Authorised Happiness v1 – Like Totalitarian Twilight Zone

50 years ago, the government fixed all the problems. Public health care for all. Planned vacations. Rock star-level government grants for artists, no strings attached.

It’s a complete dumpster fire.

You might consider this a political book, but one that goes against the usual grain. What happens when the state goes too far in the other direction and starts to run people’s lives in the name of the “greater good”?

In this first of a three book series, we get three stories showing what might happen in such a crazy far-off world that grows closer every year, all from the point of view of the citizens for whom this utopia just isn’t working…

Credits Are Good. You Should Comply.

The Story Behind the Stories

Like “Pietrolino,” this is a story adapted by its own author that was originally written for another medium before ending up in comics form. In this case, it was meant to be a television series a decade earlier.

I could easily see this book adapted into a television series today, for sure. It has enough of a premise to provide a springboard for plenty of stories. It’s a natural fit for a streaming service. It has bits of “Twilight Zone” and “Black Mirror,” both, in it.

A Political Reversal of the Usual

Most comics go the other way, politically. They’re concerned with the damage of greedy businesses or corrupt religions or authoritarian regimes using the government to control people in their own self interests.

This book goes in another direction. What happens when the government takes everything over for the good of the people? What happens when the needs of the many outweighs the needs or the wants of the few, or of the one. (Sorry, Spock.)

What happens when equality goes too far and you wind up with a militant Nanny State?

This book is what happens. The government has solved so many problems with institutional reform. The government runs the health care system, for example, and everyone complies with their best behavior guidelines for the good of society. This goes beyond just taking your vaccines. This goes to the level of the police checking people randomly in cold weather to make sure they’re wearing warm clothes. This is the authorities coming into your home to make sure it’s safe and healthy for everyone.

The best health care is not to get sick, right? This government dictates much of human behavior for the sake of curing society’s ills ahead of time. It schedules your gym time for you.

Vacations are a great idea and lots of people in America are upset that other countries offer more paid holidays or vacations. This book goes even further: The government will schedule your vacation for you. They think vacations will be healthier and happier this way.

Sure, that might mean your vacation is in a bad place at the wrong time of year, but if you behave and get all your social points, you might be accommodated.

Think this is such a crazy idea? They’re already trying the social credits thing in China. You can’t get a train ride if your score is too low. Pay your debts, smile at your neighbors, and don’t play too many video games or they’ll throttle your internet, deny you entrance to the best hotels, and take your dog away.

Maybe “Authorised Happiness” was just 30 years ahead of its time?

Let’s look at the three stories included in this first volume of the three part series:

“Career Plan”, or “Office Space, But Worse”

Francis Morton lands a new job, working as a numbers cruncher at the General Analysis Company.

What does the company analyze? Nobody knows. Does it matter? He’s just lucky to have a job! Why ask questions?

He doesn’t think much of it, but there’s pressure from friends and family to explain what he does, and he can’t answer it. He asks some questions at work, but doesn’t get satisfactory answers.

Suddenly, he’s getting curious.

Slowly, the question drives him to more desperate measures….

It’s a great self-contained story about one man who wants his life to mean something, basically. Everyone has that feeling that what they’re doing at work is meaningless. You’re just pushing papers along and it doesn’t matter. For some people, they’ll just cash the paycheck and go home. For others, the nagging curiosity will demand an answer.

Poor Francis winds up in the latter category, and that drives him to actions that in his world might be seen as a little crazy.

It’s a great snapshot into the world of “Authorised Happiness,” with a snappy plot that keeps moving forward on every page. The closer Francis comes to an answer, the more you’ll want to know the answer, too. Van Hamme is great at writing those stories that have mysteries that tease you along, and it’s used well here. This is a real page turner that doesn’t just repeat itself until the end. The ambition and the action only rises as the story progresses, along with the potential punishment if he gets caught.

And, yes, there’s a twist or two to the story that’s a lot of dark fun.

Let’s Talk About The Art of Griffo

Griffo’s art fits in well with other Van Hamme books like “XIII” and “Largo Winch”. It’s that super realistic look that, while it produces some stiff-looking humans at times, works well for stories that need a certain grounding in the real world. A cartoonier artist would have risked turning this story into something more satirical than cautionary.

Griffo has to draw a little of everything in this book, including a whole lot of regular looking people, tall buildings, detailed vehicles, and more. It’s not quite as detailed and dramatic as Francois Schuiten’s work, for example, but it gives the book a certain verisimilitude.

All of those pieces fit together naturally. It’s all obviously designed from a singular vision.

In the book’s introduction, Van Hamme describes Griffo’s art:

Raw art, rough, axe-hewn, that hits you right in the guts. Then, on the second reading, you find it rich with a thousand details that give the characters, amidst the depth of the setting, the density of true living beings. It was the perfect style to create the atmosphere — rather dark, after all — the series needed.

Jean Van Hamme

That works.

Surprisingly, perhaps, it’s not too futuristic at all. Everything hasn’t been replaced by screens, for example. The propaganda signs inside the doctor’s offices are printed posters that almost look like they were done on super larger typewriters.

But, then, this series originally started in 1982, so that’s all understandable. I like the way it gives the book a slightly retro feel to its futurism. It’s almost like technological improvements have been stifled under the new government’s control.

“To Your Health!”, or “How Hanes Made a Killing In This System”

The question of health care is one that comes up on a daily basis. Should the government take over health care and provide it to all citizens? What would happen if you take that tactic to its extreme? How far should “health care” go?

“Authorised Happiness” is here to show you one possible future where a government is authorized to mandate behaviors for the betterment of the society’s health.

In this story, we meet Michelle Fields, a single mom struggling to raise her kid, keep her job, and bring in as much of her salary as possible without the Medical Police fining her for frequent health violations — everything from forgetting to wear an undershirt in cold weather to mandated diets and exercise regimes.

Oh, and don’t turn off the tv before the weather forecast at night. You’ll catch your death of cold! That would hurt our greater society!

Fields meets a man who’s gone “unaffiliated.” He’s opted out of the medical system and leads a wild life of fun and relaxation. She admires his situation and wishes she could join him, but it’s risky. What would happen if she got sick?

But living in the system is so oppressive that it’s almost worth taking that risk to feel alive again.

It’s a strong story about a system that’s gone too far, picking out a perfect character to show the negative impacts it could have. Van Hamme conjures up a lot of logical details for this story, pushing everything past the kind of things you might think of at first. It almost pushes into satire, that’s how crazy it gets.

Or is it so crazy?

The plot is strong, with lots of pressures from all sides on Michele. The turning point in the story is a little obvious, but it does what it needs to do to push the story towards its ending.

“Hurrary for the Holidays!”, or “Shuffleboard or Die!”

A family goes on vacation to the beach. It’s something like one of those all-inclusive resorts. Picture “Dirty Dancing,” except it’s not that upscale. And it’s also in the middle of April.

Who wants to hang out seaside in April?

But that’s what you get with a government that mandates vacation time to keep the population happy while assigning everyone specific times and places to go. Unless you’re in the upper echelon of favored citizens, you’ll wind up with no control over your own leisure time. You’ll get the beach instead of the mountains, and it’ll be in the rainy winter instead of the sunny summer.

Oh, and you know all those activities the resorts have that you don’t want to participate in? You don’t have that choice in this world. You must cooperate and play along with the group. Or else!

Everyone will have fun! Everyone will be a good citizen! Shuffleboard or die!

In classic story fashion, this one is about two teenagers who want to have a little fling during this forced vacation. Problem is, they’re on different teams. You can’t have competitors at the “resort” acting in ways that might harm their teams, can you?

Think of the greater good!

We also learn from this story that the shift to this form of governance is relatively recent. A senior citizen at the camp tells stories of the better days in times of yore, and we even get a quick history lesson and the how and why this vacation system came into being. It’s for all the best reasons, of course — if everyone goes on vacation at the same time, then everything is crowded and nobody has a good time!

Of course.

It’s another strong story that blends the history with the characters. This one is all about the star crossed teenaged lovers and what becomes of them when they rebel against the system. As with the other stories, things don’t look so good for them.

Recommended?

Yes. For starters, I found it interesting to have a book that goes in the opposite direction from most comics. Van Hamme isn’t lecturing the reader on any particular system or current event. He’s imagined a world in which this is the new norm, and then he’s chosen characters to illustrate the dangers of going along and not going along with it.

While each story stands on its own, there’s also a larger something happening, which the third book promises to pay off.

There’s a text page afterwards from Griffo that you might want to skip until you’ve read the entire series. It hints a bit too much at the payoff. The opening three pages of text that sets up the series is fair game, though.

As an alternate history collection of short stories, this one is in my wheelhouse. All three volumes are out in English now, and I’ll be reading all the way through, for sure.

— 2019.023 —

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