Comic Review: Rick and Morty Vs. The Universe – Summer of Love

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Jilted by Rick’s refusal to let her join the fun times with drugs, Summer conspires to throw a total rager of a Bachelorette Party for Parmesan, and recruits some old friends/acquaintances to do it right.

OUR TAKE

Last month, we kicked off coverage of the new big Rick and Morty comic event, Rick and Morty Vs. The Universe, with the first issue ending in a sudden unexplained death for the personification of Rick’s original universe, just after he had gotten engaged to the show’s current main universe, where everyone pronounces Parmesan as “par-mee-zian”. If you don’t remember that, it’s a throwaway gag from the beginning of the sixth season that I honestly had forgotten until now. Anyway, in between the main four issues of the event, we’re also getting some tie-in issues that show stuff happening from the perspective of other characters, such as Summer, who stars in this first tie-in. The plot of this is essentially a “Girls’ Night Out” type of story, which I’m not sure has an official name, but is basically when at least one female cast member is, for whatever reason, put in a situation where they can’t interact with the main male characters, and also a lot of emphasis is placed on the fact that the episode stars a woman. It’s a type of story that’s becoming a lot less common now that there is a greater emphasis on shows having mixed gender or female led stories, but that does at least seem to be what this issue is doing a nod or even ribbing at.

And as a diversion from the main plot of this event, this issue is…okay. It doesn’t help that the plot of said main event has really only just gotten started, so having this in between story doesn’t do much to emphasize or underscore that. At most, it somewhat better characterizes the character version of the Parmesan universe, who will probably be a bigger part of the main events once she finds out her fiance is dead, but I guess we’ll see how important this issue was for doing that when we see where the main story is going. We also get to see some familiar faces involved, mostly one-off characters like that cat girl from the purge episode and that Captain Planet knock-off girl…or rather, this universe’s version of them since they debuted in episodes in the previous universe, but who’s counting. Also Doctor Wong and Amy are there and do extensions of their usual bits. If you want the full event, pick this up, and if you don’t care or don’t have the money, don’t. The issue ends in what seems to be foreshadowing the next big issue, which comes out the very next week so…see you soon for that review!