Comic Review: Rick and Morty Presents: Unity #1

Overview:

Unity has made her way to Earth in search of her lost love, Rick Sanchez. Abducting the mad scientist, she brings together a group of her ex-boyfriends. Her goal is to create the perfect boyfriend using the best parts of each of them, yet she is missing the last piece of the puzzle. It is up to Rick and the other ex-boyfriends to help locate Ava, the most supportive partner in the universe.

Rick leads a tactical mission to an alien planet to free Ava from her captives. Unfortunately, along the way, the other Unity ex-boyfriends end up dying which ruins the plans from the get-go. However, when Rick does finally meet Ava, a supercomputer, she has advice for him and his relationship. Rick realizes that he is the perfect terrible boyfriend for the terrible Unity. And, after trying things one more time, they break things off once again.

Our Take:

Unity is the hive-mind entity with the on-again-off-again relationship with Rick. First appearing in season two’s “Auto Erotic Assimilation”, Unity proved to be a powerful and complicated character in Rick’s life. Though she has yet to make a reappearance in the show, it has been expected that she would make a return at some point. Rick and Morty comic books are the perfect medium for Unity to make a comeback and complicate Rick’s life further. And, in place of making a short appearance in the ongoing self-titled books, Unity was gifted her own one-shot title.

The Rick and Morty Presents series has given us some great stories about The Vindicators, Pickle Rick, Mr. Meeseeks and many others. But, Unity has the ability to mess Rick up more than any other. Their unhealthy relationship was at the forefront of her singular television appearance. And, this comic takes that further to acknowledge that Unity has had more than one tumultuous relationship. However, with the way that things ended in “Auto Erotic Assimilation,” it is surprising how onboard Rick is to help his former girlfriend. This could also be a sign of his weakness for the hive-mind as pointed out at the end of this issue.

The beginning of this comic is very confusing. Unity arrives on Earth to take over an airport with her abilities of mind control. It is then revealed that this is part of her plan to track down her former lover, Rick. Yet, the first thing she does is phone him, and as soon as she sends a dirty picture, he is quick to reply. Considering how easy he was to get a hold of, the first few pages of this book seem pointless. And, beyond Rick’s love for the chase, his avoidance of Unity doesn’t look to align with his feelings throughout the rest of the panels.

Unity’s collection of former boyfriends does not make much sense either. First, the hive-mind character is a gender-less one – despite the fact I keep referring to it as her. The idea that this powerful being would only be attracted to men is a significant stretch. Let’s face it, men just are not attractive. Other than the slick and intellectual Rick, I doubt Unity would be involved with any of these other characters. Well, there is a pizza man, that makes sense because everyone loves and needs pizza.

Structurally, the plot is a bit all over the place. There are critical moments that are not fully fleshed out, and the story shifts abruptly. It makes the comic difficult to read at points. This isn’t the worst problem as many comics suffer from being trimmed to fit the pages. However, for anyone who hasn’t seen the episode of Rick and Morty involving Unity prepare to be lost. There is no explanation of what Unity is or her relationship with Rick previous to the book. Even knowing the episode well, and having read thousands of comic books, I was still confused at points and found myself backtracking.

Despite the plot holes, the story is strong overall. Fleshing out more of Rick’s problematic relationship with Unity makes for good reading. There is a solid understanding of how their relationship works. Even Rick, who does some out-of-character maneuvers throughout the story, you can tell where his motives lay. It adds depth to this beloved character, primarily when he interacts with Morty towards the conclusion.

There is a lot to be excited about this issue from the outside. Impulsively I want to say that I love the story just for what it represents. But, it is hard to ignore the problems. Some parts could have easily been cut to make room to expand upon essential plot points. The situational humour is present, but the media requires more one-liners for the comedy to be effective. There were high hopes for this comic, and maybe expectations were too high. However, Unity just doesn’t hold up against the majority of other Rick and Morty Presents titles.