Review: HaHa #6
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Publisher:Â Image Comics
Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: MartĂn Morazzo, Brian Level
Letters: Good Old Neon
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
Summary
“Cuckoo Karate….” – Arty (aka Arthur Fleck) (aka Joaquin Rafael Phoenix as The Joker)
HAHA #6- “HAPPY HANK THE VERY HAPPY CLOWN” Now where have we seen this guy before?
The worlds of HAHA and ICE CREAM MAN reveal themselves as one and the same in this story about the last days of Happy Hank (previously seen in ICE CREAM MAN #8). Featuring artwork, of course, by the ICE CREAM MAN creative team of MARTÍN MORAZZO and CHRIS O’HALLORAN.
With issues drawn by VANESA DEL REY (REDLANDS), GABRIEL WALTA (Vision), ROGER LANGRIDGE (Thor), and more, HAHA peeks under the big top, over the rainbow, and even inside a balloon to tell a wide-ranging slew of stories about “funny” men and women, proving that some things are so sad you just have to laugh.
Positives
W. Maxwell Prince delivers an amalgamation of his creations in Ice Cream Man, as well as HaHa. My local comic store is all about some W. Maxwell Prince. The owner loves everything he does and he really gets him. He applauds HaHa and took long liberties to tell me about the water colors, the art, the story lines.
As a reviewer/critic/fan…..I don’t get Prince and his work. I simply don’t. But that is okay! He has his fans who adore what he does. I found that most of the series is what it is…a depressed version of the clowns that we saw in Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of The Joker.
From paycheck to paycheck, to depressed topics, this series was exhausting to me. Again, it is not my cup of tea and I don’t want any clowns coming to find me to shout at me. I love the Joker at DC, I like Ronald McDonald on occasion and I really enjoyed Pennywise as a villain in IT. I loved issues #3 and #5. But these clowns are not for my circus!
This is the worst tale that the HAHA series has generated. Issue 5 set the bar way high for the conclusion and what I got was solid art, but the story was a bust for me. Again, if you speak to my local comic book store owner, he will talk to you about it for hours.
Negatives
It was a rip off of a movie. It was an age old theme. The story did not make any sense. But again, there are Prince fans that love his work. A rose by any other name smells just as sweet. If this is your cup of tea, drink up. But there was nothing funny about HaHa…nothing!
Verdict
Your collection would benefit from issues #3 and #5. Given that I am an optimist at heart, i really wanted to laugh at HaHa on some level. Billed as a tragedy, it lived up to that for me. The art was superb in this issue, but I just don’t get it!
