Review: Grant Morrison's "Happy"

If you could see my thoughts in little clouds above my head while I was reading Happy you would have been treated to a spectacular visual display of "WTF's,""Ooooh's," and single sudden moment of "Oh shit!" That's because Happy is and forever will be one of the most immaginative and unique things I've ever read. 

Writer Grant Morrison is one of the very best writers in comics and his first project for Image does not disappoint. In Happy Grant further explores the power of imagination, introducing us to a obnoxious blue horse (unicorn?) that only the protagonist Nick Sax can see. The banter exchanged between Happy the imaginary horse and Nick is what you'd expect from a conversation between a disgraced alcoholic and a dopey imaginary friend to be.  

The beauty of Happy lies in how it serves as an homage to the potential of our imagination. Maybe the whole story was Nick's mind's attempt to escape from the torture he was receiving, or maybe its his journey though purgatory? I don't want to go too deep into the meaning of the story, so instead I invite all you avid comic fans out there to pick up a copy of Happy and have your own experience in the 5th dimension.

Happy #1-4
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Darick Roberston
Colourist: Richard P Clark, Tony Aviña
Cover Artist: Darick Robertson, Mike Allred, Cameron Stewart, Rian Hughes, Frank Quitely
Letters: Simon Bowland

Publisher: Image 

A Boy and his Bear part 1.5

Adam's Diary/December 12, 2013
     
       I guess I've always known... I mean, who ever heard of a Chow chow that climbs trees? The nice pet doctor man let me keep climber because he has never attacked nobody. I have to keep what climber really is from everybody; when I got back home I told my parents that the pet doctor said that Climber is just the type of Chow chow that needs to hibernate though the winter. They're exact response was: "Your so lucky to have a dog that knows how to take care of itself!" I have now begun to question the intelligence of my parents.

The first two lines were written by Neil Gaiman

It wasn't just the murder, he decided. Everything else seemed to have conspired to ruin his day as well. Even the cat.

"I hate you" were the words Neil chose to direct towards the blank emotionless face of the neighbor's cat, who was once again using Neil's prized aquarium as his own personal buffet. Normally, "Ser Oliver" would find himself scurrying out of the apartment right now followed by a furry of insults derived from Neil's colorful vocabulary. But not today, today was an especially terrible day. Neil couldn't seem to think of anything other than the murder. How could they? To someone so damn important, so damn brilliant, and so damn special to Neil. "Everything is falling to shit, first my marriage fails, then my children start calling another man dad, and now THIS." - "That's it, I've had it! If he is dead than what point is there to this madness anymore? It's over... well for me at least."

Neil never watched Game of Thrones again.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/jun/14/neil-gaiman-write-a-story?CMP=twt_gu

A Boy and His Bear

This is a children's story. About a Child.

Adam always wanted a dog to call his own. He finally got the ok from his parents to go down to the local animal shelter to get a dog of His chossing. Little did he know what awaited him there.

They had everything from little Chihuahuas to giant Great Danes. Yet the only dog that caught little Adam's attention was a black Chow-chow puppy. Adam and the little animal made eye contact, and their destines became intertwined FOREVER.

Adam decided to name his new best friend "Climber;" because unlike many other little Chow-chow puppies Climber like his name suggests loved to climb trees. Adam and his friends of course could not get enough of the little pup's tree climbing antics.

Adam has owned Climber for almost a year now and the little pup now always seemed to want to stand on its hindlegs. People came from all around to see the amazing standing Chow-Chow. 

Then winter came and Climber started to develop some unusual eating habits. He seemed to always be hungry and ate more than four times his usual servings of dog food per meal! Needless today Adam was stumped. Then one morning  Climber refused to wake up. Adam kept trying and trying but the little pup would not even stir, he had no choice but to take Climber to the vet. 

"There's noting wrong with your pet boy" said the vet. "But there is something I should ask you, how in the world did you come to possess a black bear cub!" 

End of Part 1

A letter to J.K Rowling

Dear Ms. Rowling.

                 Let me start off by giving you the upmost praise for your work on the Harry Potter series of novels. Each book was as magical and fantastic as the last; and I fully respect your decision to leave the Deathly Hollows as the last Harry Potter book. With that said I find it very difficult to fathom how such an amazing brand like Harry Potter can produce such awful video games. It is NOT a good thing to have the best games in your repertoire be LEGO adaptations of the novels. Each "blockbuster" game is based off its movie counterpart, and we all know how much "work" is put into movie licensed games. Pottermore on the other hand is an amazing interactive reading experience but it's not a video game. 

                  Maybe you have yet to see the great potential of games to deliver very unique and immersive experiences that can only help to enrich the lore and the magic of the Harry Potter universe. 

                 If you're tired of your beloved franchise's video games being "half-assed," I'm ready to take over and take Harry Potter video games in the right direction. I have a great love for the original seven books, and I would not tarnish their mythos in any way; I would simply work to enrich it. For example: one of my ideas is to have a game entitled "Hogwarts."The player would play as a male or female character of their choosing and experience the years before the events of the first book. 

Contact me at francoromualdez@gmail.com if you want to get to work already.

Franco Romualdez

Disclaimer: The contents of this letter are all really my ideas on the state of the Harry Potter video games. However, this was not really sent to JK Rowling (obviously).

We are

 We are not statistics we are people. We are not cattle to be herded. 

We are not machines, we can be overworked. We are human and we are meant to live.

Mainstream

Go to college. Get a Job. Forget your dreams. Don't try so hard.
Lose your Soul. Lose your Mind. You're not one of a kind.

What you love can't be your life. How can we be so blind?

Be mainstream; a programed machine.

Programed from birth to be alive but not to live.

Always thought to become part of the hive.