The Big Ride is a three-part graphic novel written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Russ Braun that was published by Dynamite Entertainment as the ninth volume of the American comic book series The Boys, consisting of the four-part story arcs Proper Preparation and Planning, released from November 3, 2010 to February 16, 2011, Barbary Coast (illustrated by John McCrea), released from March 2 to June 1, 2011, and The Big Ride, released from July 6 to October 5, 2011, the latter from which the novel takes its title.
[4] In Proper Preparation and Planning, Billy Butcher and the Homelander think back on the Boys' first encounter with the Seven in the aftermath of 9/11, in Barbary Coast, Wee Hughie meets Mallory, who recounts his life story from meeting the first Soldier Boy during the Second World War to eventually joining the CIA and recruiting Butcher, while in The Big Ride, the Boys' investigation into Jack from Jupiter leads them and the Seven towards a bloody conclusion to their long-standing conflict.
On the production of a television adaptation of The Boys, the events of Proper Preparation and Planning were loosely adapted as the first season episode "The Female of the Species" and the second season episode "The Bloody Doors Off", with Shawn Ashmore playing Lamplighter, while the events of Barbary Coast were loosely adapted as the third season episode of the same name, with Jensen Ackles playing Soldier Boy and Laila Robins and Sarah Swire playing Grace Mallory.
[2][5] In the present, simultaneously with Highland Laddie, Billy Butcher re-examines the Boys' first encounter with the Seven as the Homelander thinks back on their first mission and its consequences (the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge on 9/11 instead of the World Trade Center), and the death of their former leader Greg Mallory's grandchildren at the hands of Lamplighter and his subsequent handover to the Boys as a truce, trying to figure out what went wrong, while dealing with disquiet in the ranks and the return of an old enemy.
[15][16][17][18] On the production of a television adaptation of The Boys from Amazon Prime Video, the events of Proper Preparation and Planning were loosely adapted as the first season episode "The Female of the Species", with Homelander (played by Antony Starr) and Queen Maeve (played by Dominique McElligott) alone being unable to prevent a plane from crashing, and the second season episode "The Bloody Doors Off", with Lamplighter (played by Shawn Ashmore) instead depicted as having accidentally killed Mallory's grandchildren,[34] while the events of Barbary Coast were loosely adapted as the third season episode of the same name, taking place during the Vietnam War in place of the Second World War, with Jensen Ackles playing Soldier Boy and Laila Robins and Sarah Swire playing Grace Mallory (based on the comic-book Greg Mallory).