The Boys | |
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The Boys Volume 1: The Name of the Game (June 2007)
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Publication information | |
Publisher |
Wildstorm (#1–6) Dynamite Entertainment (#7–72) |
Schedule | Monthly |
Format | Superhero |
Publication date | October 2006 – November 2012 |
No. of issues | 72 |
Main character(s) | (List of characters) |
Creative team | |
Created by | Garth Ennis Darick Robertson |
Written by | Garth Ennis |
Penciller(s) |
Darick Robertson Russ Braun Peter Snejbjerg John McCrea |
Inker(s) | Darick Robertson Russ Braun Peter Snejbjerg John McCrea Rodney Ramos |
Colorist(s) | Tony Avina |
Collected editions | |
The Name of the Game | ISBN |
Get Some | ISBN |
Good for the Soul | ISBN |
We Gotta Go Now | ISBN |
Herogasm | ISBN |
The Self-Preservation Society | ISBN |
The Innocents | ISBN |
Highland Laddie | ISBN |
The Big Ride | ISBN |
Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker | ISBN |
Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men | ISBN |
The Bloody Doors Off | ISBN |
The Boys is an American creator-owned comic book series, written by Garth Ennis and co-created, designed and illustrated by Darick Robertson. It was originally published by Wildstorm before moving to Dynamite Entertainment.
The series is set between 2006–2008 in a world where superheroes exist. However, most of the superheroes in the series' universe are corrupted by their celebrity status and often engage in reckless behavior, compromising the safety of the world. For this reason, a superpowered CIA squad, known informally as "The Boys", is charged with monitoring the superhero community; the name is Butcher's contribution, a reference from his neighborhood that those in power would send "the boys" to handle anyone causing trouble.
Ennis has said that the series would "out-Preacher Preacher", presumably referring to the extreme violence and sexuality that were that series' hallmark, and that the series would end with its seventy-second issue.
The first six issues of The Boys were published by Wildstorm, starting in 2006. On January 24, 2007, the series was abruptly canceled with issue 6. Ennis later explained that this was because DC Comics (of which Wildstorm was an imprint before it was disbanded) were uneasy with the anti-superhero tone of the work. The planned collection of said issues was also canceled. Co-creator Darick Robertson said that "DC is being good about reverting our rights so we can find a new publisher and we're in the process of doing that now". Ennis then released a statement some other publishers had expressed interest, and that issue 7 and a trade of the first six issues would be available. While Darick Robertson is on exclusive contract to DC, he has been given special dispensation to continue working on The Boys. In February 2007 the series was picked up by Dynamite Entertainment and it resumed in May. A collected edition of the first six issues was also published by Dynamite, with a foreword by Simon Pegg.