GARTH ENNIS PLANES and BOYS

[PreacherCain]

I thought the plan had been to have Darick Robertson return and draw the last arc? That appears to not be happening...

Was there more of a falling out there than we'd been led to believe? I remember the news broke because Robertson said he'd been kicked off the book or something but then he changed his tune soon afterwards when the PR peeps got involved.

[strontium_dog_90]

I thought I was just being thick, because I really don't know what he's doing. Obviously he's covering sometyhing up completely, but what have The Legend and Vas got to do with it?

4 issues to go, I think Butcher will be leaving the planet for good by the end.

An interesting thought . . .question is, would he be exiting it as hero or villain? The latter looks most likely at the minute, but I'm wondering if there's another twist to come in there somewhere.

And did this issue see Hughie creep closer towards the dark side himself?

Man I'm really going to miss this series when it finishes!

[I, Cosh]

I also picked that issue up at my local FP yesterday. Just what is Butcher up to?

Not sure either but I reckon it'll be connected to why he killed Mallory. Whyever that was.

[strontium_dog_90]

Anyone else read Boys 68 yet?

Wow.

That's one hell of an episode there.

[Dandontdare]

just got my TPB of vol 11 - the showdown with the Seven. Bloody brill, but I wonder if I should stop there as it sounds like things take a much nastier turn from hints on this thread.

[Mudcrab]

Just got 11 myself, one episode off the end (which would be 65 I think). Fantastic stuff, really kicks off in this one, nice one Hughie! (Heh, didn't actually intend that pun there  ) So I assume there's one more book to go? Any more specials or was Butcher's the last one?

Trying to avoid most of this thread as there be spoilers.

[Alski]

#68

Final page or 2

Fuuuccckkkk....

[judgefloyd]

Just finished 'over the hill with etc'.  This thread is agony for me - I want to chime in but don't want to know what happens after what I've read.  So far The Boys is my favourite Ennis ever. He's really at the top of his game; a lot of the humour is balanced with a bit of maturity and it doesn't get over-sentimental as often happened in Preacher or Hitman (my second favourite Ennis thing). Also he doesn't lay on his sensitive right on new age guyishness too thick (cf Preacher with the main character congratulating himself on enlightened oral sex habits). 
      I really didn't think there was any more mileage at all in the 'what if superheroes were real' thing, but The Boys disproves that admirably.
  A nerdy question - is it a coincidence that Stilwell shares his surname with Jasper Stilwell of SHIELD?  I think it's probably a coincidence, but the name and the giant floating fortress thing made me wonder. 
Also - were any Scottish readers annoyed by the Scotland interlude or by Hughie's vocabulary?  Feel free to include the word 'jings' in your answer.

[Trout]

Just finished 'over the hill with etc'.  This thread is agony for me - I want to chime in but don't want to know what happens after what I've read.  So far The Boys is my favourite Ennis ever. He's really at the top of his game; a lot of the humour is balanced with a bit of maturity and it doesn't get over-sentimental as often happened in Preacher or Hitman (my second favourite Ennis thing). Also he doesn't lay on his sensitive right on new age guyishness too thick (cf Preacher with the main character congratulating himself on enlightened oral sex habits). 
      I really didn't think there was any more mileage at all in the 'what if superheroes were real' thing, but The Boys disproves that admirably.
  A nerdy question - is it a coincidence that Stilwell shares his surname with Jasper Stilwell of SHIELD?  I think it's probably a coincidence, but the name and the giant floating fortress thing made me wonder. 
Also - were any Scottish readers annoyed by the Scotland interlude or by Hughie's vocabulary?  Feel free to include the word 'jings' in your answer.

No, the Scottish sequence worked pretty well. Quite a lot of it was based on an idealised Enid Blyton-style childhood, which of course detached it from reality a bit, but that worked well. I had no problem with the way Scotland and its residents were portrayed.

I'm loving this comic, too, although I'm only rarely visiting this thread because I fear spoilers.

- Trout

[Goaty]

Fuck! Just read the latest issue! at those last few pages, FUCK!

I remember Ennis are doing the Boys for 70 issues, so oh my gosh!

[strontium_dog_90]

Fuck! Just read the latest issue! at those last few pages, FUCK!

I remember Ennis are doing the Boys for 70 issues, so oh my gosh!

Yeah . . .it was a pretty good issue, wasn't it?

You have to wonder how the fallout from this one is going to land. Roll on the next installment!

[Mudcrab]

Also - were any Scottish readers annoyed by the Scotland interlude or by Hughie's vocabulary?  Feel free to include the word 'jings' in your answer.

Crivvens naw! A lot of the cliched stuff was straight out of Oor Wullie/The Broons and other DC Thompson comics (the barman and the vicar were superb!).

I'd love to see a French reaction to the Frenchie episodes though, that had me in stitches!

[judgefloyd]

the barman's obscene version of Old Man whatsit from Scooby-Doo was funny.

yours crivvens-ishly,

Floyd

[TordelBack]

Finishing the Hughie series, I suspected that the point (apart from pure fun) was to establish him up as the model of a British/Scottish comics hero (with the focus on family and friends and foiling smugglers), in contrast to the American comics heroes the Boys fight.

Thinking this way. I had wondered if Butcher's origin would equally set him up as a Dennis the Menace archetype (Ennis has form in this regard) in contrast to Hughie's Oor Wullie, what with his Beano-style name name, the regular bullying and faithful attack dog companion.  While the violent father initially suggested an analogy for frequent slipperings, the rest didn't really hold up at all. Almost certainly for the best, since what we got was pretty excellent.

[Trout]

a Dennis the Menace archetype (Ennis has form in this regard)

I was re-reading Judgement Day just last night. A great idea to have [spoiler]Walter the Softy grow up to be a psycho.[/spoiler]

Edited to add:
It occurs to me that this thread may be the place to add my not-very-original comments on Ennis Dredd stories. I've been reading Case Files 16 and 17, and really enjoying them. Yes, much of it suffers from not being Wagner, but as Dredd stories go they're genuinely good. The writer's lack of maturity (Traktorfaktori, etc) is there for all to see but so is his talent for storytelling. I like Dredd with more vulnerability than this, but that's a minor point.