The Boys, Volume 12: The Bloody Doors Off Review - Garth Ennis

By Noel Thorne / February 24, 2013

The Boys has been a love/dislike series for me with some books being amazing and others being dull, even repetitive, to the point where I lost interest in the series long enough to not pick up the final volume months after being published. But I must say Ennis and co. have wrapped things up brilliantly. Homelander has been defeated and Vought American are on the way down along with all of their superhero product and it seems The Boys job is basically done - except Butcher has other plans. He will not rest until every single superhero is dead. The only problem is that his (final?) solution will kill anyone with any compound V (the stuff that gives the Supes their powers) in their body, no matter how small. Butcher is planning a genocide that will kill millions. The Boys figure out too late what Butchers up to and characters we have come to know and love over the 12 volumes are killed left and right as Butcher makes certain nobody interferes with his plans - no-one except for Wee Hughie. This is an outstanding final book for many reasons like how Ennis wraps up all of the loose ends there were in the series, no matter how small. There were threads, like one from Volume 2: Get Some, that I hadnt even remembered until he brought them up in this book. It speaks enormously of Ennis thorough plotting that he hasnt forgotten anything hes put into this book, rewarding close readers of the series. Then theres the final showdown between Butcher and Wee Hughie at - where else? - the top of the Empire State Building. Butcher would unquestionably beat Hughie in a straight fight so I was really pleased with the way he set the scene up intimating that finale but executing it in a completely different way. Juiced up on Mothers Milk, Hughie charges at Butcher who, not even trying, easily sidesteps him (with an amazing look of brotherly concern - well done, Russ Braun!) and Hughie goes out of the window. I wont spoil what happens next because its too funny. Seriously, I read the last panel of issue 70 then turned over for the first page of issue 71 and laughed and laughed. For a story climaxing in something as horrific as genocide to be able to retain its humour is incredible. Moreover, Hughie is able to subdue Butcher in a manner thats completely in character - unintentionally and clumsily, yet effective. Its done in such an ingenious way and immediately ranks as one of the most memorable scenes Ennis has ever written. And thats how it plays out - in words, between Hughie and Butcher, a stark counterpoint to the usual overblown violence of mainstream superhero comics. Ennis has created such a strong character in Butcher that even after the terrible things hes done in this book, and throughout the series, that even though we know hes actively trying to kill millions of innocents, Butcher is still a hugely likeable character. Even to the last panel, he was, and remains, one of the most complex and charismatic of all Ennis creations. Russ Braun deserves a mention being the main artist on the series for nearly half the issues. While Darick Robertson, co-creator and artist of the series, set a high standard for the look of the series and draws the final issue, Braun has managed to establish a style thats reminiscent of Robertson while also being uniquely his own. Braun is especially good with facial expressions and his work in this book is as fantastic as its been throughout his work on the series. He is consistently a high quality artist who only adds to the story - the way he draws Butcher in his final exchange with Hughie is heartbreaking. While the premise of the book - a secret police for superheroes - was initially exciting, the more books into the series we got, the Supes became less and less interesting. The Supes are there to be made fun of, to be put into humiliating situations and forced to do any number of degrading things and the more polished their public image, the more Ennis and Robertson enjoyed tarnishing that reputation, especially when they were thinly veiled representations of popular superheroes (Batman, Superman, etc.). Its a joke that runs the length of this series and it got old long before the end. Thats why I enjoyed this book the more, because the Supes were taken out of this book altogether. There was no opportunity for Ennis to get sidetracked by trotting out another version of a popular character, humiliating them, and then getting back to the story. Looking back over the series, the best books were the ones where the Supes played a minor role instead of being the focus. One of the most remarkable books in the series was Butchers origin story (Volume 10: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker) where the Supes barely figure at all and we get a harrowing look at domestic violence, the complexity of familial relationships, and the creation of a character as deeply damaged as Butcher was. The books in the series that read very poorly were the ones where Ennis decided to put the Supes front and centre. Volume 5: Herogasm was a series low point as Ennis has the Supes take drugs, drink, and screw for an entire book while the Boys look on, with the readers, aghast. It wasnt funny and really, really boring. Volume 4: We Gotta Go was similar in that Ennis just wanted to take pot-shots at the X-Men and Teen Titans rather than move past the easily ridiculed targets and tell the more interesting original story he was creating. Volume 12 is one of the highlights of the series and its partly because Ennis honed right in on his original characters and the original story rather than continue his (at this point) tired rant against superheroes. The Supes in this book have a handful of panels amounting to less than a page and I was glad - Ennis had chosen to finish with the focus on his wonderful cast of characters, The Boys, for their final bow. And its truly a wonderful send-off. Butchers story arc completes in the only way it can, and the series ends in the same way it began, with Hughie and his girl, together and happy - only this time, Hughie isnt left holding a pair of disembodied arms. For all the gore and cheerful filthiness of the series, it ends on a simple image of love and happiness that some fans might find irksome but for me I felt was perfect.

This series wasnt just about making fun of the Supes, it wasnt just about the hyper-violence, or covert espionage, but beneath those layers there were some startlingly human scenes that showed the depth of Ennis storytelling and made this series stand out. And it was about the characters but especially Hughie, the character weve followed since Volume 1: The Name of the Game, a character with enormous heart. Ennis shows that despite the cynicism of some of the stories in the book, hes a romantic at heart and gives Hughie his heart back after 6 years of torturing him. The Boys is by no means a perfect series nor the best thing Garth Ennis has written. Its a series that at its height could be immensely satisfying and at its worst could be little more than childish and dull. But its definitely worth reading. If youre at all a comics fan then its required reading but it definitely has a strong appeal to non-comics readers looking to read something along the lines of that most read comic book by non-comics readers, Watchmen, while also being its own thing. The Boys starts well, varies in quality throughout most of the series, and finishes very strongly - The Bloody Doors Off is a perfect ending to an uneven yet highly original series. The Boys, Volume 12: The Bloody Doors Off by Garth Ennis, Russ Braun and Darick Robertson is out now in paperback from Dynamite Entertainment.