Spy Boy



Spy Boy is a comic book series created in 1999 by writer Peter David and artists Pop Mhan and Norman Lee, and published by Dark Horse Comics.

The series centers around Alex Fleming, an ordinary teenage boy who is secretly part of a project to create the world's most deadly and effective secret agent. Unfortunately, while the world's various spy agencies are after him for reasons of their own, Alex himself is unaware of his super-ruthless sleeper personna. The adventures start when Alex's Spyboy identity is activated, throwing Spyboy into various death-defying situations around the world while Alex struggles to maintain relevance against his super-capable alter ego.

The basic idea for Spy Boy came from Dark Horse, who hired Peter David to develop the concept, including the cast and their back-stories. David has lamented that the ideas he had for the series' run were not completed, as Dark Horse did not continue with it.

A crossover 3-issue miniseries, Spy Boy / Young Justice, was published in 2002. Also Spy Boy: Final Exam, a 4-issue spin-off limited series by the same authors, was published in 2004.

Tropes associated with this work:

 * Abnormal Ammo: Spy Boy's gun, the Magnum Opus, fires a variety of these.
 * Armor Piercing Discourse: Butch give an epic one to.
 * Art Shift: During the middle of the Marispan affair (or the beginning of the Bet Your Life arc) the art changes from anime-style to something out of Mike Mignola's mind and back again.
 * Banana In the Tailpipe: Messed with in one of the early issues, where Bombshell stops a (moving) car of bad guys by tossing what appears to be a lit cigarette into the tailpipe. The car blows up several blocks later. Considering that Bombshell is an explosives expert, however, it's not quite as far-fetched.
 * Becoming the Mask:
 * Because You Were Nice to Me: For Butch,  and the reason of why he is self-defined best friend with Alex.
 * Betty and Veronica: Spygirl and Bombshell. Even their fake identities in Alex's high school parody this.
 * Changeling Fantasy: Alex wishes at the beginning for one to escape his crappy school life until he realize how brutal the espionage world really is..
 * Children Raise You: According to Rita Moody.
 * Cool Bike: The Spy Cycle
 * Cliff Hanger: The final exam ends with . It is either the most epic or the most sadistic ending you would ever see.
 * Darker and Edgier: Don't let the design and quirky humor fool you, this a very bloody and violent adaptation to the usual teenager spy theme.
 * Dead Person Impersonation: Spygirl during the Spyboy Manga affair and.
 * Deep Cover Agent:.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Even Schweitzer finds a little absurd the reaction of his father to the Class president's campaign: hire a hitman to take both Alex and his ex-girlfriend.
 * Distaff Counterpart: SpyGirl.
 * Doting Parent: Rita Moody truly believes that Butch is the kindest person you could ever met.
 * Elaborate Underground Base: Spy Boy had a modest one of these hidden out in the woods.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Say what you will about Gila's ruthlessness, but.
 * Evil Matriarch:.
 * Evil Parents Want Good Kids
 * Executive Meddling
 * Fake Memories:
 * Fire Forged Friends
 * Fun With Acronyms: The opposing spy teams are named S.H.I.R.T.S and S.K.I.N.S. The good guys occasionally team with their oriental counterparts, M.A.N.G.A.
 * Good Feels Good: Butch and.
 * Government Agency of Fiction: S.H.I.R.T.S for United States and M.A.N.G.A for Japan.
 * Happily Adopted:.
 * Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Amusingly enough, in the comic book crossover between Spy Boy and Young Justice, Robin actually asks Spy Boy's team if they indeed took the Stormtrooper Marksmanship course — never realizing that HE was also displaying Stormtrooper level of accuracy.
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: Spygirl can be found giving constantly bra and panty shots.
 * Just for Pun: As with much of David's work, Spy Boy is littered with wordplay.
 * Madam Imadam, who works for an organisation known as the Palindrome
 * Annie Mae, Japanese techno-mage-something
 * REMbrandt, the artist of dreams
 * The Load: This seems to be Butch's place.
 * Mama Bear: Rita Moody would go to any lengths to protect Butch..
 * The Mafia: Schweitzer's father seems to have connections. How far and how big is let vague during the Butch affair but.
 * Manchurian Agent: Alex is a good version.
 * Manga Adaption: SpyBoy: The Manga Affair. Notable for being drawn in a more traditional Anime artstyle than when compared to the original comic.
 * Mata Hari: Bombshell's fake identity is Martha Hari.
 * Missing Mom: Alex mom was killed during a mission, forcing the Fleming family to lay low for more than a decade.
 * Mr. Smith: In this world most cover names go with Girl, Guy, Dude and in one case Main Man
 * Noodle Incident: Apparently Bombshell managed to reunite with her parents during the Time Skip.
 * No One Could Survive That:
 * Older Than They Look: Annie Mae is probably over eighty but she looks and had quirks like a 5 year old girl.
 * The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: Is never truly revealed what the echelon truly is or what are his goals.
 * Parental Abandonment: Alex suffer from the "Mommy Dead Syndrome",
 * Paper Thin Disguise: Spyguy disguises himself as a substitute teacher named "Guy Mcguffin"
 * Pants Positive Safety: Behold the cover of Spy Boy #3!
 * Play Along Prisoner: It never works.
 * The Reason You Suck Speech: Butch gives a unintended one to  at the end of Confidential.
 * Rose Haired Girl: SpyGirl
 * Rogue Agent:
 * Ship Sinking: Bombshell and Alex after the Time Skip.
 * Shout Out: Spy Boy's civilian identity is Alex Fleming, a nod to James Bond's creator Ian Fleming. Continuing the theme, his father's first name is Sean (after Sean Connery).
 * To the Powerpuff Girls of all things in one issue.
 * Split Personality: Spy Boy himself is an artificial persona buried inside a normal high school student named Alex (arguably making him a Badass Normal Sealed Inside a Person Shaped Can). Or, possibly, Alex is an artificial persona created to provide Spy Boy with a perfect cover. This is one of the main ethical questions explored by the series, in its more serious moments.
 * Spy Couple
 * Spy Glasses: Alex's goggles.
 * Spy Tux Reveal
 * Spy Versus Spy
 * Surveillance As the Plot Demands: Either it gets more silly or more awesome every single time.
 * Teen Superspy
 * Time Skip: 1 year in Final Exam.
 * Totally Not a Spy: Guy Mcguffin.
 * Two Person Love Triangle: Alex is attracted to Bombshell, but she's only interested in Spy Boy. Becomes a double Two Person Love Triangle when Spy Girl shows up and decides Alex. Too bad Spy Boy is the only one interested.
 * Unreliable Narrator: It resulted that
 * Un Installment: The series skips issue number 13, but the miniseries The MANGA Affair published later contains issues 13.1, 13.2 and 13.3.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Butch's relationship with Alex, Spy Girl and Bombshell.
 * Bombshell and Spygirl are literally two breaths from killing each other most of the time.
 * What Happened to The Mouse: BQ and Taketmatesa are never see or heard again after beeing hit by a Wave in the Marispan casino.
 * We Have Reserves: This seems the default reaction to all the enemies of Spyboy, sending henchmen to their death without blinking and eye
 * Widget Nation: While the rest of the world of Spyboy is quite... colorful, the mission of Japan is flatout bizarre. Three words