Marshal Law: Fear and Loathing (a review)

You’ve probably at least heard of the TV show The Boys. You know, that super dark and violent show about evil superheroes and a group of people trying to check them before they do anything too terrible. It was originally a comic series written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Darick Robertson, who also worked on Transmetropolitan.

Well, what if I told you that this was not the first time a comic has deconstructed the superhero genre like this. Everyone knows about Watchmen, of course, but comparing that to The Boys is like comparing The Shining to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. No, I’m talking about a deconstruction that’s rude, crude, and not afraid to be obscene.

(Yes, I’m aware that today’s subject was not the first of its kind. Please don’t trash my comment section.)

Marshal Law: Fear and Loathing is a six issue limited series released by in 1987 by Epic Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics. It was written by Pat Mills, a comics veteran who helped create the weekly comic magazine 2000 A.D. and had a hand in creating Judge Dredd. The art was done by Kevin O’Neill who also did the art for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.