Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #4 of 6
Dynamite Comics
Ennis, Robertson & Avina
Every once in a while Ennis delivers a stunning issue of the Boys where he shocks the reader with a powerful visual that is backed by toying with a character's inner most feelings. If the image is just grotesque with no story behind it comes across as just shock for the sake of shock. It's when he pulls off this connection where the visual is graphic, but that it only adds to the power behind the idea that he is at his best. This issue pulls off that trick to perfection. This mini-series has been entertaining but has been stuck in the same slow style of storytelling that has been a curse to The Boys for a couple of years now. This issue holds nothing back as we get the definite origin of Butcher. This is the gamma-bomb, the spider bite, the parents getting gunned down in the alleyway. It's a terrific issue and origin during point.
Butcher is happy with his lovely wife Becky. However, one of his backup anchors, his brother, dies suddenly in the beginning of the comic. This has some impact on Butcher but it doesn't send him over the edge. What it provides is an avenue for him to sink into the muck that he came from if something were to happen to Becky.
Butcher and Becky debate having kids, but ultimately Butcher advises that they wait a little while longer. Butcher is not only afraid that he will become his abusive father but he is also fearful that he will pass on the genetics that his father possessed. At this point the issue is like a lot of other issues in this series. It's interesting but slightly dull.
Butcher and his wife take a vacation to Miami Beach where they find that the superheroes are paying a visit with the locals after saving the world. It is alluded to (as it has in many previous issues) that Becky is sexually assaulted by a superhero. However, the results are just devastating and as shocking as they can possibly get. The last few pages of this issue are as good as any in the previous seventy. The Butcher of The Boys is certainly born in this issue.
Robertson has great command of the characters, particularly Butcher. He's got the facial reactions down cold. However, he excels at the horror that unfolds in the end of the book. I'm not sure I've seen such grizzly details in this capacity before. It's a perfect fit for the book and for the story.
If you have ever read this series and had any interest in the character of Billy Butcher you should pick this issue up to see how he got to be the cold and calculated tough guy as he is in the main book. This is the issue that embodies what this series is all about. Super- powers doesn't always translate into being a good guy and this issue shows why.
4.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
