The Boys: Highland Laddie is a piece of Garth Ennis‘ long rant rants against superheroes. With the Amazon series taking plenty of liberties, I thought it best to go over a point I missed on my read through. It looks like everyone else is going to miss this since the Amazon show puts more emphasis on sensational action. Hence why the Billy Butcher spin-off Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker has an adaptation. Frankly it’s no wonder when I look at best selling comics for The Boys sales this is near the top list. Because instead of Ennis’ distaste for mainstream superheroes he goes into very human characterizations here. So much so that this chapter has to remove itself from the main series as a spin-off.
Background
The Boys is a series by Garth Ennis that critiques superheroes by attacking the corporate nature of them. Ever wonder what would happen if a loved one was collateral damage from a superhero and supervillain fight; life’s easier if you just fill out the paperwork. A lot of people just don’t have the desire to fight against that feeling of helplessness. It’s not like suing the mask can fix anything. That’s what Hughie Campbell does in the beginning after this happens to his girlfriend. I mean a few chapters in, readers find out that he’s a conspiracy theorist. So why does “Wee” Hughie serve as the main character, especially when his boss Billy Butcher steals the spotlight? Maybe Ennis likes Butcher too much and doesn’t want to swerve away from the plot? In any case The Boys: Highland Laddie gives Hughie some time away from the insanity.
The Boys: Highland Laddie Story
Disclaimer, I actually own digital versions of the original 3 The Boys omnibuses. The nearly hundred issues cover the main run, which doesn’t include Highland Laddie. I don’t know Ennis’ reasons for this, but in any case, he gets to tell Hughie’s story without getting in the way of the main plot. Here the reader meets Hughie’s beginnings in Scotland. From his foster parents, his childhood friends, to how Hughie got his start in conspiracy theories. No it wasn’t from wanting to know who his real parents are, his mates kind of made fun of him for that. A pilot just panicked from how he couldn’t figure out how planes fly with their wings.
Hughie just wanted a break from all of the insanity after Herogasm especially from his encounter with Black Noir. Of course coming home comes with both fondness as well as some peeves. While it’s always good to see friends, even if they make changes like going from male to female, they also know how to annoy you. Not to mention there’s that thing where you want to be treated as an adult by your parents only to still be a kid in their eyes. All things considered, it’s a breath of fresh air from the blood and guts. Unlike times where The Boys is just Ennis adapting his rants against superheroes in illustrated form, these moments are very down-to-earth.
Developments
Probably the most important part of The Boys: Highland Laddie is the character development. Being the one who just read the main series, I missed out on some points that didn’t make any sense without context. Spoilers ahead for a series that ended in 2012. Hughie actually meets The Boys founder Greg D. Mallory in this spin-off, whereas in the main series he serves as an infodump Hughie meets. Also Hughie made up with Annie/Starlight in the same series which made things a little strange without the context. This might even be the reason why the Omnibuses were re-rendered for the coinciding release of the Amazon series. Because if you’re going to read the complete story, you might as well get the full story.
Anyway… unlike the show where Annie and Hughie’s relationship is more than a little unstable, this is arguably more… Wait you can’t call victim shaming over a sexual misconduct into the 7 forgiving. But compare this to the TV version where… ugh… this is why having opinions is so hard… Sorry, the point is while Hughie was still upset about his love interest sucking the snake of his girlfriend’s killer, Annie still loved him in spite of the hurtful things he said. Oh god… how can you talk about this without generating scorn? In any case, Annie was more upset about Hughie keeping something from her.
True Character In Conflict
These secrets more or less come in how Hughie presents himself to scary situations. I mean as a kid, his aunt had a giant tapeworm dumped into the toilet. Imagine that thing coming out of the bowl after seeing the blood at a young age. It’s here that Hughie shows his admiration for people like Butcher who can handle themselves in these situations. Also as a kid, being able to do his part in solving crimes made him feel kind of good while adults could do dirtier work. Which might bring up police brutality images over a suspect just raising his voice… Man this is hard to without potential outrage.
Speaking of outrage however, do you ever think about someone hurting a little defenseless dog as evil? Because that’s what Hughie thought when he and his friends were messing around with a dog stuck in the middle of a pond. Hughie as a kid, accidentally hit the dog with a rock and immediately felt bad. So he took the dog to its home but the scared image of the dog haunted him for the rest of his life. For Hughie bringing the dog back to its owner is like walking through a battlefield with dinosaurs; no, I’m not exaggerating. It’s why he’s so afraid to tell Annie that, because for him that’s worse than the tapeworm. In the end however, it’s this compassion and humanity that allows both Annie and the reader to love him even more.
The Boys: Highland Laddie Is A Must-Read
The Boys: Highland Laddie has a lot to offer. I didn’t cover a drug smuggling taking place and how Mallory got Hughie to act on it because it’s not that important. The insane and intimidating action is at best everything people learned about Hughie coming full circle. Otherwise, it gives Annie a new lease on life after revealing how corporate superhero life since childhood has not done her much favors. After this, neither Hughie or Annie have to do it all alone.
For all of The Boys attempts to derail superheroes, Highland Laddie reminds readers to appreciate the everyman. Sometimes the most mundane, smothering, and boring life can be just as important as some cause. It’s also part of why the Amazon series comes up short with its corporate production.
Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.