Summary

• Fans of the Amazon series The Boys should check out DC Comics' Hitman for a less extreme alternative with the same biting superhero satire.
• Hitman, created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea, tells the story of Tommy Monaghan, a hitman in Gotham City with super-powers who specializes in taking contracts on super-humans.
• Hitman is violent and profane like The Boys but also funny, featuring hilarious take-downs and a deep respect for Superman. It is considered one of Garth Ennis' best comics.

The Boys is known for its over-the-top humor, but for fans of the Amazon streaming series, the original comics may be a bit too extreme. But there is a comic-book option for fans looking for an even better Garth Ennis alternative: his DC Comics series Hitman.

Launched in 2006 under the DC imprint WildStorm, The Boys was created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Telling the story of a group of government operatives trained to keep vain and out-of-control superheroes in line, the series positioned itself to be the ultimate taboo-breaking dark superhero parody — so much so that DC Comics eventually canceled the series after only a handful of issues. Dynamite Entertainment then acquired the series, where it went on to run for 72 issues. While the TV show keeps comic’s irreverent tone, there are some elements of the original that haven’t aged as well and may prove too extreme for fans only familiar with the Amazon adaptation.

Fans of The Boys Should Check Out Hitman

For those fans of The Boys looking to get into comics, a better alternative might be DC Comics’ Hitman, a 60-issue series created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea. The story stars Tommy Monaghan, a low-level hitman in Gotham City who gets super-powers after being attacked by an alien parasite. Now possessing X-ray vision and telepathy, Monaghan decides to specialize in taking contracts on super-humans and other supernatural threats, gaining the ire of heroes like Batman along the way. The series is laced with the same biting superhero satire that made The Boys a success, but it's still not quite as extreme as that boundary-pushing series.

This isn’t to say that Hitman is any less violent or profane. True to Garth Ennis form, the adventures of Tommy Monaghan range from the bleak to the hilarious (and one memorable encounter with a zombie plague in the Gotham Aquarium). While Tommy Monaghan routinely makes fun of superheroes and their inherent jingoistic attitudes, the character later confesses to having a deep respect for Superman, even going so far as cheering Superman up after he failed saving someone from a burning building. Aside from all that, Hitman is just plain funny, with several hilarious take-downs like the Daredevil-inspired “Blind Bastard” or the future version of the ridiculous hero Gunfire accidentally turning his backside into a hand grenade.

Hitman Is One of Garth Ennis’ Best Comics

While Monaghan’s adventures come to a pretty definitive end after the conclusion of his solo series, Garth Ennis and John McCrea would later return to many of his ing cast in works like All-Star Section Eight and Six-Pack and Dogwelder: Hard Travellin’ Heroez. Of course, The Boys has grown beyond its juvenile origins to be the type of carefully-considered character study that Garth Ennis excels at. But for those fans looking for something less extreme, they couldn’t do any worse than DC Comics’ Hitman.