Comic Review: Rick and Morty #39

Who needs the show when the comic is this good?

Overview:

Rick and Morty are flying the stars when they are suddenly intercepted. Rick is under arrest for some brain juice cookies, or something, honestly, there is a billion things he could be arrested for. On a ship of criminals that work for a gangster known as Party Dog, there is a sudden jailbreak and all of the officers are killed. Rick manages to convince them that they will need him to pilot the ship, which he ends up directing towards the sun. Making a quick escape in their own ship, Rick and Morty killed off all the gangsters and are now the targets of the nefarious Party Dog.

Also, Beth is preparing to divorce Jerry. But, a television company wants to make him rich thanks to his very unremarkable right hand. During a meeting, Beth and Jerry find out he would have to leave his family to live out a life of riches and pampering. Beth pulls the plug on the whole thing because if Jerry is leaving it will be on her terms.

Our Take:

This was some solid Rick and Morty action and I am really enjoying this comic series to the point that who needs a new season? Okay, I do. But, these characters are so well established already, they are easy to write and you can visualize it all really well. Add that to some fun writing that understands the core concepts of the show, and it is a winning formula. Honestly, if you are one of those people checking in daily for news on upcoming Rick and Morty, stop wasting your time and read the books. They may not be better, but they hold up.

Rick and Morty make some great pop culture cliché point-outs in this issue. It is a fact that whenever you see a collection of aliens in a sci-fi series, it is always the same group of creatures. The robot, the human with one glaring deformation that makes him look out of this world, and the glob of whatever. But, is it really a cliché, or are some of these time honoured traditions in the genre. Or even, the continual use of the same style could be an homage to those before. Either way, I wouldn’t change the gathering of random space aliens for anything, you can always add more weird creatures.

I am excited about the new villain, Party Dog. Though Rick and Morty have yet to officially cross paths with the gangster, it is bound to happen soon. Pretty much a talking dog straight out of the eighties, I am hoping we get some backstory and motive. These strange characters are what Rick and Morty are all about, and I am grateful that the comic book does not shy away from creating their own faces. Too many show influenced comic books are afraid to steer too far from the tried and true. Just another reason why this series is worth reading.

The Beth and Jerry storyline felt like a throw-in, and I always feel so terrible for the family man. It is a lot of the characters typical banter, mixed in with some deep commentary on television networks – it felt like a jab at Netflix mostly. Either way, it was entertaining enough, they could have mixed the two stories together to make the reading easier and stagger the Rick and Morty piece. But, I feel like I am looking for things to complain about, the truth is I love this book and the series and they can do what they want.