Books like The Boys, Definitive Edition II

OK, now this is starting to get good. After a pretty uneven (and often objectively terrible) first volume, Ennis ramps up the satire and cultural commentary and starts really transforming The Boys into a blunt, visceral critique of the American Military Industrial Complex and its reliance on private arms dealers. That sounds like kind of a heavy topic for a comic that started out as a very stupid series about superheroes have "too much" sex with each other, but that's where we are. And I'm really getting into it.I mean, I have to commend Ennis on managing to pull off a 9/11 story without being even remotely disrespectful or offensive. His "edgy" tendencies, particularly in The Boys, really don't lead me to think he's all that capable of nuance. But his approach in this volume is fueled by righteous anger and a hatred of corruption, and as such he manages to tell a pretty upsetting tale that has its heart and mind in the right place. This story also completely changes the game of the series itself, revealing The Seven (the Justice League of this world, basically) to be truly despicable monsters for reasons other than they simply are too horny (which is what it was up until this point).I haven't completely gotten over my hangups with the book, though. There's still a lot of edgelord-y shock value, particularly in his liberal use of ethnic and homophobic slurs, which even come from the supposed heroes. I know the Boys themselves, except for Hughie I guess, are flawed, and therefore aren't supposed to be flat-out good dudes with perfect opinions, but it still feels like a lot of what Ennis is doing with them is simply meant to rile people up. It doesn't expand their characters or worldviews. It's just annoying.And the Frenchman and the Female of the Species desperately need some backstory. Every time they're featured I have no feelings about them at all. The Female's silent and brutal, the Frechman's French and frivolous, full stop. Ennis clearly expects us to like these two, but since he's done zero work to show us who they actually are, it's not working for me yet.But, all that said, I'm still pretty hooked by the larger narrative, and I'm interested to see where Ennis goes with this. Here's hoping there's a solid plan and not just a bunch of detours into Sex Town.