Still on the Shelf #26 - Super Hero Happy Hour

Originally published September 23rd, 2003 on www.ComiXtreme.com. This work is, of course, © Craig Reade.

Counter to all logic, it can be a horrid experience walking into your comic shop on Wednesday to pick up your books and finding you have a few extra bucks to spare, and the urge to try something new. If you are at all like me, you already buy all of the titles you know you really like. Everything else is either totally uninteresting to you, or deep into a story arc, and a poor candidate for a single-issue purchase. During times like this, I invariably end up in the Small Press/independent racks, where I am confronted by rows of titles I have never heard of. Luckily, sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.

Just three issues old, Super Hero Happy Hour caught my eye last Wednesday. Just as you might expect, this super-hero title takes place entirely within the confines of a bar (called the Hideout Bar and Grill- and you thought a hero’s “hide-out” was something totally different!). There, superheroes of First City gather to unwind after a hard day of fighting crime and have a pint or two.

Cast of Characters

For a comic that is only three issues old, there are a ton of characters. Many of the heroes/heroines that frequent the Hide-Out are parodies in some fashion of heroes from other popular comics. They are easy to spot, and frankly, it really helps in sorting out who’s who.

Perhaps the most important and most interesting character in Super Hero Happy Hour (in my eyes) is the yet-unnamed owner and proprietor of the Hide-Out. Like all good bartenders he is always there, but never the center of attention. And when the conversation is lulled, he always kicks it back into gear. Beyond that, he is protective of his regulars and his bar, and acts as something of a mentor/father figure. It is clear that he is a retired hero, and there is sure to be more revelation about just who he was in issues to come.

Each issue introduces us to several heroes like- “The Guardian” (Joe), a Superman/Captain America Type, Night Ranger and Scout, the Batman and Robin archtypes, and the Eradicator, a vigilante a la the Punisher. The heroines are represented as well, particularly so in issue two, which features a “girls night out.” On the women’s side, you have heroines ranging in types from Catwoman all the way to the Dazzler, and everything in between.

Usually I would go in depth about each major character, but it is really difficult to do for a title like this. The heroes do not call each other by their “professional names” in the bar (as would be expected), and you really have to glean those from stories they tell each other when they are talking about work. Each individual hero’s powers are also not normally discussed, and can really only be leaned when one hero or another uses them for some ultimately inconsequential reason. To go into the details revealed about the characters thus far would amount to spoilers, and I would just assume have you go out and read the issues yourself!

Thoughts

This title is another tough to describe, but wholly great book. You might think at first that superheroes sitting around in a bar is a sure formula for stagnation, but it is quite the opposite. Beyond the superficial retelling of their “exploits,” you also get behind the scenes details about what “the media” got wrong (“It turns out that the mutant wasn’t there to blow up the stadium after all.”), complaints about action figures, nemesis swapping, sidekick angst, and a lot more.

Aside from critical acclaim, Super Hero Happy Hour also has something of an industry following. Issue #3 proudly displays “I actually wish I would have thought of it,” a quote from Brian Michael Bendis. And the praise is well deserved. Geek Punk’s website (the publisher) proudly displays more praise from the likes of Mark Waid and Gail Simone. Simone, along with Cal Slayton, will be doing a back-up story on issue #4. As a big fan of Gail Simone, I am eagerly awaiting that little bonus. Letters from other figures within the industry also appear in each issue, so the insider following is certainly not limited to one or two people.

Super Hero Happy Hour was created, and is written and lettered by Dan Taylor. He got the idea for the book while watching the “Got Milk” commercial featuring various Marvel heroes while sitting in a bar. The idea was a creative gold-mine, in my opinion, and it definitely made my bored, comic-store browsing well worth the time.

Taylor has paired up with Chris Fason for the artwork. The black and white, cartoon-style artwork is a welcome change from some of the “big-name” comic art out there today (which often takes itself far too seriously in my mind), and it certainly adds an element of fun to the book. It also fits the story perfectly well, and Fason manages to make each of the various characters distinct enough to easily distinguish from one-another, even when the character’s name has not even been introduced. It is easy on the eyes, and it makes reading the story much easier to follow when you don’t have to stop every panel to study what is going on in the frame.

Bottom Line

If you call yourself a comic fan, you owe it to yourself to check out this title. All three major distributors carry Super Hero Happy Hour, so it is possible that you can find copies of the first three issues in your local shop. If not, they are all available on the GeekPunk website, at GeekPunk.com. Issue #4 is due out on October 1st (may be delayed to October 8th), and a trade paperback collecting the first four issues is set to be released in early December. I can’t recommend this one enough- I am hoping to see a great deal more Super Hero Happy Hour for a long time to come.