In a stunning development, DC has announced that their imprint Wildstorm has canceled the controversial series The Boys.
Word is that the cancellation is due to content, not sales.
Ron and I feel vindicated for souring on the book. Of course, that feeling will last all of about 48 hours until the expected announcement that another company has picked up the book.
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Huh. That’s pretty crazy. And I was actually kind of digging it finally in the last couple issues. Well, like you said, it sounds like they will be taking it elsewhere. I remember that Ennis said he had about 60 issues in mind for the book.
At any rate, I hate to see a book get cancelled because of content. It was at Wildstorm – they have plenty of “mature” content there. It’s not like it was at DC proper. That makes me kind of upset. They had to have known what they were getting into at the beginning. I’d be pissed if I was Ennis/Robertson.
Pretty un-wild for a Wildstorm title. You should run an over/under poll on the number of days before some picks it up.
I was actually looking to get the first trade…well guess not.
I would love im Marvel picked this up and put it out as a MAX title.
I’m loving this series. Sure, it employs gratuitous shock values coupled with the vaguest of plots, but hey, Army of Darkness is one of my favourite films; maybe I just appreciate the absurdity of excess.
I hope that it does get picked up elsewhere. I enjoyed it.
The content thing is stupid. Why couldn’t they just put a label on it or something? And by the way, sometimes superheroes put hamsters in their asses. I, for one, am glad that someone is finally talking about it. Of course I’m being sarcastic but the fact that you are still reading this shows that this topic didn’t kill you.
While I had dropped The Boys (As of this issue actually) I do have to admit that it had been getting better storyline wise. The over the top nature of the content was almost to be expected. I have all 6 issues, so if another publisher picks it up I’d be willing to give it a try again.
I hope that it does get picked up elsewhere. I enjoyed it.
If there isn’t an announcement before Friday, I’d be shocked.
While I found the book stupid and redundant, if people want to read it, they should be able to.
DC is a small part of a big media company and I can understand why THE BOYS might have made them a wee nervous in terms of content. It was pretty out there.
However when you hire Garth Ennis, who I think is one of the greats, you shouldn’t be surprised by that. I wonder if we’re going to see some executive heads roll at this, especially if the decision was made at more lofty levels that DC/WS.
I took look forward to whomever lands it. It’s gotten to be something I really looked forward…umm…to. Damn sentences that end with prepositions.
I just read yesterday that Darick Robertson left Marvel to do the boys..Would marvel accept the return of his prodigal son. I was just getting into the boys.
Would marvel accept the return of his prodigal son
they would be stupid not to but I believe that he’s exclusive to dc at the moment
Oh my god, I’ve never wanted to know what happened so badly ever.
I assume it’s something over content. I mean, canceling stuff that’s already been submitted, or drawn? That’s weird. It can’t be sales-related.
Then there was Robertson’s cryptic response:
“The Boys has been canceled effectively with issue #6.
“It became obvious that DC was not the right home for The Boys. DC is being good about reverting our rights so we can find a new publisher and we’re in the process of doing that now. I’m continuing to work exclusively for DC in the meantime. I want to thank Scott Dunbier and Ben Abernathy at Wildstorm for all their hard work.”
FUCKING FASCINATING!
See, the thing is, they must have known somewhat that it was going to be wild. So for them to take another step, and get rid of it, I mean…that script must have been crazy.
it can’t be sales-related.
the sales were actually relatively good – well above the cancel level
that script must have been crazy.
guesses on what it was? I could take a few but they’d have to be pretty out there if they got away with the hamster and the orgy
I was just getting into the boys.
That didn’t sound very good.
pros & cons. cons first: the book took to many issues to drive home the point of how shitty these superheros were & that they needed to be held in check, the book didnt get into the actual meat & potatos until the last couple of issues. pros:the art was damn great!!! it was ennis @ his disturbing, messed up for extreme best. it had some laugh out loud moments & shocking ones as well. it didnt seem like he phoned it in like he did w/his ghost rider mini.
it was a good book to me & hope it gets picked up elsewhere… but thats this one fans opinon
That didn’t sound very good
That was the first thing I thought when I read your comment but I stoopped myself from responding. I though stop being an 8 year old nobody else will think that’s funny
and yet the author did as well
my compliments to you sir
or I stopped myself
whichever
Too bad. I was enjoying the series.
That’s just crazy talk.
I remember listening to Garth and Derek on Fanboy Radio before issue #1 and how they were praising the editorial staff at DC/Wildstorm for letting them do whatever the fuck they wanted.
, tho
Guess not.
Personally, I had a hard time getting into The Boys; I think I dropped it after issue #5 or so. The art and writing left something to be desired considering the talent behind it (Robertson, who I’m usually a fan of, didn’t impress me all that much), but I still I would’ve liked to see where the series was headed and catched up with it on trades.
Wildstorm seems to be a sinking ship. They have Ex Machina… aaaannnd that’s about it. Everything else is delayed all to hell or shit on paper stock.
Jim Lee is no doubt wiping his tears with $100 bills. Also, (insert JIM LEE IS SHORT HAHA joke here).
The dccomics.com still have Boys #7 shipping next week. I hope this isn’t true.
Just incase it is true, and I not able to get the trade, I bought all the issues on ebay. I love Ennis.
Geez I, personally loved this series. With the last issue you finally got some insight into why these people do what they do. It also reminded me a little bit of Civil War in terms of what can happen if people are just allowed to fly around and do whatever they want. I saw really great things coming out of this series. Also why the hell does DC have to act so shady around the cancellation of tis book? We KNOW its violent its Wildstorm! Honestly I don’t think its a content issue thats…just too stupid for words. I wish DC/Wildstorm/Jim I suck at Life Lee would just man up and tell us! Sigh… Here’s hoping that someone picks it up.
When have you ever heard of something going down like this? Such a weird set of circumstances have to occur in order for them to pull the plug on something in midstream this way. I clearly do not understand the way editorial works.
I have to confess that I never read The Boys but that just hearing about it bothers me. In the article about the cancellation, I read the thing about the hamster and thought, “The system works.” I’m apparently an old prude now.
the only way that this amuses me is if I imagine jim lee hitting a gong to signal pulling the plug
or ennis being pulled from the office with a hook
but really though the system doesn’t work. this is a company with stockholders whose purpose is to make them money. The Boys was making money. They got spooked by content, content that they’re readers obviously want, and pulled the plug.
On the other side of the same ‘they’re stupid coin’, this is a company that produces art by artists and they’re stifling Ennis because they don’t like what he’s saying. that’s bullshit – so says Captain America
I’m surprised, but not at all dissappointed.
In divorce court it would be called irreconcilable differences. In a band it would be called creative differences. You know when you have a bunch of shit go down but don’t want to make it public? That’s my guess.
this is a company with stockholders whose purpose is to make them money. The Boys was making money. They got spooked by content, content that they’re readers obviously want, and pulled the plug.
Well, if you’re a giant company who relies on a lot of advertising as well as your reputation being clean to all types of people, I could see why you would not want to take your chances with a property which, while technically making money, is such an insignificant profit that it’s not worth the potential risk.
Honestly, this book will end up with an indy publisher, and it will work out just fine, probably better. This is so par for the course for DC. They’ve done this repeatedly in the past, and you know what, it’s absolutely their right to do so. Now instead of Time Warner making some tiny amount of money on this, an indy publisher will make money that’s significant to them.
I mean, we might not like it, but it’s not like it’s anything new, and it’s not like it’s going to change.
Presumably the script goes to an editor who approves it before it gets to the pencil-and-ink stage, yeah? Or is Wildstorm indier than that? It just seems so weird that books would be all the way in the can and then cancelled for content. Maybe the hamster didn’t seem so bad until you saw the panels.
its a slow starter, but the boys was really getting to a good place. once the initial shock of anal rodentia passes, you can appreciate the growing story, i hope someone picks this up.
Dag namnit. I just went out and got issues 1-3 two days ago, ’cause I started on 4. I was digging it. Sonuvabitch.
When have you ever heard of something going down like this? Such a weird set of circumstances have to occur in order for them to pull the plug on something in midstream this way. I clearly do not understand the way editorial works.
DC did this same thing to The Authority. They even cancelled a Bryan Hitch drawn OGN mid-project.
but really though the system doesn’t work. this is a company with stockholders whose purpose is to make them money. The Boys was making money. They got spooked by content, content that they’re readers obviously want, and pulled the plug.
Yeah, but how much do the relative pennies earned from The Boys matter to a conglomerate like WB? They figured it wasn’t worth the bad pub and didn’t want this product to be linked to their big properties. I didn’t read the book but basically isn’t this a bunch of iconic superhero analogues doing unspeakably bad things? This is the same thing that got The Authority cancelled.
Some more info about this situation in Rich Johnston’s column this week…
http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13
LITG explanation was interesting