It’s a little-known fact that The Boys actually began being published by DC Comics, but co-creator Darick Robertson said that Homelander, Billy Butcher, Wee Huey, and others were part of the DC Universe itself. revealed that it was almost incorporated into the This shocking revelation brings a whole new perspective to Garth Ennis and Robertson’s irreverent superhero take on the series, which will forever change the way the original comics are portrayed.
Speaking with Retro Futurista in 2020, artist Robertson talked about how the series came together in the early 2000s when writer Ennis approached the artist with the idea for a new superhero series. . Robertson was keen to work with Ennis again following the Fury and Punisher series, but was tied to an exclusive deal with Marvel at the time to reboot Wolverine.
A few years later, Robertson was released from his involvement with Marvel and reconnected with Ennis.
About a year after Wolverine, I started looking for more creative freedom, and that’s when Ennis told me he wanted to create a title and said, “It has to be you.” I thought it was a Hitman-like book and might interact within the DCU.
The Boys co-creator Darick Robertson reveals The Boys started in the DCU
Homeland and Batman could have done it.
Of course, The Boys was originally published as a creator-owned series by DC’s Wildstorm in 2006, far removed from the world of Batman, Superman, and the Justice League. Although the book was a success, its extreme nature soon proved too much for parent company DC, so it was canceled, leaving Ennis and Robertson free to purchase the series elsewhere. Ta. The Boys quickly found a home at Dynamite Entertainment, where they ran for 72 issues and several miniseries. In the end, DC’s loss was Dynamite’s gain, and The Boys became Amazon Prime’s biggest TV series success yet.
The vampire Cassidy, who appeared in Garth Ennis’ early DC/Vertigo series Preacher, actually made a cameo appearance in a later issue of The Boys, providing a DC Comics crossover of sorts.
Considering all this, it’s still far-fetched to imagine a world where The Boys takes place in regular DC continuity. A showdown between Homelander and Superman seems like too good an opportunity to pass up, and the Justice League likely has issues with the way the Seven and the Vought American corporation as a whole do business. After all, if The Boys had appeared in the DCU, the tone would likely have been closer to the earlier Hitman series, in which Ennis co-starred with artist John McCree. The series would have followed Gotham City hitman Tommy Monaghan as he gains superpowers and becomes embroiled in the world of superheroes and supervillains. .
It’s probably a good thing the boys exist outside of the DCU
The Boys take real creative risks
Hitman is an excellent series in its own right, but it lacks the charm that Ennis, Robertson, and future artist Russ Brown brought to the series that simply didn’t exist within the DC Universe. The Boys’ scathing critiques of superheroes, religion, politics, and American consumerism simply exist in a world of their own, allowing Ennis and his collaborators like Robertson to run wild. There had to be a publisher willing to do that. It would have been cool to see Batman and Superman intermingle with Homelander and Billy Butcher in the DC Comics universe, but The Boys ultimately landed where they needed to be.
The Boys is available from Dynamite.
Source: Retrofuturista