The Boys Issue 1 (2006) Review - Garth Ennis's Superhero Takedown Still Hits Like a Truck

The Boys #1 2006 Review

I went back to this one after years of only knowing The Boys through the TV show, and I wanted to see how much of that show’s DNA was actually baked into the very first issue. Turns out, almost all of it was there from page one, just rawer and meaner than I remembered.

What Happens (Spoilers Ahead)

The premise gets set up fast and without much ceremony: in a world where costumed superheroes are real, famous, and largely unaccountable, a CIA-backed team called The Boys exists specifically to keep them in check. Issue #1 doesn’t waste time explaining that world through exposition dumps — it introduces us to it through violence, which is the smartest choice Garth Ennis makes in this debut.

The gut-punch of the issue is Wee Hughie’s introduction. He’s an ordinary guy on a date with his girlfriend, Robin, when a fight between superheroes spills into the street and the speedster A-Train comes barreling through at full velocity, killing Robin instantly and leaving Hughie standing there literally holding nothing but her hands. It’s a brutal, almost absurdist image, and it’s meant to be — that’s the entire thesis of the series delivered in a single panel: these “heroes” are dangerous, careless, and utterly unaccountable for the wreckage they leave behind.

That’s when Billy Butcher enters the picture. He approaches a devastated Hughie in the aftermath and starts pulling him into the world of The Boys, laying the groundwork for recruitment without fully tipping his hand about what the team actually is or does yet. The issue ends on that hook — Hughie’s ordinary life is over, and he’s being pulled into something much darker.

Characters, Art, and Writing

Garth Ennis writes Hughie’s grief with a directness that avoids melodrama, which is impressive given how over-the-top the inciting incident is. What got me is the tonal whiplash he’s willing to commit to: one panel is horrifying, the next is darkly funny, and that mix ends up defining the series’ entire voice starting right here in issue #1. Billy Butcher, even in this first appearance, already reads as magnetic and unsettling in equal measure — Ennis gives him just enough charisma that you understand why Hughie would listen to him, while planting enough menace that you’re right to be wary.

Darick Robertson’s art is doing a lot of the heavy lifting on tone. His superheroes look like real, physically plausible people rather than idealized icons, which makes the violence land harder – there’s nothing stylized or bloodless about how A-Train’s impact is drawn. Tony Aviña’s colors keep things grounded and unglamorous even in the action beats, and Simon Bowland’s lettering doesn’t oversell the horror of the Robin scene with excessive sound-effect work, which honestly makes it hit harder by restraint.

Personal Verdict

Issue #1 isn’t subtle, and it isn’t trying to be. It’s a mission statement disguised as a first issue: superheroes in this universe are the threat, not the solution, and the human cost of their carelessness is the entire emotional engine of the series. Almost two decades later, it still reads as a sharper, angrier piece of satire than most of what it inspired. If you’ve only seen the Amazon show, the source material is meaner, funnier, and somehow bleaker all at once.

Our rating: 9/10

For readers who want to track down the original run, Dynamite Entertainment’s The Boys page covers the series’ full history from its Wildstorm debut through its Dynamite years.