The Boys Creator Garth Ennis Previews His New Series Babs From Ahoy Comics

This week sees the release of Babs #1 from Ahoy Comics. The series, from writer Garth Ennis and artist Jacen Burrows, centers on a barbarian warrior woman who…well…can’t seem to catch a break. The series takes the Justice League International approach, reducing her fighting and pillaging to, basically, a day job that never seems to go well. Conceding that sword and sorcery comics can be a rough genre, Ennis told ComicBook that he had been thinking about one for a long time, before Babs came together during a trip to St. Lucia.

Babs blends traditional sword-and-sorcery comics with good-natured comedy and a little biting satire, creating a title that feels uniquely Ennis. The writer joined ComicBook for a quick Q&A ahead of the book’s release in comic shops and digital platforms tomorrow.

This title feels fairly fanciful for you. How did it come to you, and how did you land on Jacen for the art?

I’d been thinking about sword & sorcery since I did Hawk the Slayer for Rebellion. It’s a pretty goofy, lazy sort of a genre a lot of the time, but it can also be a lot of fun.

Jacen and I have been working together for 20 years, and have built up a pretty damn good creative rapport. He’s a great storyteller and can handle pretty much anything, butthere’s a real clarity and precision to his storytelling that makes humour in particular that bit simpler to convey.

In the first issue, we get a little not-too-subtle commentary on popular culture and fandom. How important is that satire to the larger series?

It’s a vein running through the story, but it doesn’t dominate. Readers may be surprised to find that the incels don’t get quite as rough a ride as they may be expecting, largely due to my sweet and tender nature — and my desire not to give up on people unless they’re truly irredeemable. 

That said, the current anti-immigrant riots in the UK are testing my patience a bit in that regard. At the end of the day, it’s the same basic breed of arsehole.

In the book, you say she’s “fair of face, but s–t of luck.” That seems true of another character we see in the first issue. What will Babs’s supporting cast look like?

As well as Izzy, you’ve got Mork the Orc and his wanky little posse, who have an important role to play in the field of what might be called intelligence-gathering. There’s the extremely dubious Tiberius Toledo and his White Knights of Unblemished Virtue. There’s a bunch of undead people. 

And in issue two you’ll meet one of my favourite characters: Sir Colin Culpepper, knight of the realm, who represents my most direct commentary on the sword & sorcery genre.

The first issue really blows past. Lots of funny dialogue and lots of action. Will there be slower, character-focused moments or will you try to keep that pace up then, too?

Issue 2 is quite talky, that should slow things down a bit. Although I suppose there is that undead army I mentioned, and a mysterious black rider on a ragged, skeletal horse.

Does Babs have an over-arching mission here? perhaps related to her past?

Babs just wants to get rich so she can quit barbarianising (now a word) and put her feet up for a bit. But life has a way of throwing curve balls. As she herself says, “I know I’m going to end up on another f—ing adventure.”

Were there any outside influences to the way the book shaped up? It feels like something that you could compare to 30 things but it’s still got its own identity.

Not really. When I thought up the character I was wandering through a tropical ravine on the paradise island of St. Lucia, if that’s any help to you. Does that count as an influence?

You have one of the richest character libraries of any writer in comics. Is there anybody from your past that you think would have fun sharing a mead with Babs?

I mentioned this in another interview, but I think it would be fun to have Babs meet Code Pru and Marjorie Finnegan, they would probably work well together. One terribly practical, one very dangerous but a bit of a loser, one borderline insane.