\*\*\*The Boys (comic)\*\*\*

i have never once seen the discourse surrounding something be as completely and utterly ruined by a single video made on the topic as what PointlessHub did to this comic. obviously no shade to him or his video, his opinions are his opinions and the video was very well made. the only problem is that it was maybe a bit \*\*too\*\* well made considering almost everyone i see talking about the comic just writes it off as goremaxxing edgeslop and regurgitates the same points from the video ad nauseum, with some particular shade thrown at some not-so-subtle riffs on superheroes that may or may not be their favorites

is it schlocky? yeah. is it edgy? very much so. is there actual artistic merit to it? yes! so many people take it at face value to be something like Garth Ennis' grand manifesto as to why superheroes are fundamentally stinky when that's just...not true? once you get down to the finer and fundamental premise, that being emotionless corporate suits manufacturing celebrities and cultivating an environment that lets them and their darkest proclivities run wild, it's shockingly applicable to the real world once you consider a major part of why The Seven are that world's premiere superheroes is because they're movie stars with an enormous media franchise built around them by Vought. and that's not even considering Starlight and how her arc starts with her introduction to The Seven and immediately being confronted with the immensely toxic and perverted culture they created

if you're more interested in the good side of the comic, just check out Just Stop and his video on it. i guarantee it'll give you another perspective outside of mindless and often inaccurate criticism. speaking of which, some other misconceptions i've heard about the comic:

1) \*\*every supe is an irredeemable monster\*\* - well Starlight exists, but Super Duper is an entire team composed of underpowered and/or mentally disabled supes that just want to help people the best they can. Tek Knight is also not completely amoral (he doesn't have a sex dungeon, just a perverse brain tumor), and the G-Men have all been enormously fucked up since childhood courtesy of John Godolkin, so their characters are far more sympathetic than just plain evil

2) \*\*Billy Butcher is Garth Ennis' edgy Gary Stu self-insert\*\* - they're both British, they both hate superheroes...and that's about it. contrary to popular belief, Billy Butcher is actually portrayed quite negatively as far as secondary protagonists go. it's frequently shown his greater judgment is overruled by his profound grudge towards supes, and the comic's ending/moral climax is Hughie stopping Butcher from completing a grand genocide of them

3) \*\*the art sucks\*\* - okay, you're just saying this because SOMEONE told you it did. the art is great; the expressions especially

\*\*\*The Sopranos (main cast)\*\*\*

i have much less to say about this, but very recently Michael Imperioli (who played Christopher in the show) went and said most of the main cast would support a certain orange individual in office, hereby referred to as OI, which he got a surprising amount of backlash for

if you've ever watched the show, you'd know this is true. even throwing away the more incendiary reasons one would cite (racism), Tony and Co. fit the bill of OI voters. very socially traditional, religious, "hard working", and they respect strongman tendencies in an authority figure. they obviously wouldn't be super vocal or anything, they're still mobsters after all, but they'd definitely vote in his favor

why the backlash? not sure, but i think it just comes down to people projecting themselves onto their favorite character. they want assurance for their own beliefs, and who better to give that assurance than the character their love and enjoy?

[hated/frustrating tropes] chronically misunderstood media