Download Happy! Deluxe Edition Grant Morrison Darick Robertson Books

Product details Paperback 128 pages Publisher Image Comics; Deluxe edition (December 5, 2017) Language English ISBN-10 1534306307

Happy! Deluxe Edition Grant Morrison Darick Robertson Books Reviews

• Disgraced detective turned contract killer Nick Sax completes an assassination of mob boss Mr. Blue’s sons. During the final moments of the confrontation, one of the sons tells Nick the password to a bank account full of laundered mafia money. Just as Mr. Blue’s henchmen are about to extract the password from him via torture, an imaginary blue unicorn haunts Nick’s psyche and agrees to help him out dangerous situations on the condition that he rescues small children from a porn studio. Will Nick Sax become the hero he was meant to be or will he selfishly reject Happy the horse every step of the way?
  
  This graphic novel is incontrovertible proof that not all protagonists have to be saints in order for the audience to cheer for them. Nick Sax is a vulgar, selfish, negative alcoholic who would rather waste his life away than use it for good causes. Seeing as how this is a redemption story, Happy the Horse has a long way to go in order to convince Nick to see the light. The two of them get into schizophrenic arguments that make outsiders feel uncomfortable and downright frightened to death. When the big payoff finally happens, it feels right. Some would criticize Nick’s newfound reasons as being selfish yet again, but that just goes to show how stonehearted a broken man like him can be. To me, that’s gritty and realistic, which is what all detective novels should be like, imaginary horse aside.
  
  Speaking of Happy, I enjoyed his characterization as well. He’s a goofy, lovable, lighthearted ray of sunshine in a world covered in darkness and beer. Sometimes the reader needs a break from all of the R-rated horror and Happy will provide that relief through his personality alone. In truth, Happy is the last line of defense for childhood innocence since he was one of the kidnapped children’s imaginary friend at one point. Once he’s gone, the whole world turns to poison. Imagination is the most powerful tool we have and it took a lot of it to incorporate Happy’s character in a believable way. Good job in that department, Mr. Morrison!
  
  I don’t have many complaints, but I do have one about Nick Sax’s back story as to why he acts as coldly as he does. While it is a tragic story about his family that would make any reader tear up, it seems forced and cliché, like it somehow excuses Nick’s behavior by virtue of its mere existence in the storyline. I’ve seen this trope used many times before and it only numbs me to the real tragedy of the much larger story. But as I said, this is a minor complaint since it didn’t actually derail the story in any way. It’s just a flaw that needed to be pointed out, that’s all.
  
  All in all, this was a fun little graphic novel and I can easily see why Syfy would want to make a TV show out of it. Sometimes it’s fun to root for the antihero, especially when a magical flying horse evens him out. That’s the trick with the antihero he can’t be worse than the villains he’s fighting. Otherwise, there’s nothing to believe in. Nick Sax’s redemption story is believable to me and that’s why I’m giving this graphic novel a passing grade despite his clichéd character history.
• This is an interesting first time collaboration between Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson. Morrison is certainly better known, though I view his work as quite mixed (the good All Star Superman, Arkham Asylum; the bad Batman RIP, X-Men). Robertson is massively important because of his work on Transmetropolitan with Warren Ellis and The Boys with Garth Ennis (it seems like he is trying to complete his collection of Dark Britons to work with).
  
  The premise a disgraced cop-turned-hitman with a drinking problem and no friends in the world begins to see a small, blue hybrid pony-unicorn. I think the last four words will be a turn off for many people, and the little creature does not, in any way, make this a book fit for children.
  
  There are some great lines, funny moments and a couple of decent fight scenes. Robertson loves drawing a bit of the old ultraviolence and he absolutely does so here. You have been warned.
• Morrison and Darick Robertson is an interesting combination, although not as interesting as Ellis and Robertson. Morrison is straight-forward here--not of the pyrotechnics, cannon and genre stacking, or metafiction--and it is refreshing as Morrison's experiments sometimes feel, well, stale at this point. The edge and grit, however, seem superficial, and the juxtaposition with an imaginary friend doesn't bring as much to the comic as one would hope. Nick Sax is a bundle of noir and crime comic tropes ex-cop turned hitman trying to do good to save children. Enter an imaginary friend to shake things up. Morrison almost seems to be doing a Garth Ennis impression to get the profanity and obscenity notches, and Nick Sax delivers. Yet, ultimately, the book doesn't do enough with its premise--it tells a story and abruptly ends. Enjoyable but kind of slight.
• There really is a lack of ideas here. It read more like an attempt to be a gritty, Garth Ennius type story with very little of the wit and invention that typically appears in Grant Morrison.
• ...and most of them are messed up. Happy is hard-boiled detective meets childhood imaginary friend. It is a tight story that packs in violence and humor in a 7030 ratio. If you've read Morrison before, you know what you're getting into.
• Twisted Histerical adult only tale.
• I found it funny and very imaginative. Not for kids - adults only. Already have the book but wanted it in travel size.
• The story was very well done. The graphics are off the chart good. I was very HAPPY with the book.