Eager for the next season of the dark and excellent adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s The Boys? Prime Video has a little something to tide you over. The Boys Presents: Diabolical animated anthology series gives us eight shorts that they claim are set in unseen corners of The Boys universe. Look closely. Though voiced by many of the actors from the live-action series, at least one of these episodes gives viewers a more direct taste of the original comics. For that is Simon Pegg voicing Wee Hughie, the character originally designed in his likeness. (Jack Quaid plays Hughie in The Boys; Pegg played his father.)
Karl Urban reprises Butcher, but that’s also Robertson’s design, not the way Urban appears in the series. That’s not a complaint; that’s a feature. Both Pegg and Urban are in the episode “I’m Your Pusher,” written by original co-creator Ennis.
Each episode has a different animation style, following in the footsteps of series like The Animatrix and Disney+’s recent Star Wars: Visions.
From Prime Video:
Today, Prime Video revealed the delightfully unhinged trailer and key art for The Boys Presents: Diabolical, the eight-episode animated anthology series set in the universe of the Emmy-nominated hit The Boys, which will premiere all episodes on March 4 exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Joining the previously announced voice cast are Kimberly Brooks, Nicole Byer, Frances Conroy, Asjha Cooper, Chris Diamantopolous, John DiMaggio, Jermaine Fowler, Emily Gordon, Grey Griffin, Randall Duk Kim, David Marciano, Xolo Maridueña, Dominique McElligott, Caleb McLaughlin, Colby Minifie, Eugene Mirman, Retta, Kevin Michael Richardson, Somali Rose, Parker Simmons, Ursula Taherian, Fred Tatasciore, Sean Patrick Thomas, Angela Marie Volpe, Gary Antony Williams and Jenny Yokobori.
Awkwafina, Michael Cera, Don Cheadle, Chace Crawford, Kieran Culkin, Giancarlo Esposito, Eliot Glazer, Jason Isaacs, Kumail Nanjiani, Justin Roiland, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg, Ben Schwartz, Elisabeth Shue, Christian Slater, Kevin Smith, Antony Starr, Nasim Pedrad, Simon Pegg, Kenan Thompson, Aisha Tyler, and Oscar-winner Youn Yuh Jung were previously announced.
The fun-size episodes, running 12-14 minutes and each with its own animation style, will reveal unseen stories within The Boys universe, dreamt up by some of the most creative and bloody brilliant minds in entertainment today. The featured stories are:
“Laser Baby’s Day Out”
Writers: Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen
Directors: Crystal Chesney-Thompson and Derek Thompson
Animation Style: Inspired by classic American animated shorts.
“An Animated Short Where Pissed-Off Supes Kill Their Parents”
Writers: Justin Roiland & Ben Bayouth
Director: Parker Simmons
Animation Style: Inspired by Justin Roiland’s aesthetic.
“I’m Your Pusher”
Writer: Garth Ennis
Director: Giancarlo Volpe
Animation Style: An homage to the original The Boys comics.
“Boyd in 3D”
Writer: Eliot Glazer
Story by: Eliot Glazer & Ilana Glazer
Director: Naz Ghodrati-Azadi
Animation Style: Inspired by French comics and animation.
“Nubian vs Nubian”
Writer: Aisha Tyler
Director: Matthew Bordenave
Animation Style: Anime inspired
“John and Sun-Hee”
Writer: Andy Samberg
Director: Steve Ahn
Animation Style: Inspired by Korean drama and horror.
“One Plus One Equals Two”
Writer: Simon Racioppa
Directors: Jae Kim and Giancarlo Volpe
Animation Style: A darker take on American superhero animation.
In addition to running Fanboy Planet, Derek has contributed stories to Arcana Comics (The Greatest American Hero) and Monsterverse Comics (Bela Lugosi's Tales from the Grave). He has performed with ComedySportz, City Lights Theater Company and Silicon Valley Shakespeare, though relocated to Hollywood to... work in an office? If you ever played Eric's Ultimate Solitaire on the Macintosh, it was Derek's voice as The Weasel that urged you to play longer. You can buy his book "I Was Flesh Gordon" on the Amazon link at the right. Email him at [email protected].
