This issue, Happy Hour #5, is a yet another doozy. It’s crude and gross and, well…it’s funny.
It’s funny and depressing and just, mind boggling. Every time you think Kim and Jerry might find a way to get free from the two factions (Misery and Joy), they find themselves deeper in trouble. Breaking free from the Joy police brought them right to the Misery police and now they are stuck in a small room being attacked by diurnal Mexican creatures. It’s, well… it’s a lot.
This issue also goes back and forth between Jerry and Kim, and Sullivan, who is getting a taste of the monster he created. But then there is an assault on the Re-Adjustment Center he’s at and it brings a whole new level of “WTF is goign on here?” There is truth from Kim, a broken heart for Jerry, and a swamp that seemingly eats people. And I should of course, again, mention the Mexican Coatis, bred to eat human joy. (Yeah, that’s a thing apparently) There is always so much going on in this comic and every time I think the writers might have gone too far, it turns out that I’m willing to read the insanity if it makes me giggle.
I think my favorite thing about Happy Hour, is that it realizes what it is. There isn’t any pretending to be something other than a gross out comic trying to show you a good deal of satire and disillusionment. And it does a fabulous job. Every issue I’ve read so far has made me shake my head, mutter at the stupidity of humanity, and snort giggle. If that’s what Milligan and Ahoy was after, they’ve succeeded.
