The Boys to the big screen

Another indie comic hit is making its way to the big screen as the violent and unpredictable story of The Boys got picked up last week by Columbia for development. Variety doesn't have too much to say on the matter other than that, but I thought I'd chime in on the matter. The Boys is written by my second favorite comic book writer... or maybe my favorite. I always have a tough time deciding between Garth Ennis, creator of The Boys and the excellent also in development Preacher series, and Warren Ellis, creator of The Authority, and Transmetropolitan. Anyhow, that's beside the point. The Boys takes the kind of superhero world that Ellis made popular in his Stormwatch and Authority days, and looks at another side of things. It's a darker much more realistic world and examines not just the often mentally unbalanced, and perverse "superheroes", but the fallout of a world with heroes. The background of the 4 colored Marvel and DC worlds. This is a book that takes the time to look at what happens to the guy whose girlfriend was just flattened by that crumbling building in the middle of the downtown superhero battle. It's a heroic deconstruction story, and its definitely not for kids.

The Boys specifically are a group of men, meta-humans enhanced with certain ass-kicking powers, that have been culled together by the CIA to act as a covert watchdog against other more public supers. They are the people the government has put together to make sure the Superman's of the world don't ever decide to turn on us. They are authorized the send a message to the superhero community. That they will be accountable for their actions. And if it comes to it, even take out supers that get too full of themselves. I actually just read the first six issues this morning on the train on the way into work and I have to say I'm impressed. It's a very mature, very violent comic that reminds me a lot of another great book The Authority. Check out my thoughts on that book over at one of my old sites here. And The Boys should make for a cool movie. They just better hire Simon Pegg for Wee Hughie...
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