Comic Review: Rick and Morty #54

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

“Lonely Jerry and the Multi-Dimensional Sales Opportunity: Part Two”

Hot off the tails of Jerry inadvertently signing himself up for a pyramid scheme, Summer and Rick find themselves involved for more than they bargained for. Rick, whose identity was stolen by Jerry in the sake of credit, is going to headquarters with guns blazing. Meanwhile, Summer is helping them to infiltrate by going through the frustrating inauguration to the company. Will, any of them, be able to get out of this alive, and will Morty and Beth have dinner ready in time?

“What If Rick Was One Of Us?”

One of Rick’s scientific accomplices believes he has found god. He has brought Rick, Morty, and his own protégé with him to witness the significant discovery. However, when their maker reveals his true form, he is much more familiar than they could have guessed. And, Rick seems overly underwhelmed by the whole event.

 

Our Take:

There is something about these two-part stories from Rick and Morty comics that always seems to fall flat. Maybe it has to do with the idea that each book already has two individual stories inside of them. If you are going to do a two-parter, why not fit them both into the same book. Fans will not protest having a complete plot in one issue. In fact, I would happily relinquish the second story and save it for another issue. It has become a bit of a pattern that these broken up plots lackluster when it comes to a conclusion. With all of the setup built in the first part, the follow up tends to be nothing more than action and resolution. That means that there isn’t much room for the exciting concepts or humour that this title is known for.

As a complete story, “Lonely Jerry and the Multi-Dimensional Sales Opportunity” is a fun read. It would hold steady as a single issue. However, having a conclusion on its own doesn’t offer the reader much. It also presents the problem of having new readers, who this is possibly being their first Rick and Morty comic, being completely lost and confused. Maybe I am going to deep on this topic, but the frustration stems from high expectations for quality content from this title. And, this conclusion did not hold up to the standards these comics set up for themselves.

The second story in this issue was short but sweet. It has all of the theories and inventiveness that Rick and Morty is meant to deliver. There is also a twist ending that makes it stand out from other things that you can read on the stands. One thing that did stand out was the inclusion of Rick’s acquaintance, Samzar, who fits in the story as we are supposed to know who he is. This makes me believe that he may be a character that makes an appearance in the upcoming fourth season of the original series, much like Glootie appeared in issue #52 a couple of months ago. But, I suppose we will have to wait and see. There is always the potential that this was just a throwaway character only meant to appear as he is.

Despite being underwhelmed by another vanilla two-parter conclusion, my love for Rick and Morty comics does not waiver. You cannot expect every issue to be at the same quality that the tv series presents. A lot of the writers that contribute to this title are fans that work on a multitude of things like WWE comics and Sonic the Hedgehog. It’s not like Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland are working on this book or these comic writers can be as devoted to the characters as they are. It seems like every few issues there is a flatter one like this, and I don’t really blame them, because the next couple of books are usually a knockout. I just hope they can figure out these two-parters, and at least consider putting them into one issue going forward.