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View Full Version : Some questions about The Boys: Volume 2 TPB.


TradePaperbackTraitor
06-17-2008, 07:38 AM
There are two stories in this book: Get Some and Glorious Five Year Plan.

Some questions I had for those of you who follow Ennis:

-- The Legend seems like a take on Stan Lee. Ennis even throws in a "True Believer" comment in his reply to a question about The Legend at an interview @ Newsarama. Is this a take on Stan Lee being a bitter, jaded old comics writer? Someone trapped in the worlds he created and always forced to be the official Marvel spokesman? Sort of the same way a Star Trek or other popular typecast actor becomes?

-- Get Some was an obvious parody of the homoeroticism in superhero themes like Batman & Robin, but I wasn't sure what Glorious Five Year Plan was poking fun at. I guess Little Nina was a take on some of the ridiculously crazy villains that DC and Marvel sometimes create. I know both Marvel & DC have created their own B-teams of Russian superheroes and felt that Ennis was making fun of those stories. Some of the plot seemed like a mock Captain America suspense thriller. Honestly, that entire story seemed like a crazy adventure by The Boys, their own superhero angle if you will, but I wasn't sure what element of mainstream heroes Ennis was poking fun at other than some of the obvious small stuff like Little Nina and the comments about a Wolverine-esque hero in the beginning.

CoreyB
06-17-2008, 02:33 PM
There are two stories in this book: Get Some and Glorious Five Year Plan.

Some questions I had for those of you who follow Ennis:

-- The Legend seems like a take on Stan Lee. Ennis even throws in a "True Believer" comment in his reply to a question about The Legend at an interview @ Newsarama. Is this a take on Stan Lee being a bitter, jaded old comics writer? Someone trapped in the worlds he created and always forced to be the official Marvel spokesman? Sort of the same way a Star Trek or other popular typecast actor becomes?

I don't know if Ennis ever straight-out confirmed it but I think it's pretty obvious that it's supposed to be Stan Lee. Also, this was apparently the issue that caused the rift with DC, which resulted in them moving to Dynamite. So I've always assumed that DC got cold feet over depicting an industry legend like that.

Unfortunately I haven't read Glorious Five Year Plan yet so I can't comment on that.

mauisunset
06-18-2008, 08:41 PM
I don't know if Ennis ever straight-out confirmed it but I think it's pretty obvious that it's supposed to be Stan Lee. Also, this was apparently the issue that caused the rift with DC, which resulted in them moving to Dynamite. So I've always assumed that DC got cold feet over depicting an industry legend like that.

Unfortunately I haven't read Glorious Five Year Plan yet so I can't comment on that.

I don't remember exactly how he was portrayed in earlier issues, but having just read the most recent issue (18?) I had always thought he was supposed to be Jack Kirby, or at least a blend of the two.