Marvel's got a lot on his mind right now. More precisely, not even Marvel as such, but the dominance of their comic strips. Screenings are full of stamps and even self-copies (still laughing at how similar the stories of the third "Torah" and "Black Panthers", and how much they differ in implementation), and the conveyorized presentation of content simply tired some viewers, and a trip to the movies for a fan of comics has turned from a holiday to routine. But then on the stage of screenings again burst into deconstruction - and this time it appeared on time and in a big way.
A couple of weeks ago Amazon released the first season of "The Guys". Not to be confused with the creation of TNT: The new "The Boys" is a screen version of the comic book of the same name released by Dynamite. To be more precise, initially it was created for DC Comics, but in the plot it was openly exploited and showed from the most unsightly sides of characters, very similar to the main characters of DC Justice League, so the publishing house was offended and sent the authors to look for another house for this idea. And they found it.
For the tired, superheroic modern audience, the adaptation of "The Boys" became a breath of fresh air. In the center of history there are two teams: one - "Seven" - consists of the best superheroes in the U.S., the other - the same "Boys" - hates superheroes. The reasons for everyone's hatred are different: Huey, for example, a superhero, took down a girl, turning her into a bloody dust, and didn't even stop to apologize.
Now the most savoury thing is that superheroes here are not just individuals acting on their own. They are all run by the mega-corporation Vought. As it turns out in the process, the entire superheroes industry is commercialized - the heroes are rented out to cities to raise the status of the region, they are used in the pressure on politicians, they are arranged staged clashes with the enemy, because they are almost not adapted to the real clashes, and in general, improving the quality of life of the world superheroes cares much less than the interest on the profits from the sale of comics, advertising contracts and other husks. Starlight, a new member of the top team, "Seven", is looking at the superhero party from the inside, dreaming of a sincere, light, unconditional superhero from childhood, but suddenly found herself in a harsh reality.
Yes, here, as in most of the deconstructed stories, there is old-fashioned ultraviolence - creative dismemberment is present in the frame, artificial blood flows in cubic meters, bones break with juicy crackling. But behind this tinsel there are several very deep ideas - from the story of total commercialization, which is closer to the surface, behind which the essence of heroism is lost, to the deep personal dramas, swarming with cockroaches and complexes, through, again, the revision of the image of the superhero, his place in the world described in the series (there even the religion could be woven, what can I say about politics).
The authors maintain a very accurate ratio of moralization and bloody smoke throughout almost the entire series. Perhaps, only in the beginning they scare away with cruelty, apparently, trying to scare off the tender violets at once, and in the finale begin to roll into the melodrama, but in time finish the season. Yes, they largely depart from the original, trying to make the comic strip, released from 2006 to 2012, more relevant. And they do it surprisingly organically. If the comic strip, released almost 15 years ago, was an irony over the industry, the series - a spit in the face of all Hollywood, the whole machine of dreams, which put a large and thick on the laws, morals and simple mortals. The main thing was to make sure that the money was flowing in the river.
And it's ironic in itself: "Kids" now has a rating on IMDB 8.9 with enthusiastic comments, and many people bought a subscription to Amazon Prime only for the sake of this series.