Comic Review: Rick and Morty Presents Sleepy Gary #1

Finally, Jerry’s long lost love, Sleepy Gary, returns to him.

Overview:

Rick has built a clone of Sleepy Gary in his garage in an attempt to defend himself from future parasitic attacks.  Unfortunately, when the clone awakes with all its memories intact, it breaks free to be reunited with Jerry.  The two star-crossed lovers escape to another universe where they live out an entire life, including having a child together.

Rick and Morty chase down the couple and assure Jerry that only 27-minutes have passed.  Uncertain what to do, Jerry once again runs off with Sleepy Gary, and Morty comes to realize that they might actually be in love.  In a final showdown, Rick beats the parasite to death, and Jerry faces the truth.  Although, this may not be the last we have seen of Sleepy Gary.

Our Take:

The Rick and Morty episode “Total Rickall” is easily one of the most memorable from the series, and many fan’s favourite.  In the show, the Smith family was overrun with “fictional” characters all trying to infiltrate their home.  None were as prominent as Sleepy Gary who had implanted the memories that he was Summer and Morty’s father, Beth’s husband, and Jerry’s lover.  Rick was the only one able to fight back against the parasitic takeover, which resulted in the death of Sleepy Gary.  However, this one-shot comic book starts with Rick recreating the monster in an attempt to understand the creatures better.  And, of course, with anything that starts out with a backstory like that, things can’t end well.

Sleepy Gary himself is not that strong of a character.  He is basically just a more confident, fun-loving version of Jerry.  So, when I first picked up a copy of this one-shot comic book, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I mean, I have enjoyed other Rick and Morty Presents issues, specifically the one on Krombopulos Michael.  Mostly because these characters are ones that I wished to see more of.  However, when I came to realize that this book was not just focused on who Sleepy Gary is, and more of a sequel to the “Total Rickall” episode, I got excited.  We can finally see the life that Jerry and Gary would carve out for themselves should they run away from their family.

The truth of the matter is, Jerry and Sleepy Gary’s relationship is kind of adorable.  Jerry has for once found someone who appreciates him, even for all of his shortcomings.  While Sleepy Gary, a parasite who initially wanted to steal Jerry’s life, is sincerely in love with him now.  Despite the strange background to it all, the love is real, and that makes for an interesting dynamic.  Conceptually, this is a beautiful love story, with all the trimmings to make it great including people trying to tear them apart, fear, loss, and all that other mushiness.

So, this does bring up the question, are Rick and Morty right for trying to kill Sleepy Gary and separate these two?  If they are both going to run away and be happy, then who are they harming.  Sure, Morty loses his father (or two) in the process, but he could find a way to accept things and be happy for them.  Rick is obviously less concerned, and his priorities lay with defending himself from future attacks of the parasite creatures.  However, even he could have accepted that this one clone was an anomaly.  Maybe it’s the hopeless romantic in me, but I think that things could have ended differently for the lovers.  Of course, that would mess up a lot of continuity, which the comic books just don’t have the power to do.

This book was well conceptualized.  It utilized a story that is appreciated from the animated series and took it in a great direction.  I was surprised to see such depth come out of a Rick and Morty comic book, but once and a while a random book like this will surprise you.  There was a serious lack of classic Rick and Morty humour, and I don’t think there is any laugh out loud moments.  The outrageousness and original storytelling more than makes up for needing to get some giggles out.  Overall, this is a shockingly good read that I would recommend for anyone that loved the episode “Total Rickall” as much as I did.