Hero Happy Hour is an American comic book

American comic book

An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...

 co-created by writer Dan Taylor and artist Chris Fason. Like The Tick and, less satirically, Watchmen

Watchmen

Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...

 it takes place in a universe of vaguely familiar costumed crime fighters. All stories unfold in First City at The Hideout Bar & Grill (Drink Specials For All Heroes) and usually feature genre savvy humor.

Publication history

The series was originally released as Super Hero Happy Hour in 2002 but the "Super" had to be dropped over trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 concerns about the use of the term super hero, as explained by Dan Taylor:
A Hero Happy Hour Super Special was published in 2004 and IDW Publishing

IDW Publishing

IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...

 released Super Deluxe Hero Happy Hour "The Lost Episode" in 2006.

Characters

• The Bartender — retired superhero. Always quick with a free round if things are getting tense.
• The Guardian (AKA "Joe", "Goody Two-Shoes") - when he's not swapping arch-nemesises he's optioning his movie rights.
• Night Ranger (AKA "Nick", "Sister Christian") - he had the name before that silly hair-band and he'll be damned if he's going to change it.
• Scout (AKA "Kip") - night Ranger's impetuous young ward.
• Psiren - it's not a boob-job but good tailoring.
• Galaxy Girl - not really a "girl" any more but she liked the alliteration and the perfect adjective for "woman" was already taken.

Collected editions

Some of the series has been collected into a trade paperback

Trade paperback (comics)

In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...

:

• Hero Happy Hour: Heroic Edition (collects Hero Happy Hour #1-5, 150 pages, Lulu.com
  Lulu.com
  Lulu is a company offering publishing, printing, and distribution services with headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina. Since their founding in 2002, Lulu has published over 1.1 million titles by creators in over 200 countries and territories and adds 20,000 new titles to their catalogue a month...
  
  , December 2009, ISBN 0557185793)

Awards

In Wizard

Wizard (magazine)

Wizard or Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment from July 1991 to January 2011...

s Best of 2003 the series was named "Concept We Wish We’d Thought Of."

External links

• GeekPunk
• Hero Happy Hour #1 at Wowio