The Boys

It's been a cruelly hot summer here in Greece and everything has been drastically toned down, including music developments. But, although we already get glimpses of an at-least-interesting fall musicwise, my first post after so many weeks and amid the dying breaths of this last unbearable and stubborn heat wave that torments the country, is not regarding music, but it has to be a TV one instead.

The Boys crashed down on all of us last month through Amazon Prime, and I can't remember the last time I've been so fulfilled as a fan by a comics-related film or TV series (I won't compare with other genres, for obvious reasons). Of course, the reason it grabbed me like that has a lot to do with the fact that the Boys is hands down one of my favourite comic series ever and, ever since I read the whole saga, I always fantasized about a film or TV series based on it, always with the condition that it would be done right.

Which of course leads us to a whole different conversation under the subject "what does 'right' mean?". Well, if we put aside the whole MCU saga which, in my opinion, should be treated as a whole and, due to this, it's a non-comparable huge entity in itself, we've had more than our fair share of comic adaptations on the screen. Talking about TV then, I'm sad to say that these adaptations were not always ideal; Daredevil and the Punisher are the ones that stand out (although they too had moments where you couldn't wait for the damn episode to finally finish), while Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist took great amounts of sheer will for someone to watch; with the latter being practically unwatchable. I won't even get into the DC adaptations which all fell into a hole of TV-induced mediocrity and boredom. As for more independent comics, things didn't look better as American Gods and Lucifer (to name a couple) basically targeted specifically fans of the comics, while on the screen they were overloaded and tiring. The last hope was Preacher (the other one of Garth Ennis' work that found its way on TV a couple of years back), but, if you have to use all your compulsion reserves in order to finish one season, well that's not a good sign. And it was really a shame for such great material with exciting characters to get so much numbed down on its TV adaptation.

So, the stakes were high with the Boys; would another great work of Garth Ennis' get a mediocre transition onto the screen? The short answer I scream full of relief is: HELL NO IT DIDN'T! From the very first episode, it bursts in with all the abruptness and cynicism it deserves, always according to the original material. Visually, the characters look almost identical to the comics and, although Simon Pegg, due to his age now, can't play Hughie Campbell, the character he was supposed to (short historical info: Ennis based the visual appearance of the character Hughie Campbell in the comics on the actor Simon Pegg's looks), he couldn't be missing from the cast, as he plays Hughie's father. From then on, Jack Quaid depicts Hughie just perfectly, while the same applies to all the main characters, especially Antony Starr's Homelander (looking like the guy was born for this role) and Karl Urban's William Butcher, who, although differing considerably in appearance, he fully nails everything that the character Butcher stands for in the comics.

As for the story, although most main events stay true to the comic's narration, there are some considerable differences otherwise that could disappoint some; for instance, in the way the Boys' team is assembled and in the background of some of the characters. My opinion is that all these differences are absolutely beside the point and those who vote down the series because of them are just missing the wood for the trees. The transition on-screen has happened in a way that it can serve the TV medium, while at the same time it avoids all the possible traps that could emasculate it or make it trite; the series holds the comic's edge and extremity (it's rated 18+, by the way, so yay) in a remarkable way, something that constitutes nothing less than a feat. Also, the successful appropriation of today's technology into the TV show is another plus, something not very easy, as the comic first came out more than 10 years ago and the use of technology then was very different from today.

I don't know how else to compel you to get down to watching the Boys as soon as possible, and even better, also check the comics and admire Garth Ennis' sharp writing along with Darick Robertson's expressive pencils. Well, if it being superhero-related is a reason to hold you back because you're tired of all the comics being adapted on TV all around or you're just not a comics fan, let me tell you that chances are that it's nothing like you would expect, as the real heroes (or should I say anti-heroes?) here are our good old Boys who are trying to hold the careless and full-of-themselves superheroes accountable for all the collateral damage they induce on defenseless and innocent everyday people. Because, if you knew half the shit supes get up to... FUCKING DIABOLICAL.

The Walking Dead

"How many hours are in a day when you don't spend half of them watching television? When is the last time any of us REALLY worked to get something that we wanted? How long has it been since any of us really NEEDED something that we WANTED?
The world we knew is gone. The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility. An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months society has crumbled, no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV.

In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start LIVING."

Instead of some kind of story summary, the above text written on the back of every The Walking Dead trade paperback of collected issues pretty much says it all. Yes this is a comic series about a post-apocalyptic world swarmed by zombies, yes there is a considerable deal of crudeness, splatter and vulgarity, but what better way to strip reality of all its superficial and false sense of security we take for granted and we wrap our lives inside?
The Walking Dead is an ongoing comic series drawn in black-and-white published by Image Comics and written by Robert Kirkman. He uses zombies, gore and violence as a background to tell a story of survival, but mostly of human relationships, values and moral challenges. First of all, Kirkman's characters are average everyday people with feelings, weaknesses, phobias etc., and they are anything but solid in their presence throughout the comic; even main characters bite the dust in the blink of an eye, or get severely scarred (physically and mentally). What the reader realizes as one moves through the story is that, while we're talking about a world where the dead walk looking for living flesh to devour, the real terror comes from the very living, as, in such extreme situations, the instinct of survival extends way over basic (as we perceive them today) values like morality, respect, altruism etc.

The series already counts 106 issues (102 of them collected in 17 volumes), and it was ever anything but static or boring, as the geographical background never stays the same for too long, while the characters progress noticeably and utterly believably through their interaction with this ever-changing environment. I've just finished reading vol.17 and I still get mind-blown by the consequential flow of the story and how it all affects the people involved.

In 2010, AMC adapted The Walking Dead into a TV series and, while it doesn't follow the same story down to every little detail, I daresay it makes a really decent effort in transferring the comic's grim and colourless atmosphere on the screen. The series is now in the middle of its third season.

Also, a mention should be made on TellTale's The Walking Dead computer game; a horror adventure divided in episodes where the player assumes the role of a character who has to survive in this new zombie world.

My recommendation, even if you're not a George A. Romero die-hard fan: pick up The Walking Dead in at least one of its forms. Apart from an exciting graphic post-apocalyptic survival tale, it can be a wake-up call to our sense of priorities in life on so many levels.