Raising the bar for 'The Boys'

With a title like "

The Boys

: Herogasm" it is clear writer

Garth Ennis

intends to raise the bar on over-the-top sex scenes in the same way he does with eye-popping violence.

It is a tribute to Ennis that he does so while still developing the characters of The Boys, dropping hints as to main baddie Vought-American's true agenda making the book accessible to new readers. He does all this while still making powerful political points and commenting on the power of symbols and the values - or lack of them - of society's powerful.

Readers learn right away that Herogasm is based on a lie. It seems that once a year the heroes of the Earth announce a major threat that will cause them to be away from their home planet for a while. However, we quickly learn that there is never any such crisis, that it is an excuse to recharge their batteries for a week or so annually without worrying about civilians or paparazzi.

In short, they want to cut loose. So they present themselves to the public as as engaging in a noble, honorable mission so they can partake in a week of absolute debauchery that makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like Girl Scout camps.

Seriously, there is a reason the beautiful women who service the heroes and heroines get paid $100,000 each for a week of their time. It's because they are objectified and made to engage in acts so degrading and dehumanizing on such a continual basis that even Larry Flynt might cry foul.

Indeed, when you are talking about beings with superpowers partaking in carnal pleasure with regular females, there is bound to be some bleeding and other . . . problems.

Much as Ennis has demonstrated that normal humans are ants to these heroes, who have no empathy for civilian casualties that result from their brawls, so too does he demonstrate their amorality, hedonism and narcissism in these pages using sex.

The funny thing is, Ennis displays the disconect between the heroes' deeds and their image of themselves. For example when two iconic male heroes engage in homosexual sex, one denies that they did "anything gay. I'm the Homelander! You're the Soldier Boy! My goodness, where on Earth did you get an idea like that?"

In short, their self-perception of themselves has become so detached from reality they have become delusional.

In the end, what separates this from simply a "Superheroes Do 'Animal House'" story is the fact that in addition to the titillation, it is made clear that this is not just a fun time. Because these heroes are almost all souless, irredeemable bastards.

This is made clear, when a member of the Boys' version of the Fantastic Four dies and no one, not even his teamates, take a minute to mourn.

Also, Comics Guy can't imaging John Belushi's Blutarsky smoking a drug made out of an aborted fetus or shooting a narcotic made out of a major heroine's, uh, secretions.

In short, these heroes are portrayed as so sick, selfish and depraved, the reader is even more anxious to see the final confrontation between them and The Boys in the main title.

Which means Ennis has made a statement, had an effect and helped the flagship title possibly gain new readers. But to do so he had to construct a title that is definitely not for the squeamish.

Count Darkhawk creator and former Spider-Man editor Danny Fingeroth among those excited about the building buzz for a possible "Harry Potter" comic.

"I think it would be the greatest shot in the arm that comics could hope for," Fingeroth told Comics Guy. "To have possibly the biggest media phenomenon of the past decade appear in comics form could be what's needed to bring kids to comics in large numbers, and even reclaim large numbers of teen and adult readers . . . "

"While many kids and teens read manga, there doesn't seem to be much of that audience reading other comics," Fingeroth continued.

"Something with the wide and deep appeal of Harry Potter could, besides racking up big sales numbers, possibly persuade the HP comics readers to give other comics a try. Then the trick would be for comics companies to have appropriate material ready when the Potter comics consumers ask: 'What else have you got?' The trick then would be to figure out what would appeal to such readers."

E-mail comicsguy@phillynews.com