The first installment of Josh Trujillo and Ryan Little’s four part Rick and Morty epic, ‘Kingdom Balls’, has landed in comic book shops, and it’s been a totally wild ride already! Rick, Morty and Jerry find themselves transported to the Story World – a land ruled by all the classical concepts of narrative that we all recall from English class. This first volume is ‘Man versus Man’ – the first of the three universal conflicts, the other two being ‘Man versus Nature’ and ‘Man versus Self.’
This comic is a great example of what a good time you can have when you really focus in on the underpinnings of narrative structure – conflict is not just an inevitable part of the story structure of ‘Kingdom Balls’ – it’s a stated theme, overtly the driving force, and its own inciting incident. It means that all the fatty rising action can be trimmed off this story steak, leaving nothing but prime, grade A battle beef behind. In a universe where Man versus Man is the raison d’être, all kinds of guys are going to pop up to get their fight on! Luckily, Rick, Morty and Jerry have access to dope gear like swords and armour to defend themselves. A charmingly sophomoric sense of humour keeps in step with the animated show’s sensibilities and ensures that the high concept storytelling elements don’t feel too heavy-handed – it’s just a really fun, stupid-smart read. In the world of symbolism, swords are the most famous of penis substitutes, so why not take things just a little bit further by adding a neat little set of testicles to the hilt?
So far, ‘Kingdom Balls’ has a similar vibe to the infinitely complex ‘Story Train’ episode of R&M – a fresh take on the relentlessly predictable arc that is Story. The familiar and always excellent art of frequent R&M illustrator Jarrett Williams reinforces the dynamic narrative style, and there are some great variant covers by Hank Jones, Gina Allnat and Lane Lloyd. It’s a really strong start to this series, and makes one wonder what interesting narrative concepts will be deconstructed over the next three issues. In conclusion, if you like metanarratives and swords with tight little nut sacks on them, ‘Kingdom Balls’ is probably for you!