Comic Review: Rick and Morty #49

Rick achieves his dream of being stuck in a Groundhog Day

 

Overview:

“Ricktroactive”

Rick abruptly wakes up to discover that Morty is crashing the ship into an alien planet.  Strangely, they discover that a Rick and Morty from another dimension have already crashed and died on the planet.  Rick shrugs it off and fixes their ship and continues his day as usual.  However, when Rick wakes up again, he is confused when he has to repeat the exact same steps he did the day before.  And, when it happens for a third time, Rick realizes that he is stuck inside of a Groundhog Day scenario, when someone is stuck repeating the same day over and over for eternity.

Of course, Rick is ecstatic about having all of the time in the world and capitalizes on the opportunity.  He catches up on TV, video games and books, teaches indigenous life to perform music numbers, and commits heinous crimes.  But, after years of repeating the same day, Rick begins to lose his mind (more than average).

 

“Don’t Tell Rick the Jerrysitters Dead”

Rick drops Jerry back off at the Jerry daycare so that he and Morty can have a rematch at Roy.  Jerry gets comfortable when building a model helicopter with the other Jerry’s.  But, when he discovers that one of them was using the model for nefarious purposes chaos ensues.  When Rick returns, there is only one Jerry left standing, let’s hope it is the right one.

Our Take:

There has been a lot of excitement around Rick and Morty comics as the title fast approaches it’s special 50th issue.  Big things are expected for the giant-sized issue that is set to be released next month.  But, before we get there, we still get this stand-alone book.  As excited as we are for the monumental number 50, any Rick and Morty content makes for a good day.  Especially considering April Fool’s Day has come and past with no news on when the TV series will start back up.

One of the greatest things that Rick and Morty never fails at is taking science fiction concepts and clichés and turning them into humorous stories.  So, it feels like it is about time that the duo got stuck in a time vortex ala Groundhog Day.  There can’t be a better fictional character out there that would take advantage of the situation more than Rick Sanchez.  And, he doesn’t disappoint.  Rick manages to take the whole Groundhog Day cliché to that level we always wanted to see when he begins committing murders and taking advantage of knowing what the day’s events will hold.  The writer, Kyle Starks, must have had an easy day once he set the plot up, as the character’s traits easily dictate what he would do.  Though I do think that the ending was too easy, and I hoped for something more substantial.

I do love me a good story about Jerry, and the comic books have provided some of the best.  If you want some of the best Jerry focused reads, I would recommend Rick and Morty vs Dungeons and Dragons, or the recent Rick and Morty Presents: Jerry.  This short 4-page plot brings the unlovable dad back to the Jerry daycare, where he just loves to go.  And, just like the last time, there are other Jerry’s with higher, more sinister aspirations than our own.  It is a good thing that the universe is infinite considering how many Jerry’s have been killed off throughout the years.  But, I could have done with some additional creative Jerry’s in this story.

Seriously, the Rick and Morty comic knocks it out of the park again.  Maybe it is the concept that makes everything these characters touch turn to gold, but this comic is well deserving of reaching an impressive 50 issues.  #49 is a perfect example of how great this content is.  They could have chosen to mail it in this month and put all of their efforts into the milestone issue, but they never stop delivering great reads.  I’ve said it countless times that if you are a Rick and Morty fan, then you should be devouring these books.  They are just as funny and entertaining as the show.  Now is as good a time as any to get on board, with reprints of Rick and Morty #1 coming out alongside the release of issue 50.  These books are only getting better.