HAPPY

Grant Morrison (Author), Darick Robertson (Illustrator), Image Comics (Publisher)

> Review by Emil J. Novak Sr.

Nick Sax used to be happy. Before life ground him up and spat him out he had a promising career as a detective with the NYPD and a beautiful wife. Now he’s one of the best contract killers in the city, killing for money to buy booze and drugs and sex and anything else that will numb the pain. Then one bloody Christmas Eve, Nick came to save a young girl who’s been kidnapped by a sexual predator in a Santa suit, and ends up being recruited by a talking blue horse with wings named Happy.

Happy is the imaginary friend of the young girl who only Nick can see.

What follows is a brutal tale of humanity and morality by two of the greatest minds in comics. Morrison lays down some of the most sick and twisted ideas of his career, and Darick Robertson, no stranger to illustrating the sick and twisted to begin with, delivers in spades. The violence is brutal, the humor is bleak, and the message is ultimately a touching story about hope and the power of imagination. Happy! is a Christmas story for the twisted at heart, and I’m sure if you fit the bill, reading this will become a Christmas tradition along with decorating the tree.