Garth Ennis has long been among the most influential creators of the modern age of comics, and is best known for dark titles like Preacher, The Boys and Hellblazer. However, the writer has a diverse body of work – and it isn’t his superhero comics he wants to be the most popular. Instead he cited a number of his war stories, notably Sara, as the ones that deserve more recognition.
In an interview with YouTube channel Comic Book Herald, Garth Ennis talked about his more realist work, notably the number of war stories he has produced in the past decade. He noted that he believed these stories have the potential to achieve the same level of popularity as The Boys.
Outside his notorious deconstruction of superheroes, Garth Ennis has left a strong mark on many genres, but his take on war stories is largely unmatched by his peers, with comics such as Sara and The Lion and the Eagle among those the author is most fond of himself.
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For Better or Worse, The Boys Is the Last Great Gen X Franchise
In many ways, Garth Ennis’ frequently provocative superhero satire “The Boys” distills the essence of the best and worst of Generation X art.
Garth Ennis Says That His War Comics Deserve To Be More Popular
He Named Sara “Leader Of The Pack”
With Get Fury currently being released through Marvel Comics, Garth Ennis is continuing in the tradition of his earlier work for the company, with series such as Punisher MAX and Fury MAX. The miniseries, centered around Nick Fury in his time at war and as a government operative, is a good showcase of Ennis’ writing outside of conventional superhero comics. Speaking with Comic Book Herald, Ennis compared his different comics, explaining that, despite being best known for his incredibly popular series The Boys, his favorite thing to write are his more realistic war stories.
Asked about which of his books – excluding The Boys and Preacher – Ennis wished would get more attention, he stated:
It would honestly be the war stories, I think. They’re my favorite thing to write. Sara would be leader of the pack, but also Johnny Red and the other Battle Action strips, Out of the Blue, The Lion and the Eagle, my old War Stories and Battlefields series from Avatar and Dynamite, Dreaming Eagles… These really are the stories that mean the most to me.
Ennis’ foray into the war genre is far from his best-known work, but it stands out as some of his best writing. Whether it’s his Battle stories or AfterShock’s The Lion and the Eagle, these series are as entertaining as they are visually stunning. As he continued:
“If I found myself talking about them to the extent that I do The Boys and Preacher, yes, I’d be very, very happy.”
That said, the author did subsequently imply this desire may be unlikely to come to fruition, soon after comparing it to his desire to visit the International Space Station.
Ennis Doesn’t Want His Supernatural & Superhero Stories To Dominate His Legacy
His Realist Work “Means The Most” To Him
Garth Ennis’ desire for his non-superhero comics to garner more mainstream attention is far from unique. In fact, this is a concern and criticism that has been famously shared by Alan Moore. Even the alternative genre work of modern superstar creative teams, such as Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s indie comics, hasn’t been able to match the success of their DC work. Ennis, in particular, has been one of the war genre’s most prolific writers, but readers keep coming back to his superhero deconstruction – despite the writer not being the biggest fan of caped heroes.
The Boys
The Boys is a superhero/dark comedy satire series created by Eric Kripke based on the comic series of the same name. Set in a “what-if” world that reveres superheroes as celebrities and gods who experience minimal repercussions for their actions. However, one group of vigilantes headed by a vengeance-obsessed man named Billy Butcher will fight back against these super-charged “heroes” to expose them for what they are.
