MattBrady
03-22-2007, 03:40 PM
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Wildstorm/The_Boys_007_COV.jpg" border="0" align="right">As Newsarama reportedearlier this month ( http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=104456), Garth Ennis ( http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA06/DC/EnnisBOys.htm) and Darick Robertson’s ( http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA06/DC/Robertson_Boys.html) <b>The Boys</b> will pick up again in June with issue #7, but this time, published by Dynamite Entertainment ( http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=100616), rather than DC/Wildstorm.
We broke the news in January ( http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=98812) that the series would no longer be published by Wildstorm after issue #6 back in January, which led to both an uproar among the series’ fans, as well as an apparent feeding frenzy of publishers looking to be the new place <b>The Boys</b> would call home.
We spoke with both Ennis and Robertson about the series, the move, and the future.
<b>Newsarama</b>: While I don't want to dwell on the <b>The Boys</b> problems at DC, were there signs of difficulties before the cancellation, or was it somewhat out of the blue?
<b>Garth Ennis</b>: A couple of lines got changed, but we're putting them back in for the trade. There was a slowly developing sense that this was a book that would give some people sleepless nights, and we might be under the spotlight in the way I'd gotten used to on <b>Preacher</b>. Nothing more than that, though. The real trouble, when it began, was initially a bit of a turn-up for the books.
<b>Darick Robertson</b>: Everything was going well at the time of cancellation.
<b>NRAMA</b>: After the news broke here at Newsarama, we saw a tremendous (and vocal) amount of support for the book rally - were you expecting that kind of outcry, or, as a writer, are you somewhat insulated from the passion and connection readers develop for the projects you work on?
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Wildstorm/Boys10.jpg" align="left"><b>GE</b>: I don't read reviews or go online to check message boards and things; instead I tend to rely on sales figures. We launched well, dipped, and started climbing again, which gave me the sense we were going to be all right. As for the response- well, it's the kind of material that you know will inspire a good deal of passion, both for and against. Besides that, you can't just cancel a successful new monthly at issue #6 and not expect some kind of reaction.
<b>DR</b>: I was surprised by the level of attention that we received. I was happy the book had such vocal support and I hope that the support will be there when we resume the series in June with Dynamite!
<b>NRAMA</b>: From the outside, the transition from DC to Dynamite seems fairly quick and problem-free, but was there a time where figured that was it for <b>The Boys</b>, that is, the series was done and over with?
<b>DR</b>: I was concerned when the cancellation happened that I would lose my contract at DC and I was unsure if anyone would want to take on <b>The Boys</b>, as there were a number of conditions involved, and resuming the series would take a financial and scheduling commitment. Remarkably, almost everyone that was interested was willing to take on those challenges.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Of the field that was reportedly open to you why did you choose Dynamite? What did Dynamite offer that other publishers weren't willing to?
<b>GE</b>: There was a brief period where I was worried we might have to carry on in some heavily-edited, neutered form, but that lasted no time at all. Dynamite seemed like a good fit: their professionalism, their not-too-big/small/old/new status, and Nicky Barrucci's personal dynamism all helped swing the deal.
<b>DR</b>: My reasons for going with Dynamite had everything to do with Nick Barrucci’s enthusiasm for the book and ability to do product in house and handle all the financial and PR challenges that we would need. While each publisher could offer one thing, we would find a place we’d have to sacrifice something. With Dynamite, we can have our cake and eat it too in many ways.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA06/DC/TheBoys2slidev2small_b.jpg" align="right"><b>NRAMA</b>: There was a relatively good period of time between the news that you were going to Dynamite and when DC issued a press release, essentially, saying the same - why was there a delay?
<b>GE</b>: Paperwork. I's to dot and t's to cross.
<b>DR</b>: Right. Just getting everything nice and tidy.
<b>NRAMA</b>: As far as your schedule on the series, what did the move to Dynamite do? Did you two just keep moving forward with it, as if nothing had happened, or was/will there be a period of catch up to get things on track?
<b>GE</b>: We were both pretty far ahead, so stopping for a month or two hasn't been that much of a drag. I'm starting on #12 next week.
<b>DR</b>: I had already worked ahead on the art with pencils half way through issue #11 and inks through most of issue #8. By the time we launch in June, I should be well into issue #14 on pencils and inked through issue #10.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA06/DC/THEBOYS004_COV.jpg" align="left"><b>NRAMA</b>: You've said that you have a five year, 60 issue story planned out, but with the move to Dynamite, will <b>The Boys</b> be the same comic it was pre-Dynamite, or has the dumping from DC opened doors, inspired stories, etc? That is, will the art reflect what has happened in life a little?
<b>GE</b>: Might be a gag or two here and there, but it'll be pretty much the same beast it was always going to be.
<b>DR</b>: Yeah. we’re planning to do the exact same series we launched at DC, with maybe a little more sharpening to the edge since we won’t be under the same editorial scrutiny and rules.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Moving on to the series starting up again with #7, where are things picking up, for people who may not have read the book?
<b>GE</b>: Issue seven kicks off a new storyline called "Get Some", in which we meet a superhero with an extremely embarrassing personal problem, and a strange little man called The Legend, who provides Butcher with vital intel on various super goings on. It's a smaller scale story than the first one, concentrating on the characters as Butcher shows Hughie the ropes.
After "Get Some", we have another four parter called "Glorious Five Year Plan", in which The Boys travel to Moscow and we get a better sense of the international scene- how the supes figure in things, what role The Boys themselves play. After that I have three different arcs that could fit in quite nicely; I'm still deciding which one to kick off first.
<b>DR</b>: By all means pick up the trade paperback and get the back story folks! They’ll both be available at the same time, after all!
Issue #7 introduces some new super heroes and sees Hughie integrating into the team more, as his world and relationship to the Boys begins to expand.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA06/DC/t_weehughie.jpg" align="right"><b>NRAMA</b>: Speaking of Hughie, the series so far has been largely about him and his adapting to the world he's been brought into, but is it a safe assumption to say that <b>The Boys</b> is Hughie's story, or will everyone get the nod, a la the cast in <b>Preacher</b>?
<b>GE</b>: The latter. Everyone gets a nod eventually. It's Butcher's story at least as much as it is Hughie's, and the sixty-odd years of super history also plays a major part.
<b>DR</b>: The story is seen through Hughie but Garth and I have discussed doing origin spin offs and such, ala the <b>Preacher</b> mini series like <b>Saint Of all Killers</b>.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Who's in the cast that you're champing at the bit to really dig into more?
<b>GE</b>: Everyone, really. The Frenchman's story is a doozy. The Female's is insane. Mother's Milk's is quite upsetting. And I'm looking forward to the aforementioned super history; weaving super-powered people around America's development as a superpower.
<b>DR</b>: I want to draw Butcher’s Story.
<b>NRAMA</b>: With this series, and your recurring theme of knocking down the shiny superheroes - do you have specific holy cows that you're out to knock over, or is this all just how you see the genre in general? That is, if we're to accept x,y, and z about super heroes, and let there be any reality to the story at all, then a,b and c must happen as well?
<b>DR</b>: We’re not going after super heroes by type of parody, it’s what they represent in the “real world” of our comic landscape, like dirty cops or corrupt politicians. I see it as taking down the guy who wears superman’s costume but doesn't have Superman’s character. In our story it’s all about character, and character counts.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA06/DC/t_thebutcher.jpg" align="left"><b>NRAMA</b>: Finally - take us back to the start for <b>The Boys</b> - what was the inspiration here? Many have drawn connections between it and <b>The Authority</b> in terms of how the two view super heroes - was that an element?
<b>GE</b>: The starting points for my stories tend to come from outside comics, and <b>The Boys</b> was no exception. Partly it was a sense of where the world was going, partly it was reading James Ellroy's political/historical crime fiction and seeing how he used criminal figures in his account of American society in the 50s and 60s. You could say that the superhero aspect itself came from comics, but more in terms of the genre rather than any specific characters or books.
<b>The Authority</b> played no part at all that I can think of; to me it's a superhero book first and foremost, usually better written than most, but ultimately about costumed super-beings fighting others. Two much more obvious influences on The Boys, once I started kicking the story into shape, were <b>Watchmen</b> and <b>Marshal Law</b>.
<b>DR</b>: For me it was all about bringing my love of super heroes to play with Garth’s dislike of them. I think that combination will be what continues to make our series work. I see smashing up pretenders and posers as a way of celebrating what makes the real guys stay golden.
We broke the news in January ( http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=98812) that the series would no longer be published by Wildstorm after issue #6 back in January, which led to both an uproar among the series’ fans, as well as an apparent feeding frenzy of publishers looking to be the new place <b>The Boys</b> would call home.
We spoke with both Ennis and Robertson about the series, the move, and the future.
<b>Newsarama</b>: While I don't want to dwell on the <b>The Boys</b> problems at DC, were there signs of difficulties before the cancellation, or was it somewhat out of the blue?
<b>Garth Ennis</b>: A couple of lines got changed, but we're putting them back in for the trade. There was a slowly developing sense that this was a book that would give some people sleepless nights, and we might be under the spotlight in the way I'd gotten used to on <b>Preacher</b>. Nothing more than that, though. The real trouble, when it began, was initially a bit of a turn-up for the books.
<b>Darick Robertson</b>: Everything was going well at the time of cancellation.
<b>NRAMA</b>: After the news broke here at Newsarama, we saw a tremendous (and vocal) amount of support for the book rally - were you expecting that kind of outcry, or, as a writer, are you somewhat insulated from the passion and connection readers develop for the projects you work on?
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Wildstorm/Boys10.jpg" align="left"><b>GE</b>: I don't read reviews or go online to check message boards and things; instead I tend to rely on sales figures. We launched well, dipped, and started climbing again, which gave me the sense we were going to be all right. As for the response- well, it's the kind of material that you know will inspire a good deal of passion, both for and against. Besides that, you can't just cancel a successful new monthly at issue #6 and not expect some kind of reaction.
<b>DR</b>: I was surprised by the level of attention that we received. I was happy the book had such vocal support and I hope that the support will be there when we resume the series in June with Dynamite!
<b>NRAMA</b>: From the outside, the transition from DC to Dynamite seems fairly quick and problem-free, but was there a time where figured that was it for <b>The Boys</b>, that is, the series was done and over with?
<b>DR</b>: I was concerned when the cancellation happened that I would lose my contract at DC and I was unsure if anyone would want to take on <b>The Boys</b>, as there were a number of conditions involved, and resuming the series would take a financial and scheduling commitment. Remarkably, almost everyone that was interested was willing to take on those challenges.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Of the field that was reportedly open to you why did you choose Dynamite? What did Dynamite offer that other publishers weren't willing to?
<b>GE</b>: There was a brief period where I was worried we might have to carry on in some heavily-edited, neutered form, but that lasted no time at all. Dynamite seemed like a good fit: their professionalism, their not-too-big/small/old/new status, and Nicky Barrucci's personal dynamism all helped swing the deal.
<b>DR</b>: My reasons for going with Dynamite had everything to do with Nick Barrucci’s enthusiasm for the book and ability to do product in house and handle all the financial and PR challenges that we would need. While each publisher could offer one thing, we would find a place we’d have to sacrifice something. With Dynamite, we can have our cake and eat it too in many ways.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA06/DC/TheBoys2slidev2small_b.jpg" align="right"><b>NRAMA</b>: There was a relatively good period of time between the news that you were going to Dynamite and when DC issued a press release, essentially, saying the same - why was there a delay?
<b>GE</b>: Paperwork. I's to dot and t's to cross.
<b>DR</b>: Right. Just getting everything nice and tidy.
<b>NRAMA</b>: As far as your schedule on the series, what did the move to Dynamite do? Did you two just keep moving forward with it, as if nothing had happened, or was/will there be a period of catch up to get things on track?
<b>GE</b>: We were both pretty far ahead, so stopping for a month or two hasn't been that much of a drag. I'm starting on #12 next week.
<b>DR</b>: I had already worked ahead on the art with pencils half way through issue #11 and inks through most of issue #8. By the time we launch in June, I should be well into issue #14 on pencils and inked through issue #10.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA06/DC/THEBOYS004_COV.jpg" align="left"><b>NRAMA</b>: You've said that you have a five year, 60 issue story planned out, but with the move to Dynamite, will <b>The Boys</b> be the same comic it was pre-Dynamite, or has the dumping from DC opened doors, inspired stories, etc? That is, will the art reflect what has happened in life a little?
<b>GE</b>: Might be a gag or two here and there, but it'll be pretty much the same beast it was always going to be.
<b>DR</b>: Yeah. we’re planning to do the exact same series we launched at DC, with maybe a little more sharpening to the edge since we won’t be under the same editorial scrutiny and rules.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Moving on to the series starting up again with #7, where are things picking up, for people who may not have read the book?
<b>GE</b>: Issue seven kicks off a new storyline called "Get Some", in which we meet a superhero with an extremely embarrassing personal problem, and a strange little man called The Legend, who provides Butcher with vital intel on various super goings on. It's a smaller scale story than the first one, concentrating on the characters as Butcher shows Hughie the ropes.
After "Get Some", we have another four parter called "Glorious Five Year Plan", in which The Boys travel to Moscow and we get a better sense of the international scene- how the supes figure in things, what role The Boys themselves play. After that I have three different arcs that could fit in quite nicely; I'm still deciding which one to kick off first.
<b>DR</b>: By all means pick up the trade paperback and get the back story folks! They’ll both be available at the same time, after all!
Issue #7 introduces some new super heroes and sees Hughie integrating into the team more, as his world and relationship to the Boys begins to expand.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA06/DC/t_weehughie.jpg" align="right"><b>NRAMA</b>: Speaking of Hughie, the series so far has been largely about him and his adapting to the world he's been brought into, but is it a safe assumption to say that <b>The Boys</b> is Hughie's story, or will everyone get the nod, a la the cast in <b>Preacher</b>?
<b>GE</b>: The latter. Everyone gets a nod eventually. It's Butcher's story at least as much as it is Hughie's, and the sixty-odd years of super history also plays a major part.
<b>DR</b>: The story is seen through Hughie but Garth and I have discussed doing origin spin offs and such, ala the <b>Preacher</b> mini series like <b>Saint Of all Killers</b>.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Who's in the cast that you're champing at the bit to really dig into more?
<b>GE</b>: Everyone, really. The Frenchman's story is a doozy. The Female's is insane. Mother's Milk's is quite upsetting. And I'm looking forward to the aforementioned super history; weaving super-powered people around America's development as a superpower.
<b>DR</b>: I want to draw Butcher’s Story.
<b>NRAMA</b>: With this series, and your recurring theme of knocking down the shiny superheroes - do you have specific holy cows that you're out to knock over, or is this all just how you see the genre in general? That is, if we're to accept x,y, and z about super heroes, and let there be any reality to the story at all, then a,b and c must happen as well?
<b>DR</b>: We’re not going after super heroes by type of parody, it’s what they represent in the “real world” of our comic landscape, like dirty cops or corrupt politicians. I see it as taking down the guy who wears superman’s costume but doesn't have Superman’s character. In our story it’s all about character, and character counts.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA06/DC/t_thebutcher.jpg" align="left"><b>NRAMA</b>: Finally - take us back to the start for <b>The Boys</b> - what was the inspiration here? Many have drawn connections between it and <b>The Authority</b> in terms of how the two view super heroes - was that an element?
<b>GE</b>: The starting points for my stories tend to come from outside comics, and <b>The Boys</b> was no exception. Partly it was a sense of where the world was going, partly it was reading James Ellroy's political/historical crime fiction and seeing how he used criminal figures in his account of American society in the 50s and 60s. You could say that the superhero aspect itself came from comics, but more in terms of the genre rather than any specific characters or books.
<b>The Authority</b> played no part at all that I can think of; to me it's a superhero book first and foremost, usually better written than most, but ultimately about costumed super-beings fighting others. Two much more obvious influences on The Boys, once I started kicking the story into shape, were <b>Watchmen</b> and <b>Marshal Law</b>.
<b>DR</b>: For me it was all about bringing my love of super heroes to play with Garth’s dislike of them. I think that combination will be what continues to make our series work. I see smashing up pretenders and posers as a way of celebrating what makes the real guys stay golden.