GRAPHIC NOVELS

Happy!

by Grant Morrison
Darick Robertson (illus.). Happy! Image. 2013. 128p. ISBN 9781607068389. $24.99. Rated: M. CRIME/ACTION
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Author Morrison (Superman: Action Comics) and artist Robertson (The Boys) offer an unconventional Christmas story, partnering a cop-turned-hired killer with a tiny blue cartoon horse. A little girl has been kidnapped and her imaginary friend Happy determines that only Nick Sax can save her. Unfortunately, Nick thinks Happy is a hallucination and is more concerned with dodging the Mafia thugs hunting him down.
VERDICT In this collection of the stand-alone four-issue series, Morrison offers a violent and profane redemption story that reads like a Garth Ennis work, without achieving Ennis's level of black comedy. Lacking that and Morrison's typical metafictional approach, Happy! is really carried by Robertson's art, which mixes the brutal with the surreal. Recommended for mature readers interested in crime noir with a supernatural twist, but Warren Ellis's Fell works much better.
Reviewed by Terry Bosky, Madison, WI , Mar 07, 2014
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