Review: Rick and Morty #9 (2023)

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Chelsea Gamble

Overview

Rick’s fight against the Thanosian god Nunzamel continues to escalate – killing a god is as good a reason as any to get out of bed and ride a psychic vulture, even if you’re not particularly invested in said god’s whole deal. Things reach meta-biblical proportions.

On the grandson side of things, Morty continues his wild and weird journey through Anti-Hala. Morty uses a little bit of downtime to creep on Noelle, the niece of Goldenfold. While being trapped in the afterlife of the gods with a girl works just fine for Morty, while Noelle is beginning to regret opening that (literal) can of beans in the first place.

Our Take

The Alex Firer era of Rick and Morty comics keeps on keepin’ on with this issue. The fully modern art style of Fred C. Stresing is on point, managing to match stride with a storyline that fuses current day sensibilities with all that is great about silver age comics. You can feel the mythos behind each of the undead gods, and a Kirby-esque love of waxing philosophic while floating in space is used to great effect. Both of our titular characters are as hopelessly destructive to themselves and the people around them as they’ve ever been in the animated show, but a hallmark of Firer’s characterization of Rick and Morty is an extra layer of ire, pointed inward. There is no Rickest Rick here – there are only Ricks, and Ricks are bullshit. Mortys are formed by the pressure of Ricks, and they too, are bullshit. And not in a cute way. A full page of ‘I Worship You’ Morty art has a self awareness that can make the reader’s skin crawl. I both never want to see this image again, and want to have it permanently tattooed on my person.

Beyond the basics, this comic is just a dope read. Little details like an old time newspaper article documenting the ‘Bird v Brain’ battle and the deep cut reference to pre-code genius Jack Cole offer bonus extra fun for the people left scavenging joy from the the glowing-green nuclear wasteland of fandom in the age of Roiland’s exile.

So, who wants to buy some god bucks?