Darick Robertson

Darick Robertson draws superheroes the way the world actually deserves them: arrogant, sweating, drunk on power, and terrifyingly real. The self-taught artist who designed Homelander, Billy Butcher, and the whole rotten world of The Boys turned a savage piece of satire into one of the most recognizable visual languages in modern pop culture — and he did it from a basement studio full of toys in Northern California. Similar in style to the gritty, design-forward action of Brian Hitch and the punk sensibility of his own Transmetropolitan pages, Robertson’s work marries clean storytelling with characters you can’t stop staring at.

Hired professionally while still in high school, Robertson broke into the mainstream drawing The New Warriors for Marvel and Justice League for DC before creating his own black-and-white indie, Space Beaver (1986), and co-creating Ripfire and The Night Man for Malibu’s Ultraverse. In 1997 he teamed with Warren Ellis on Transmetropolitan, the Eisner-nominated sci-fi landmark following gonzo journalist Spider Jerusalem — Robertson’s character design for the future, from Spider’s two-headed cat to the iconic “Sex Puppets,” became legendary. He then wrote and drew for Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Nightcrawler at Marvel, and with Garth Ennis crafted the hard-edged modern take on Fury for the launch of the Marvel MAX imprint.

In 2006, Ennis and Robertson launched The Boys, a creator-owned black-ops superhero satire that debuted at DC’s Wildstorm, was cancelled after six issues, and found its home at Dynamite Entertainment, where it ran to issue #72 in 2012. Robertson designed the entire cast — the translucent-skinned Translucent, the glowing-eyed Homelander, the cockney bruiser Butcher — and modeled young Hughie on Simon Pegg, years before the actor would appear in the show. He discussed the series at length with The Beat as its Amazon adaptation took shape, and told CBR how the grounded, black-coat look of the Boys was built as a direct contrast to the colorful capes they police.

Robertson’s character designs became the DNA of the Amazon Prime Video series and its Gen V spin-off, on which he serves as co-executive producer. Beyond The Boys, he co-created Happy! with Grant Morrison (adapted by Syfy in 2017), Oliver with Gary Whitta for Image Comics, and Space Bastards with Eric Peterson, and returned to Batman with Batman: Fortress. His website showcases the full range of his creator-owned work and original art, and he remains active on Twitter. Perfect for fans of superhero deconstruction, Eisner-nominated sci-fi, and anyone who has ever wondered what the capes would really look like with nothing to answer to.