If I wore a mood ring, I’m fairly certain that it would glare my utter befuddlement in a hue or color befitting of both my frustration and general malaise toward this title.  While The Boys has long been one of my favorite reads, I feel like this series has lost a lot of its “umph” with this storyline, particularly with this issue.  The series has been really good, working in complete gross out situations into a story that’s basically about why superheroes are bad.  It’s been filled with twists and turns and had some nice action happening with the characters.  There’s always been this streak of animosity in the book, and its provided many of its encounters with a special sort of energy.

But with this story, Ennis has decided to slow down the pace of story, turning the main storyline from how our intrepid heroes can mess with the super powered populace into a detective story of sorts.  And while I appreciate the change of pace, I’m not really enjoying it all that much.  While reading this issue, I constantly felt lost.  I don’t know who the hell MM is talking to in the beginning.  I can’t recognize any of the G-Whiz or the G-Men or the G-Unit or whatever.  I’m simply befuddled.  Add that to the fact that this issue featured a pointless tie-in to St. Patrick’s Day (except for the Irish, ax weilding bar man that refused to serve people…that was awesome), and this issue just felt flat to me.

 I want to quickly comment on the art.  While I’ve been a big fan of Darick Robertson’s work on the series, this issue was not some of his best work.  The angle in which he drew people and faces were weird.  Butcher and Hughie both had an inconsistent look, and there’s a couple splash pages that look like they were drawn by R. Crumb and not Darick Robertson.  It’s disappointing because he’s been doing some excellent work with this series.

I’m a bit bummed to type this, but in these lean times, I can’t really afford to read a book that’s confusing me or not providing enough background every issue to keep informed of just what’s going on.  My hope is that Ennis ends this storyline strongly enough to keep interested.  If not, I might just have to wave good-bye.