Reykjavík Grapevine - 31.07.2009, Page 6

6
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2009
The Boys, Volumes 1-4
Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
Tel +354 577 60 50
www.sixt.is
Human Diastrophism is the second
novel of a trilogy by the talented Gilbert
Hernandez. The stories were originally
published in the highly recommended
Love and Rockets series, written and
illustrated by Gilbert and his brother
Jaime. The book is divided into a few
stories but all of them evolve around
the small Central American town of
Palomar and its inhabitants.
Human Diastrophism gets its name
from the centre story of the book. A serial
killer is on the loose in Palomar. Adding
to the town’s problems is a weird plague
of crazy chattering monkeys that run
around causing general unpleasantness.
Luba and her daughters live in
Palomar and are the main characters
of these stories, but almost every single
one of the townspeople gets their fifteen
minutes of fame. This becomes a bit
confusing because there are so many of
them, but thankfully Hernandez made
a special cast of characters page for the
reader. Nevertheless, f lipping back and
forth all the time gets annoying after a
while.
Gilbert’s strength lies in his
characters and drawing skills and, like
most things arty or indie, the stories
have their share of sex and violence.
This makes it kind of uncomfortable to
open the book in confined public spaces
such as airplanes, trains, buses or on
a bench next to a stranger. Every other
page is filled with violence and sex and
it is awkward when you discover that
the person next to you is looking over
your shoulder judging you. Hmm... on
second thought maybe that’s not a very
common problem... ehhh who cares
anyway, we are all going to die from
swine f lu and public places will probably
be banned in the near future.
Welps, here is a list of things that
are great about this book: Family
drama, monkey killings, huge jugs, bad
parenting, a serial killer, amputations,
burnt skin, adultery, violence, beautiful
women with strong legs aaand lesbians.
In other words you won’t be bored or
disappointed. It’s a keeper.
For a while now, Belfast born
Preacher creator Garth Ennis has
been entertaining superhero-haters
and lovers alike with his ültraviolent
and borderline pornographic series,
The Boys. It follows Wee Hughie, a
sensitive Scottish conspiracy nut whose
girlfriend becomes collateral damage
in a superhero fight, splattered to death
in front of his bare eyes. Traumatized
by his loss, Hughie turns to depression
and bongs. Enter Billy Butcher, a tough-
as-nails Englishman who heads a CIA
backed keeping-superheroes-in-line
unit. Butcher recruits Hughie into his
small team and introduces him to the
other members:"Mother's Milk", an
African American no-bullshit second-
in-command; "The Frenchman," a
Frenchman who can kick ass; and "The
Female," a mute girl who can kick ass
and crush skulls and rip off faces.
The Boys' job is simple. They are to
catch a corrupt "supe" in the act so that
they can commit violence on their bodies.
The supes being kicked around here
have their mainstream counterparts,
of course. One story focuses on Tek
Knight, an Ironman/Batman spoof,
and another introduces the G-men,
an X-men parody. Ennis mixes these
familiar superhero types into a dark and
dirty reality (a common post-Watchmen
practice). There's lots of social criticism
and political commentary here, but if
you're a true Ennis fan, you're here for
blood and toilet-jokes, of which you'll
find aplenty.
It's not Ennis' best work since
Preacher (that would be his run on
Max's The Punisher), but it's a lovely
read. The characters are funny and the
dialogue is feckin' dog's bollocks. And
the reliable Robertson does his best
drawing job since Transmetropolitan, so
all-in-all The Boys is good, unclean fun.
Comix | Reviews
Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy!
Palomar ś Finest
HUGLEIkUR DAGSSON
LóA HjáLMTýSDóTTIR
Human Diastrophism
Gilbert Hernandez
Check out our brand new comix page! Awesome, right?
— by Hugleikur Dagsson
— by Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
— by Elo Vázquez and Óttar Norðfjörð
Buy the reviewed comix - and many
more - at Nexus, Hverfisgata.
Yeah!
You can buy some Hugleikur Dagsson
anthologies all over the world. Get "Avoid Us"
in pretty much every Icelandic bookstore. It's
awesome.