Thursday, March 4, 2021

Superman Vs. Homelander

 


I had never read The Boys in comic form so did not know what to expect from the Amazon Prime series.  I have to say that I like the show quite a lot, which surprises me, as I prefer my superheroes to be presented as people of virtue.  Even so, it's interesting to see this take on a corporate based group of supers with their own personal motivations.  I'm not a big fan of gore, and there's usually at least one scene an episode where I have to avert my eyes, but other than that, I find it to be an engaging series and I look forward to a third season. 

14 comments:

Davejonz said...

Love this, both the pairing and the execution. (Not that I think either of these two will be executed).
I read a couple of the Boys collected editions, out of sequence, and they were good (except for a truly dreadful origin sequence) but I wasn't fond of the repetitive bad language. But it doesn't seem to bother me on the TV show, which I think is great. Doubt I'll go back to the comic now.

Anonymous said...

I had enough of such dystopias with the "Injustice: Gods Among Us" comics. Such "realism" makes the Silver Age increasingly less hokey, by comparison.

That being said; this would make a great sequel to your "Superman vs. Supreme Et. Al." issue.

Carycomic said...

@Anon: I believe you're referring to STF #359.

me said...

The Christopher Reeve Superman is so opposite of Highlander in attitude. Christopher Reeve made me feel a supremely powered being could also be altruistic and even the commercials for the Highlander make it hard to believe in him.

Very well done.

Bob Greenwade said...

I have to agree with the Anonymous poster above; I've been avoiding The Boys simply because I despise such cynical attitudes as the trailers and (even positive) reviews make it look like it displays.

If we're going to see Superman vs. Homelander, I'd prefer to see the latter overwhelmed as the former gets help from alternate selves -- Routh, Cain, Cavill, and Hoechlin, at least.

If you wanted to go whole hog on that, you could even do a "multiverse photo cover" with versions of every hero that's been done more than once in live action (and, presumably, in color). I won't hold my breath for it, given how much work that'd obviously be; there are plenty of Batmen (West, Keaton, Kilmer, Clooney, Bale, Affleck, Pattinson) and Spider-Men (Hammond, Izuka, Maguire, Garfield, Holland), to say nothing of Wonder Woman (Crosby, Carter, Gadot), Hulk (Ferrigno, Norton, Ruffalo), Flash (Shipp, Gustin, Miller), Captain America (Salinger, Brown, Evans), the Fantastic Four, and even Hellboy.

(I'm not counting actors who have never "suited up;" nor, with a couple of special exceptions, those from particularly obscure sources such as unaired TV pilots. I don't think the former could be worked in, and the latter would be welcome but are just too numerous to list and explain. And I'm including cases, such as Superman and Hulk, where more than one actor played what's ostensibly the same version of the character.)

Like I say, that's a lot of work, so I wouldn't expect it unless it's for #4000 or some other big moment.

On a similar track, I wonder if there'd be any way to duplicate the iconic "Flash of Two Worlds" cover using the two live-action Quicksilvers -- Evan Peters and Aaron Taylor Johnson -- with any version of the Flash being the figure on the ground.

As always, Ross, your photo covers simply do not fail to spark the imagination.

Carycomic said...

@Me: "Highlander" is the film-and-TV franchise about headhunting Immortals...immortalized by Christopher Lambert and Adrian Paul.

Homelander is the Unjust Superman analogue.

det_Tobor said...

Carycomic, surprised you didn't have something to say.

Not a fan of the show. Saw the first episode. Just regular guys get powers. We've moved on from powered people being mutants.


¡¡¡¡***ALERT SPOILERS

Speaking of Supes, saw the second episode. Not bad. With real potential. But....
~ Anyone else have a problem with post crisis Earth's history?
This Earth had a bunch of superheroes for some time.
~ Superman's ally/ friend Batman has been missing for years and he's not concerned?
~ Superman never tried to hunt the Star City killing vigilante?
~ Superman and Supergirl went from being Earth's only protectors to having a group they could get help from but didn't get much or ask for help?
~ Did Oliver make this Earth in his own desires (to help family & friends)?
~Would Hawkman & Hawkwoman and the Legends still have the same history on this Earth?
~ Team Flash & Supergirl know they are living on a new Earth. What about Superman & Lois and all the other heroes' families and friends?





Anonymous said...

I LOVED the Boys comic series! Ennis is very critical os Super hero comics (see his excellent Hitman). I am a big fan of Ennis - Peacher, his War Stories and his Hellblazer run, to mention a few. Yes, he occasionally goes overboard with violence and profanity, but he's agreat story teller.

I am also enjoying the TV show.

Harry Tzvi Keusch

Carycomic said...

@Det. Tobor: I (reluctantly) have to agree with everything Anon725 said.

Bob Greenwade said...

@Tobor: I'm enjoying all the Arrowverse shows this season so far. I think the Batman/Superman question was answered early on (Bruce didn't want to be found, and Clark respected that, especially since whatever falling-out they had), but I do wonder that heroes never call on one another for help. I get why Batwoman's team doesn't reach out (none of them have any outside connections), and ditto Black Lightning (Freeland really doesn't need a "White Savior"), but on this week's The Flash I would've expected at least a mention of Clark and Kara when that airplane was discovered to have a bomb on board (even just "They'd never get here in time!"). Even as separated as the heroes' respective cities are, Barry and the Kryptonians* can move fast enough to visit the other cities.

*Sounds like the name of a 60s rock band, eh?

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

Ross: from my understanding, S3 of THE BOYS will follow the comic more closely. In the comic, instead of it being just THE BOYS vs. The 7, we see all of that, but it progresses as we see Butcher and Hughie (primarily) going after other heroes, mostly to just humiliate them. There are two times TEK-KNIGHT is mentioned on the show, and I believe he is the first of these analogues in the comic.

Ennis planned out the book for 70 issues but it took a few issues longer. You may have read that in the comic, STORMFRONT was a man, and for me, this was the biggest deviation for S2 on Amazon.

Anonymous said...

Will Queen Maeve be on a future cover?

Anonymous said...

"Maeve" yes/"Maeve" no.

Carycomic said...

@ both anonymii: *GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAN!*

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