Comics! Happy #1

Happy #1

Grant Morrison: writer
Darick Robertson: artist

The Solicitation

Meet NICK SAX - a corrupt, intoxicated ex-cop turned hit-man, adrift in a stinking twilight world of casual murder, soulless sex, eczema and betrayal.

With a hit gone wrong, a bullet in his side, the cops and the mob on his tail, and a monstrous child killer in a Santa suit on the loose, Nick and his world will be changed forever this Christmas.

By a tiny blue horse called Happy...


Preview

Why I Bought It
I've been a fan of Robertson's stuff since Transmetropolitan. Morrison can be hit or miss with his creator-owned stuff. Curiosity caught me on this one. And it was the first time that Morrison and Robertson have done an Image book, and done a book together - if memory serves correctly.

What I Liked
Well, this comic isn't meant for kids.

Trust me, that is a good thing.

Robertson has some terrific, consistent art that he delivers in this issue. You can tell that he is a master of his craft and knows how to angle and place characters in order to get the most out of his side of the story telling. Nicely done.

Morrison was a bit of a surprise for me this comic. This doesn't read like a typical Morrison book. Hell, the concept is a little like Morrison, but the big overall picture doesn't seem like him. There is more to an Ennis quality with the language, and the character Happy, a blue horse/unicorn thing, isn't an outside the box kind of character that I would expect Morrison to bring to the book. It seems rather tame by Morrison standards.

By normal issue number one standards, this book did a great job in setting everything up and getting us introduced to the twist of the comic. This very much feels like something in the same area as Fatale by Brubaker and Phillips; a noir/mob story with some special non-human characters popping in.

What I Didn't Like
This feels more like the start to an ongoing than it does to a four issue mini. I haven't heard that this is the first of a couple mini series from Morrison and Robertson or anything like that which would suggest the characters would be around longer than these four issues.

I did have to wait a bit for my shop to get the comic, which I guess is a good sign for the popularity of the book. Unfortunately my copy was a second printing, but I don't really plan on selling the book anytime soon anyhow.

Panel to Remember
I like that when Happy makes his first appearance, it is when Nick is upside down. Good framing and choice of position for the character to show that his world is about to be flipped around.

Quotable
"Pay attention to the talking horse!" - Happy, and with that, will keep me interested in how the series goes from here.

Grades
Words: 7/10 - Because this isn't typical Morrison feel to the story here.
Pictures: 9/10 - because this is a very typical and nicely done Robertson feel to the art here.
Buy Next Issue: I'm down with it, I just hope the story goes somewhere from here than what would feel like an uninteresting turn of events.