Happy

Creation

Happy was created by writer John Ney Rieber and artist Peter Gross in The Books of Magic issue 6 in 1994.

Major Story Arcs

Happy was created by Martyn, a member of the Cold Flame cult of sorcerers. He is a golem made of clay.

Martyn uses him for manual labor and appreciates the fact that he can’t interrupt him since he can’t speak.

He also guards Martyn’s room. When Tim Hunter tries to peek in once, Happy grabs his arm.

Since he won’t let go, Tim uses his magic to scrawl a smiley face on the previously-featureless golem’s head.

He then renames the golem “Happy,” and takes him from Martyn’s control and puts him into his own service, a truly powerful piece of magic.

After learning that Martyn is dead, Leah burns his house down with Happy in it. However, Happy is fireproof and survives.

Later, when Tim takes a trip to Hell to rescue Molly, he brings Happy along because he thinks “it would be really super if someone cheerful and indestructible came along.”

In Hell, Happy mostly just follows Tim around as a bodyguard. When Tim puts the Narl named Tanger on Happy’s shoulder, the small twig-like creature begins to grow extra roots that dig into Happy’s nurturing clay body.

They are separated and Tanger and Happy go off in a different area of Hell than Tim. They accidentally break into an auditorium where Barbatos is giving an advertising spiel to a bunch of demons, about his latest gimmick to warp humanity.

Happy and Tanger are chained up, but then the demons run off due to a fear of incoming Love. The angel Araquel arrives, and Happy stays his arm from chopping Barbatos with his sword. Araquel throws Barbatos in Happy’s arms, to be a prisoner instead. They return home after a mystical side-trip set up by Barbatos.

A long time later, Tim’s creations have all rebelled against Tim and have moved to Molly’s house. They trust her.

When Tim’s Other (who they think is the real Tim) shows up, Happy smacks him. The Other leaves because he knows that if he uses his magic on Happy, Tim will know.

Long after that, a magical alternate version of happy also exists, and helps Tim defeat Barbatos. Tim moves on in life. Happy is still living with Molly and Tim’s other creations. They seem to be building a space ship, probably created by Awn the Blink.