A lot of people think it would be great to live in a world where superheroes exist. Not just in the sense of heroic people doing heroic things, but super strong, super fast, mutated whatever superheroes. Sure, it sound like a great idea – local and global problems taken care of by the ones who always save the day. But what about the reality of dealing with those heroes and their personalities and problems and egos? Well, that’s where The Boys come in. 

Published from 2006 through 2012, The Boys was a creation of writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson. Set in a world where superheroes do exist, and are pretty full of themselves as celebrities, The Boys is the moniker for a superpowered CIA squad that keeps those heroes under control. When necessary, they do the dirty work and have even been known to take out a “hero” who’s out of control and putting the world at risk.

If you know anything about Garth Ennis’ work, you’ll know what to expect with The Boys. The storytelling is fantastic, but it’s also raw, extremely violent and often sexual. It takes a bite out of the “perfect” hero trope and gives you down and dirty characters you can’t help but side with. Because it ran for 72 issues, there are multiple story arcs to follow, but they don’t get convoluted with a lot of hero nonsense. And now there’s a tv series to look forward to, currently in production and scheduled to hit Amazon in 2019.