Happy #4 - now that it's over, whaddya think? - SPOILERS!

[ugdave]

I'm not really sure how I feel about this whole story. It felt kind of like an underdeveloped short story idea that Morrison had and then made a book without really worrying about whether it was that good or not.

The whole thing with Mr Blue was fairly contrived - okay he's a big baddie but then also happens to be involved with running kiddie snuff porn? It felt like Morrison worked too hard to circle things back on themselves to be all "ooh cool the big mob guy and the killer santa aren't unrelated they are actually tied together guys!".

I also felt the ending was pretty weak. I get that the former partner is now going to take care of the kid but where did mom go in all of this? She left Sax and took the daughter and then I don't think we saw her again. And presumably the daughter was living with someone when she was kidnapped. Did we see or get an implication that the mother was killed? If not, we're just handing off the kid to the former partner who he had an affair with that caused the marital breakup in the first place. That seems kinda weird. And then we're supposed to get that the mob family fortune was hidden in some storefront manned by some old dude - I think that was what was happening on the last page - the partner going to get the fortune with the password. Using Google translate gives us that the italian phrase she said to the dude was "The Blue Feather" and she has a feather from Happy to present to the guy. Another case where it feels like a clever idea but not based in anything we've seen in the story before. Yeah the guy's name was Mr Blue, but it just seems very half-assed in an attempt to be clever.

I think I just talked myself into knowing how I feel about the story. And it ain't great...

[Scurlogg_Hawkk]

The first issue is very strong but later ones are no so strong in tone .I was expecting some gut wretched ending , but no.
The only gut wretched ending i was these days was Hellblazer 300 :S (CRYBABY)

[Deassehok]

Im excited for Mark Waids Hulk, but the rest looks like Joe Quesada saw his kid/grandkid playing in the tub with all his Marvel toys and said "Hmmmm...team?"

[capuga]

I thought the first 3 issues were decent but that last issue just lost me. So much weird stuffed into 20 something pages.

[thewarning]

I give it a thumbs down. Didn't care much for it past issue #1. I sure wanted to, though...

[Officersmile1466]

1 had so much potential but it started to steadily slip when it became apparent in 2 that the main character would rather play cards for eternity than do awesome stuff. It seemed a bit rushed in the end, which is an annoyance considering how much time they seemed to waste in 2 and 3.

The long delays killed a lot of it for me as well. If issue 4 had been before christmas that'd have been awesome.

The art was great but it felt like if you take happy out of the equation it's a pretty standard ex-cop revenge fest really. Hardly a crazy Morrison story.

But overall I'd say I still enjoyed the series. It just fell way short of it's potential.

[jetter_cheeze]

With the creators involved in this story, I definitely felt that a lot of potential and creative story ideas were left on the table. If it was any other creative team I would shrug and say that it was a decent job for an up and coming creative team, but it just fell way below expectations for this duo.

[lex1126]

1 had so much potential but it started to steadily slip when it became apparent in 2 that the main character would rather play cards for eternity than do awesome stuff. It seemed a bit rushed in the end, which is an annoyance considering how much time they seemed to waste in 2 and 3.

The long delays killed a lot of it for me as well. If issue 4 had been before christmas that'd have been awesome.

The art was great but it felt like if you take happy out of the equation it's a pretty standard ex-cop revenge fest really. Hardly a crazy Morrison story.

But overall I'd say I still enjoyed the series. It just fell way short of it's potential.

yes i agree on the comment about the long delays and its impact if it had been released before xmas. i read the last issue once on the day of purchase, and it was disappointing. however, i reread all 4 issues in one sitting the next day and it is actually pretty good. like most of morrison books, his stories require a second read to appreciate them better.

[Shawn Hopkins]

I really enjoyed it. Definitely a change of pace for Morrison, but it had some fun stuff and a great line when the bad guy went down.

[Scurlogg_Hawkk]

Maybe Grant Morrison needs to a sequel to the series something like Happy 2

[Adam Witt]

I enjoyed it. I think it was Morrison playing with a Garth Ennis / Warren Ellis "gritty" story, and it works. It's best read in a chunk, as opposed to the (vaguely?) monthly schedule it came out on.

If nothing else, it's some of the best work Darick Robertson's done in years.

[Jack00]

Would of been better to read in a single sitting instead of have had to wait what seemed to be 8 months between #1 and 4.