# The Boys (comics)
**The Boys** is an [American comic book](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-comic-book) series written by [Garth Ennis](https://www.edgepedia.org/garth-ennis) and drawn by Darick Robertson, in which a government-funded team of operatives keeps corrupt, celebrity superheroes under control in a United States uncomfortably like our own.[1](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-boys-2006/the-boys-1) First published by [DC Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/dc-comics)' WildStorm imprint in 2006 and continued at Dynamite Entertainment from 2007 to 2012, the series ran 72 issues and satirizes superhero comics, the comics industry, and post-9/11 American politics.[2](https://www.comics.org/series/25058/) • [3](https://www.tcj.com/bring-on-the-boys-success-supes-satire-cynicism-and-garth-ennis/) It is the basis of the Amazon Prime Video television series *The Boys*, adapted by showrunner Eric Kripke.[4](https://apnews.com/article/c23698774fa2ea0e52cb97eee213279f)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Creators | Writer Garth Ennis (*Preacher*, *The Punisher*) and artist Darick Robertson (*Transmetropolitan*), their first original collaboration as co-creators[1](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-boys-2006/the-boys-1) |
| First issue | On sale August 16, 2006; 32 pages, color; US price $2.99[1](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-boys-2006/the-boys-1) |
| Publishers | WildStorm Productions (DC Comics) for issues #1–6 (October 2006 – February 2007); Dynamite Entertainment from #7 (May 2007) through #72 (November 2012)[5](https://www.comics.org/series/19531/details/timeline/) • [2](https://www.comics.org/series/25058/) |
| Premise | With roughly a quarter-million super-powered beings in the world, The Boys, a CIA-backed team, are "dedicated to keeping the 'supes' in line"[1](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-boys-2006/the-boys-1) |
| Genre and rating | Super Heroes; suggested for mature readers[6](https://dynamite.com/titles/the-boys/) • [5](https://www.comics.org/series/19531/details/timeline/) |
| Sequel | *The Boys: Dear Becky*, an 8-issue miniseries by Ennis and Russ Braun with covers by Robertson, published in 2020[7](https://www.tcj.com/reviews/the-boys-dear-becky/) |
| Adaptation | The Amazon Prime Video series *The Boys*, announced in 2024 to end with its fifth season, is based on the comic[4](https://apnews.com/article/c23698774fa2ea0e52cb97eee213279f) |
## Premise
The world of *The Boys* holds about a quarter-million super-powered beings, and the title team are the men and women "who make sure the world's 'heroes' never go too far": a government-funded group of operatives dedicated to policing the supes.[1](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-boys-2006/the-boys-1) A publisher's synopsis puts the setup plainly: the superheroes are self-absorbed and reckless, innocent bystanders become casualties, and no one holds the heroes accountable except the Boys, a team united by "their absolute hatred of anyone wearing a cape."[8](https://atomicavenue.com/atomic/series/23984/1/The-Boys)
The supes themselves are managed by Vought, a corporation behind the superhero program. [Superhuman abilities](https://www.edgepedia.org/superpower-ability) in the setting derive from the drug Compound V, which gives enhanced strength and durability.[9](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-boys-comic-review/) The team's members include [Billy Butcher](https://www.edgepedia.org/billy-butcher), the recruiting vigilante; Wee Hughie; Frenchman (Frenchie); the Female; and MM.[10](https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/bitstreams/6b3b17ad-cabb-4ade-b0a4-2e7fc3b4d88f/download)
## Publication history
The series began at WildStorm Productions, an imprint of DC Comics. Issue #1 went on sale on August 16, 2006, priced at $2.99, and issues #1 through #6 appeared monthly through February 2007, each flagged as suggested for mature readers.[1](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-boys-2006/the-boys-1) • [5](https://www.comics.org/series/19531/details/timeline/) DC then stopped the series after six issues because of the content, and the rights to the story and characters reverted to the creators.[11](https://americancomicbooks.info/WildStorm/Boys_2006.htm) The irony was structural: the publisher whose characters the comic openly parodied was the one ending its publication.[12](https://www.mycomicscollection.com/en/blog/the-boys-the-series-versus-the-comics-of-garth-ennis/)
Ennis and Robertson took the series to Dynamite Entertainment, an independent publisher, where it ran from issue #7 in May 2007 to issue #72 in November 2012, the numbering continuing from the DC run.[2](https://www.comics.org/series/25058/) • [12](https://www.mycomicscollection.com/en/blog/the-boys-the-series-versus-the-comics-of-garth-ennis/) Dynamite has kept the property in print, listing the title as a mature-rated Super Heroes series by Ennis and Robertson.[6](https://dynamite.com/titles/the-boys/)
## Satire and themes
__The comic is aimed squarely at the superhero genre itself.__ The Comics Journal describes it as radiating "genuine contempt for the entire superhero genre which then, as now, dominates comic books in the English language."[3](https://www.tcj.com/bring-on-the-boys-success-supes-satire-cynicism-and-garth-ennis/) Its targets also include the American comic book industry and post-9/11, Bush-era politics; a 2020 reviewer calls it a "sprawling, scathing, ultra-gory critique of American mainstream comics and politics."[7](https://www.tcj.com/reviews/the-boys-dear-becky/)
A founding plot point ties the satire to recent history: the superhuman characters of the setting try, and fail, to stop the [September 11 attacks](https://www.edgepedia.org/september-11-attacks), an event that leads directly into many of the story's disasters.[3](https://www.tcj.com/bring-on-the-boys-success-supes-satire-cynicism-and-garth-ennis/) The Comics Journal also notes a deliberate irony in the team's makeup, with most of the CIA-employed Boys not being American, echoing the way the United States pressed allies to symbolically join the War on Terror.[3](https://www.tcj.com/bring-on-the-boys-success-supes-satire-cynicism-and-garth-ennis/) The *New Yorker* situates Ennis's approach in his career: his comics, among them *The Punisher* and *Preacher*, are known for black comedy, "shining ultraviolence," and the absence of idealized victors, and he has long harbored a disdain for traditional superhero narratives and their tendency to impose fantasy politics onto real-life war.[13](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/28/the-giddily-twisted-action-of-the-boys)
The tone is extreme by design. A GamesRadar review calls the series "a very over-the-top satire of superhero comic books," noting that the art mirrors the story's most extreme aspects.[9](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-boys-comic-review/) Comparing the source with its adaptation, one retrospective describes the comic as "clearly harder, more provocative and less political than the series."[12](https://www.mycomicscollection.com/en/blog/the-boys-the-series-versus-the-comics-of-garth-ennis/)
## Crossovers and spin-offs
The main series was followed by spin-offs and a sequel. The most substantial is *The Boys: Dear Becky* (2020), an 8-issue miniseries by Ennis with artist Russ Braun and covers by Darick Robertson. It is both a sequel and a prequel, catching up with Hughie and Annie, the only main characters to survive the original series, retired in 2020 to Hughie's childhood home in Scotland, in a world now without superheroes.[7](https://www.tcj.com/reviews/the-boys-dear-becky/) The same reviewer judged that removing superheroes from the world undermines a property built on satirizing them.
One crossoever remained a single image: the Emerald City Comic Con variant cover of *The Boys* #18 (2008) shows Butcher, Hughie, and the rest of the team standing over a defeated superhero of whom only a yellow glove is visible. Darick Robertson, the series' artist, later confirmed the figure was meant to be Mark Grayson, the protagonist of *Invincible*. The image was never canon and had no narrative continuity in either comic.[14](https://as.com/meristation/comics/noticias/pocos-lo-recuerdan-pero-the-boys-e-invencible-tuvieron-un-crossover-secreto-y-fugaz-en-los-comics-f202605-n/)
## Adaptation and legacy
The comic is the source of Amazon Prime Video's *[The Boys](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-boys-tv-series)*, which follows a team of vigilantes taking on celebrities-like superheroes who abuse their power; Amazon announced in June 2024 that the series would end with its fifth season.[4](https://apnews.com/article/c23698774fa2ea0e52cb97eee213279f) The adaptation shifted the satire's target: where Ennis mocked a comic book industry, the series, in the view of one comparison, observes a society, turning Vought into a studio-conglomerate that produces superhero films and manipulates public opinion, satire that reads immediately to an audience that has lived under shared cinematic universes.[12](https://www.mycomicscollection.com/en/blog/the-boys-the-series-versus-the-comics-of-garth-ennis/) French criticism has traced the same movement, describing the show as beginning in 2019 as a deconstruction of superhero mythology and becoming, season by season, a furious political satire of American public life.[15](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2024/06/18/the-boys-saison-4-sur-prime-de-la-critique-des-super-heros-a-la-satire-politique_6241105_3246.html)
Timing mattered for the original. The *New Yorker* observed that Ennis's Bush-era comic was published too early to puncture franchise fever at its height, while the television satire arrived when superhero films were already dominant.[13](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/28/the-giddily-twisted-action-of-the-boys) The comic itself has continued to sell: Dynamite offered new printings and tie-in editions around the show's later seasons, and in 2026 announced a premium release marking the series' final season.[6](https://dynamite.com/titles/the-boys/)
## References
1. [THE BOYS #1, DC Comics](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-boys-2006/the-boys-1)
2. [GCD :: Series :: The Boys (Dynamite Entertainment)](https://www.comics.org/series/25058/)
3. [Bring on The Boys: Success, Supes, satire, cynicism and Garth Ennis, The Comics Journal](https://www.tcj.com/bring-on-the-boys-success-supes-satire-cynicism-and-garth-ennis/)
4. ['The Boys,' Amazon's hit superhero satire show, will end with Season 5, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/c23698774fa2ea0e52cb97eee213279f)
5. [GCD :: Series :: The Boys (2006 series) :: Timeline](https://www.comics.org/series/19531/details/timeline/)
6. [Titles – The Boys, Dynamite Entertainment](https://dynamite.com/titles/the-boys/)
7. [The Boys: Dear Becky, The Comics Journal](https://www.tcj.com/reviews/the-boys-dear-becky/)
8. [The Boys comic books from WildStorm, Atomic Avenue](https://atomicavenue.com/atomic/series/23984/1/The-Boys)
9. [Best Shots mega-review: The Boys, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-boys-comic-review/)
10. [Ennis' The Boys as parody and satire of the superhero genre, ScholarWorks@GSU](https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/bitstreams/6b3b17ad-cabb-4ade-b0a4-2e7fc3b4d88f/download)
11. [The Boys (2006–2012), American Comic Books](https://americancomicbooks.info/WildStorm/Boys_2006.htm)
12. [The Boys: the series versus the comics of Garth Ennis, My Comics Collection](https://www.mycomicscollection.com/en/blog/the-boys-the-series-versus-the-comics-of-garth-ennis/)
13. [The Giddily Twisted Action of "The Boys", The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/28/the-giddily-twisted-action-of-the-boys)
14. [Pocos lo recuerdan, pero 'The Boys' e 'Invencible' tuvieron un crossover secreto, MeriStation](https://as.com/meristation/comics/noticias/pocos-lo-recuerdan-pero-the-boys-e-invencible-tuvieron-un-crossover-secreto-y-fugaz-en-los-comics-f202605-n/)
15. [« The Boys », saison 4, sur Prime : de la critique des super-héros à la satire politique, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2024/06/18/the-boys-saison-4-sur-prime-de-la-critique-des-super-heros-a-la-satire-politique_6241105_3246.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Comics and sequential art › Comic-book series and issues › Independent American comics*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license