Everyone’s favorite chaos magician (sorry Alan Moore) and comics creator, Grant Morrison, has long been an icon of the sequential storytelling landscape. From Animal Man to The Invisibles through to Justice League, Batman, and his seminal run on New X-Men, Morrison is one of the most beloved writers in comics. But, shockingly, he’s yet to have any of his work bought to life on screen until now! SYFY has released some brand new images from their upcoming adaptation of Morrison and Darick Robertson’s creator owned miniseries, Happy!
Released by Image Comics in 2012, Happy! tells the tale of Nick Sax, a corrupt, alcoholic ex-cop turned killer for hire living in an uber grim and gritty world that seems more suited to the heydays of the ’90s comic boom. After a hit gone wrong, Nick wakes up to a brand new, maybe imaginary partner in Happy the Horse, a peppy blue unicorn who’s here to change Nick’s life for better or worse.
Syfy clearly isn’t shying away from the wildly weird source material, as in these images we see a fantastically rendered Happy the Horse, voiced by Patton Oswalt. The quality of this early CG is really exciting, as we all know how some bad visual effects can age a great project terribly.
We also get a look at Christopher Meloni, who’ll be playing Nick Sax. This casting is a perfect fit as anyone who’s watched Meloni in Law and Order: SVUÂ as well as his broad comedy work like Beef and Wet Hot American Summer will know he has a grasp of drama and humor, essential to a black comedy like Happy! Is this role also a potential Birdman style nod to his long running career on SVU? This is the alt-universe bad cop to his alter-ego’s good? We don’t know but we love it.
With Morrison on exec-production duties and writing alongside Crank’s Brian Taylor, who also directed the pilot, Happy! looks destined to be a wild, wild ride. You’ll be able to catch it on the brand new premiere date of December 6th, which seems to suggest that–like the comic book–Syfy’s series will also be a horrific holiday extravaganza. All we can say is watch out for a lot of creepy criminal Santas!
Have you read Morrison’s satirical silly fest? Are you excited to head down to your LCS and pick it up before the premiere? Or just “happy” to see Patton Oswalt playing an imaginary horse? Fly into the comments!
Images: SYFY, Image Comics
