for Butcher I just think his character design suits him (and looks really really cool). The opposite can be said for Comic Homelander, I think he’s uggo and I like Anthony Starr Homelander much better. I don’t have much to say about the other characters— Kimiko’s comic counterpart is cute and I think Starlight was well cast.
Starlight’s introduction and subsequent assault is so over the top that it reads like a South Park joke. I have no idea if that was the intent or if Garth Ennis wanted the reader to feel sorry for her, but the comic suffers from the same rape-as-shock-value issue as most of his other works. I’m not averse to sexual assault as a plot device (hell, one of my favorite movies is Salo) but if it happens over and over again it’s difficult to feel anything but apathetic.
Did I mention that I find Hughie cute? I have no idea what it is but I want to take him home with me.
Anyways, it’s flawed but I’m intrigued enough to want to stick around. Going into it with an open mind ^_^
