The first on-panel death featured in The Boys actually doubles as a subtle superhero reference. A tragedy that begins Hughie Campbell’s journey into the world of Supes is also an acknowledgment of a landmark moment in comic book history.
The Boys is a satirical superhero series centering around a group of clandestine group of operatives tasked with monitoring the ‘Supes’ of the world. Unlike traditional superheroes, the Supes are often devoid of the morals as those found in comic books and are nuisances at best or downright psychos at worst. When a Supe steps over the line, it falls onto the Boys to rein them in, often murdering them if they have no use for the hero. The Boys is a story filled with over-the-top violence and gore, separating it from the more optimistic and straightforward superhero stories of Marvel and DC.
The Boys’ First Death References Batman’s Greatest Loss
In The Boys #1 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, Hughie Campbell is having a normal day out with his girlfriend, Robin. The two are enjoying one another’s company when Robin suddenly drops the “I love you” bomb on Hughie. But as Hughie embraces Robin and kisses her, his entire world comes crashing down around him. A hulking figure slams into Robin so hard and so fast, Hughie is left holding her detached arms in his hands. The speedster hero A-Train hangs back to wrap things up with police as medics try to attend to Hughie, still in shock from seeing his girlfriend violently killed. Hughie falls into a deep depression over Robin’s death, even turning away settlement money from Vought-American. While Hughie mourns his partner, Billy Butcher decides to recruit Hughie into his team, thinking he’ll fit in perfectly.
So why is it so surprising that The Boys’ first named character to die is Robin? Well, there isn’t a comic book fan alive that isn’t aware of the death of Jason Todd, the second Boy Wonder who met his end during the iconic “Death in the Family” storyline. While Robin wasn’t the first superhero to die in a comic book, his death is considered to be one of the biggest events that ushered in the Modern Age of Comics. In the same way that Robin’s death began a dark period in comic books, the death of Hughie’s girlfriend leads to the story’s shift in perspective when it comes to superheroes.
The Death of Robin Symbolizes the Loss of Innocence
Jason Todd’s death was an event that many credit as the beginning of the ‘Dark Age’ in comics, aka stories that featured edgier and over-the-top violence. Similarly, while The Boys is known for its use of gore and shocking deaths, they don’t begin in earnest until Robin is accidentally killed by A-Train. As soon as she passes, the reader begins seeing the Supes of the world differently, as violent killers and morally deficient reprobates. In a way, the death of the innocent Robin in The Boys symbolizes the dramatic shift in how comics were seen by many after Jason Todd’s brutal murder.
