Episode 213: The Boys Vol. 1 – The Name of the Game

The Comics Canon

This episode contains explicit language and talk of sexual assault.

On this episode, we take a butcher’s at the book that begat the critically acclaimed streaming series The Boys—specifically, The Name of the Game, collecting the first six issues of The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, originally published by WildStorm Productions and later collected by Dynamite Entertainment!

When Hughie Campbell’s girlfriend is killed during a superpowered battle, he’s recruited by Billy the Butcher to join The Boys, a CIA-sanctioned squad of humans tasked with monitoring the superhero community and acting when they step out of line. Meanwhile, Annie January, aka Starlight, achieves her lifelong dream of joining the world’s premier superteam, The Seven—only to find that the world’s greatest heroes are corrupt, narcissistic, cruel ... and worse. And Hughie quickly learns that his new gig isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, either.

Can these two innocents navigate this unpleasant new world without losing their souls? And can this book filled with sex, graphic violence and gross-out gags survive a meeting with that Human Resources department known as ... The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

· A Comics Canon news break

· We need to talk about that hamster ...

· A discussion of The Boys on Amazon Prime Video

· Garth Ennis’ Red Team

· The Mighty

Join us in two weeks as we begin a discussion of Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta!

Until then:Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook, Bluesky or The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter!

And as always, thanks for listening!