I hate to start a review by saying, “it wasn’t for me”, but I really have to in this instance. If I don’t put that up front then everything I’m going to say about it will come off like me just being a jerk or even worst: apathetic. The overall production value of The H-Boyz is by no means bad. It’s actually a well put together independent comic from beginning to end, but I’m not the audience for it. Both issues are made of shorter stories and in that way reminded me of things like Milk & Cheese in which the story begins and ends within the issue. Occasionally there’s a reference to something previously, but if that was your first time reading it you wouldn’t be in the dark either. Overall there is no narrative to follow if that makes sense. There isn’t a story connecting all of the shorter stories, it’s basically just the random adventures of the H-Boyz.

Who are the H-Boyz you ask? They’re two brothers with a band of the same name that star in this comic and are also the creators. I’m not going to give the entire story since the inside-cover of the comic does it pretty well and you can check out their website.

Most of the stories have a drug theme to them and that’s where it lost me instantly, but don’t worry I’m not going to go all soapbox on you. In fact I don’t even think the comic really advocates the use of drugs since our main characters experience a ton of hardships due to their drug use. There was plenty of gross out humor which was the part of the comics that I enjoyed; and there were also some sexual situations/humor as well. Those scenes were kind of whatever since it’s nothing that you haven’t seen or heard from a Kevin Smith movie or any spoof comedy, but mixed with everything else it could put some people off.

In a way this was like a more adult version of MAD, but starring only two characters and a very small supporting cast. If it toned down the drug use I might have enjoyed it more, but really with that in there I found nothing to relate to it. I can see it finding an audience, but I couldn’t tell you who they were. Again I would check out their site if you’re curious and really make the judgement for yourself. Also I’m scoring it pretty low, but again it wasn’t particularly for me and while I can see a lot of the work that went into it, it just doesn’t quite hit the mark. Check it out for yourself though.

Score: 2/5

Creators: Blake and Clay Henss

Publisher: H-Boyz Comix

Price: $4.00 each

Website