One of the major reasons for The Boys' existence is to parody other comics and pop culture properties. But, when the series decided to take a shot at the comic Sweet Tooth, the crude moment was one of the worst jokes the book has ever made. A comic with a vulgar name parodying Sweet Tooth can be seen during The Legend's death scene and the gag is pretty lame.
The Boys comic, created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, was a dark and humorous parody of superhero stories that was first published back in 2006. It lampooned characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, as well as tropes in the genre. The Boys was unabashedly crass, absurdly violent, and often pushed the boundaries of what was even publishable in mainstream comics. Meanwhile, Sweet Tooth was published around the same time as The Boys, as series by Jeff Lemire launched in 2009. The comic told the story of a candy-loving boy with antlers who navigates through an apocalypse in a fantasy world. Before both comics got live-action adaptations, The Boys parodied the Vertigo book in a blink-and-you'll-miss joke.
In The Boys #67 by Garth Ennis, Darrick Robertson, Russ Braun, Tony Avina, and Simon Bowland, Billy Butcher tracks down The Legend, one of his confidants who's the Stan Lee of The Boys universe, as he's responsible for writing the heightened comic stories of the Seven and other heroes. Butcher ends up betraying The Legend, thinking he's become too much of a liability. As the old man falls to the ground and gets a kick in the backside by Butcher, some of the comics he's written are shown, including one called "Shitfoot."
The comic features a young boy named "Shitfoot" who has poop on his foot. On the cover, the character identifies himself, while adding "it's th' pocalypse' and 'I likes candy.' The joke is not only a parody of Gus from Sweet Tooth, but it's a double entendre, as The Legend dies getting his butt kicked by Butcher.
The Boys creators weren't exactly trying to tell a great joke here, as it's easily missable by readers. But, even for a series that has characters with powers of having an oversized sexual organ, and a hero who routinely pisses his pants before battle, the joke is one of the worst in the entire series. The dialogue, the raunchy name-change, and cover for Sweet Tooth are groan-worthy, opposed to being funny. Maybe The Boys television series can elevate the Sweet Tooth joke in live-action to make it funnier, just as it's done for pretty much every other aspect of the comic.
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June 26, 2021 at 12:39AM
