The Boys is one of my all-time favorite comic book series. A procedural drama-dey about a mismatched black ops group whose sole purpose is to keep deviant superheroes in line. Over the course of its 70 plus issues, co-creators Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson, tackled issues such as government power abuse and homophobia all the while layering in a satire about superhero comic books. Amazon’s adaptation of the comics from producers Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen shared the premise of the source material but carved out a very distinct path for itself. By the end of season one, fans of the comics are left on a nearly unrecognizable path.

First the familiar. Artist, Darrick Robertson created a visually abundant and colorful world populated by vast amounts of static analogs for well-known superheroes such as speedsters, high flyers, brutes, warriors, and even claw people. While The Boys TV counterpart focuses on a specific group of supes as the antagonists of the show; you’ll spot or hear bits that let you know this world is huge and ripe for exploration. References to teams such as Tennage Kix, G-Men, and others appear throughout these eight episodes. Just like the comics, the world of the show has the capacity to poke fun at every kind of comic book that’s ever been.

The other big panel to page correlation is with the antagonist superhero group “The Seven”. While some of the names have been changed, you definitely know you’re looking at a big ol ha ha to the Justice League. Some of the series best performances belong to Homelander (Anthony Starr) and Starlight (Erin Moriarty). Their looks and nuance mannerisms simply leap off the panels. Homelander’s dichotomy of a cocky bastard to impetuous tantrums are fun to watch while Moriarty’s Starbright feels every bit the in over her head girl learning to swim with sharks.

One of the advantages The Boys has in adapting is its source material isn’t a household name. You can try to make greater changes to something like this versus saying “we’re going to experiment with Superman by having his rocket crash in Mexico”. Producers took that to heart when carving out our protagonist black ops group. At least in the first season, you won’t find four odd couple individual badasses walking the streets of New York in long leather coats. Rogen and Goldberg along with showrunner Eric Kripke aim for a more grounded version of the team.

We aren’t simply getting this team brought together by Butcher to do a job. Most of the coming together happens by circumstance. Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) is content working as a solo act, it’s through his taking advantage of a grieving Hughie Campell (Jack Quaid) that unfortunate circumstances make him bring back the rest of a reluctant team. Hughie’s tragic triggering loss is similar to what we saw in the comics but the show gives it more weight than the books by making it collateral damage of a sinister operation than a freak superhero vs supervillain fight accident.

That’s where the similarities of the show to its material end.

The Boys we get are not what had been imagined in the comics or even really a team. Hughie isn’t the Simion Pegg illustrated by Robertson, he’s a distinctly American underachiever with a pension for self-deprecation. Butcher isn’t as menacing a or tempting a figure as we would have hoped. Karl Urban’s portrayal seems more like your drunk uncle is picking a fight at a little league game than a total badass. Mother’s Milk played by Laz Alonzo is probably the most accurate character in terms of story and tone. Just as in the comics, Mother’s Milk plays the common sense of the group perfectly. Just as they did with Preacher on AMC, Rogen and Goldberg are trying to explore certain things that were simply static in the comics. The best example being the depth attempted at the characters of The Frenchman (Tomer Capone) and The Female (Karen Fukuhara). In the show, they are more than just muscle for Butcher. Frenchie is a shady gangster with a ton of ingenuity. While the change is serviced in the show, we may not get some of the random offbeat humor the character spouted in the material. Certainly not a baguette joust as that just wouldn’t fit this take. Instead of simply being a mob enforcer out of nowhere, The Female’s story is given some real depth as the victim of experimental drug testing that gives her freakish strength along with her tragic child soldier past its compelling character building.

Through the first season soo much of the world of The Boys serialized storytelling is littered with twists. These narrative shifts come off organic and welcomed. Dealing with “Compound V” as more of a superhero street drug than simply a plot device that gives The Boys their own powers is interesting. Series writers manage to get a lot of mileage in regards to how the drug plays into government affairs and even destroying the lives of some of the main characters.

The visual adaptation doesn’t end at the faces of these characters. The Boys comic books still lived in a vibrant and bright world inhabited by shitty people. Amazon’s version is blatantly different with multiple layers of visual grit. The costumes worn don’t pop against the drab or muddled color pallets on screen. If you play video games, you might compare it to the same colors that make up Mad Max or Rage.

By the end of season one, the audience is put on a path previously thought unfathomable by those who have read the entire series of comics. The cliffhanger reveal that drastically alters the motivations behind Billy Butcher’s crusade against Homelander and The Seven is something I look forward to seeing explored more in the future.

Overall: The Boys on Amazon is a tale of two cities on different continents. Those who know and love the comics will be startled by the liberties the show takes. Not knowing exactly what will happen next makes it worth sticking around for, but not everyone will feel that way. Those who aren’t familiar with the source material need only been fans of revenge drama or dark superhero tales to enjoy this version of The Boys.

A-

While not every risk it takes pays off…The Boys on Amazon keeps enough intrigue and A-Team feel to make it like compelling television.

People love that cozy feeling that superheroes give them, but if you knew half of the things they are up to…diabolical. Time to declare war.

Full Season Now Streaming on July 26, 2019

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