Happy #1

Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Darick Robertson

Grant Morrison - DC's biggest name writer (in terms of critical respect, if not exactly in sales) has taken his latest creator-owned project to Image, and that's a big deal.  For years, Morrison has published his bizarre non-superhero projects through Vertigo, but with their terms having recently been changed, I guess Image was a better option (continuing to prove what I firmly believe - that it is the most exciting company publishing comics these days).

Happy is a strange beast.  It opens reading like a Garth Ennis comic, as a pair of hitman (part of a hitman family, the Fratelli Brothers) go to join their brothers in completing a hit on Nick Sax, an ex-cop.  Sax knew they were coming (for a pretty interesting reason), but he didn't know that the fourth brother had recently returned from Italy, and is therefore not as prepared as he would like to be.

Sax ends up in the hospital with a gunshot wound, although not before he is given the password to a secret bank account which holds the Fratelli fortune.  Now, both the police and the mob are after that password, and Nick is hallucinating fiercely.  He sees a small blue horse named Happy.

That's more or less all that happens in this issue.  We do get a rather random page or two of Nick taking out a serial killer who has been killing prostitutes, and there's something weird going on with a creepy homeless looking Santa Claus, but there you go.  Now, this being a Morrison comic, I was looking for other meanings or interpretations, but couldn't really come up with anything just yet.

It's great to see Darick Robertson's art again.  I never even sampled The Boys (it having come out at a point where I'd had my fill of Garth Ennis - maybe I should start looking for it in trade), so I haven't seen Robertson on a comic in many years.  He's a great character artist, although he draws a mean small blue horse with wings and a horn...

I don't see this being one of Morrison's greatest works, but it is definitely interesting and entertaining.