The first time I heard of Happy, it was due to the (fantastic) Netflix series of the same name, which I promptly devoured in the space of an evening. And so, when I was feeling a bit down, it was a lovely surprise to come home to a ‘cheer up’ copy of the graphic novel which inspired it. Having immediately read the entire thing, I can say that not only did the Netflix show completely nail the tone, but that Christopher Meloni (who I still ALWAYS call Chris Keller first time around – man, I miss Oz) was perfectly cast.
Anyway, back to the graphic novel. Nick Sax used to be a cop. Neck-deep in corruption and booted from the force, since then Sax has made his living as a killer for hire. Tapped up to kill some mobsters, he’s shot while laying waste to them, and ends up in a mob hospital with their boss on his ass in the hopes that one of the dying men shared the password to an account holding millions of dollars. Which is the perfect time for him to gain an imaginary friend – a blue, perpetually positive unicorn named Happy. Happy isn’t Nick’s imaginary friend however, but that of a kidnapped girl, Hayley, and he won’t rest until Nick agrees to track her down. But that agreement is a long time coming, with Nick preferring to do his own thing right up until he’s faced with an awful truth – the kidnapped child isn’t just any kid, but his. And it seems that she, along with a number of other missing kid, is destined to be the victim of a high-level paedophile ring.
Incredibly dark and violent, very free with the language (if you’re not a fan of the c-bomb, maybe don’t read this as it features heavily on every page) and grimly funny, I loved every second of the hour I spent reading this. So much so that I’ll be re-reading again this weekend just before another viewing of the show.