Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker

For the nursery rhyme origin of the phrase, see Rub-a-dub-dub.

For the episodes adapting/named after this comic, see Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker; The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies; and Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed.

Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker is a six-issue comic book limited series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Originally published as a spin-off of The Boys, set between issues #59 and #60, following villain protagonist Billy Butcher as he attends his father's funeral before thinking back on his origin story, serving in the Royal Marines, fighting in the Falklands War, meeting and then losing his wife Becky Saunders, and joining the CIA and in-turn the Supe-focused black ops group The Boys following her death. Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker was collected in trade paperback in March 2012 as the tenth volume of The Boys, as The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker.^[3]

Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker
Publication information
Publisher	Dynamite Entertainment
Format	Limited series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	July 20 – December 21, 2011
No. of issues	6
Creative team
Created by	Garth Ennis[1][2] Darick Robertson
Written by	Garth Ennis
Artist(s)	Darick Robertson
Penciller(s)	Darick Robertson
Inker(s)	Darick Robertson
Letterer(s)	Simon Bowland
Colorist(s)	Tony Aviña
Collected editions
Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker	ISBN 978-1784537487

Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker was adapted as the seventh episode of the second season of the Amazon Prime Video streaming television adaptation of The Boys, with John Noble and Lesley Nicol portraying Sam and Connie Butcher,^[4][5][6] as well as to the third season episode "Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed", with Jack Fulton portraying Lenny Butcher.

Premise

Part 1: Bomb Alley

After attending the funeral of his estranged father, Billy Butcher begins talking to the corpse about his time spent serving in the Royal Marines, fighting in the Falklands War, from the heights of love to the depths of tragedy, revealing the terrible nature of the forces that drive him.^[7][8][9]

Part 2: Harriet

In 1982, on the desolate Falkland Islands, young Royal Marine Billy Butcher finds his calling. On the war's end, he begins to indulge his love of conflict in civilian life, leaving it locked on a grim course until an unexpected source brings him a chance at salvation.^[10]

Part 3: It Must Be Love, Love, Love

Finding love with Becky Saunders, turning his life away from one of crime, Billy Butcher explores a life of joy.^[11][12]

Part 4: The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies

Over the course of two years, Billy Butcher set up home in 1980s Britain under the reign of Margaret Thatcher, living with Becky, before she suddenly grows distant, and months later, gives birth to a Supe baby, the process of which kills her. On seeing this, Billy beats the baby to death.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Part 5: Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed

Arrested for Becky's murder, Billy Butcher is recruited from solitary confinement to the CIA by Colonel Mallory, and on reading his wife's diary, believes he has discovered the identity of the one responsible for her pregnancy and subsequent death.^[17][18]

Part 6: Every One of You Sons of Bitches

Beginning a new life in America, which turns out to mean life ending for a good many unsuspecting superheroes. Billy Butcher embraces his destiny as the enforcer of keeping Supes in-line as part of the CIA black ops group "The Boys".^[19]

Reception

Issue #	Publication date	Critic rating	Critic reviews	Ref.
1	July 2011	8.0/10	4	[20]
2	August 2011	6.8/10	2	[21]
3	September 2011	7.5/10	3	[22]
4	October 2011	8.8/10	4	[23]
5	November 2011	7.7/10	3	[24]
6	April 2012	5.0/10	1	[25]
Overall		7.3/10	17	[26]

Collected editions

Title	Material collected	Published date	ISBN
The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker	Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #1–6	March 7, 2012[27]	ISBN 1-60690-264-4
The Boys: Definitive Edition 5	The Big Ride (The Boys #48–59) + Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker[28]	July 9, 2013	ISBN 1-60690-412-4

Adaptation

In September 2020, Eric Kripke, the showrunner of the Amazon Prime Video streaming television adaptation of The Boys, confirmed that Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker would be adapted as the seventh episode of the series' second season (starring Karl Urban as Billy Butcher), featuring John Noble and Lesley Nicol portraying Sam and Connie Butcher, characters introduced in Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker.^[4] Unlike the source material in which Sam Butcher is depicted as having died, and Billy Butcher returning for his funeral, Billy returns to find his mother had lied to him about his father's death, in an attempt to have the two reconcile before his father actually dies.^[29][30] In addition, Butcher's family history from the series is adapted to the third season episode "Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed", with Jack Fulton portraying Lenny Butcher.^[31][32]