Comic Review: Rick and Morty: Rick’s New Hat #1

 

 

Overview:

While checking out an intergalactic gas station gift shop, Morty is swindled into purchasing a new hat. But once Rick and Morty return home, the grandfather investigates the mysterious hat for himself. Unfortunately, trying it on for himself is a terrible idea, as it blocks his intelligence.

Without his brains to help them, Rick and Morty resort to a backup plan of restoring his genius, finding the Three Laws of Science. Although, it will not be easy with the evil Council of Dunces hunting them down to assure they do not learn anything new.

 

Our Take:

Comic publisher, Oni Press, has been pumping out Rick and Morty miniseries’ since the long-running, ongoing series ended. There have been some winners along the way and some that are easily forgettable. However, there is a lot of hype behind this latest miniseries, Rick’s New Hat. It has even been marketed as the comic event of 2021.

What makes this 5-issue run so special?

In a forward for the first issue, author Alex Firer gives some insight on the major event. Jokingly promising the greatest comic of all time, he goes on to describe the large crossover events of larger publishers that make for significant reads. One of the defining factors of their success is the multitude of characters that come to be involved. Therefore, Rick’s New Hat was written with the intention of being a massive Rick and Morty in-universe crossover.  

The miniseries will bring in recognizable characters from all seasons of the animated series. Some of the names promised to make an appearance include Pickle Rick, Glootie, and even Morty’s Math Teacher. But there are sure to be some significant surprises along the way.

This first issue is packed with content and exposition. The story kicks off with an origin for humanities own consciousness involving an all-powerful entity, Nunzumel the Think-Giver. Then abruptly, the comic shifts to Rick saving the day once again against a puzzle-themed supervillain. All of this happens before we are even introduced to the hat, its effects, and the perpetrators behind its invention. And before the issue concludes, we are introduced to our first significant crossover character injection, Mr. Poopy Butthole.

I think it is clear to everyone that this series never truly intended to be the year’s major comic event. However, the campaign of saying such is entirely on-brand for the comic and the franchise. In fact, the premise and humour of the book are in tune with the unique brand of intelligent paradoxical comedy of the source material.  

With the amount squeezed into this first issue, there are high hopes for the remainder of the miniseries. Considering the amount of exposition that had to be forced through in the limited number of pages, there will be a lot of content throughout the five issues. 

Beyond the grand scale of this miniseries, there is a lot of fun to be had with this plot. Taking away the one thing that makes Rick who he is (his intelligence) opens the doors for this story to explore a new way of telling Rick and Morty plots. So, while it may not be the massive blockbuster it is pretending to be, there is plenty of reasons to be excited for this new series.