Review: The Art of Rick and Morty: Volume Two

As we head into a weekend that will feature Rick and Morty Season Five, it’s incredible to see how far this franchise has come. Once thought of as “the show co-created by the guy who brought you Community”, Rick and Morty has launched the careers for the likes of Justin Roiland, Mike McMahan, and a slew of now Marvel producers that are slowly seeping into an aging MCU hoping to reinvigorate some sort of life back into the comic book movie fandom which, right now, is desperately struggling with both Marvel and DC registering bombs over the summer, and with Shang-Chi not getting Chinese distribution, the bubble very well may have burst on the Marvel/DC fandom.

Fortunately, Rick and Morty is riding a different wave, the burgeoning adult animation industry that we are now enjoying. As we approach Emmy season, we get to check out a brand-new volume of Rick and Morty art that showcases two Emmy-winning seasons for the show, one for “Pickle Rick” the other for “The Vat of Acid Episode”, both fantastic displays of the multitude of muscles that Rick and Morty has shown over the years. For “Pickle Rick”, it’s some of the best choreographed action sequences in American-produced animation. For “The Vat of Acid Episode”, it’s the beautifully sequenced love story for Morty that never was. Mind you, both episodes are embedded in seasons that had shown the overall increase in production quality that Rick and Morty has experienced as it graduates from Starburns Industries and moves into it’s own production studio in the form of Green Portal Productions.

Dark Horse’s The Art of Rick and Morty: Volume Two reads like your classic take on a coffee table book, even if some of the captions come off as a bit too self-serving. Regardless, it’s a treat to see how this show has grown in technical savant the level of which is seldom matched on television. Rick and Morty long held the title of the show with the best monster/alien designs in the business, but the show’s third and fourth seasons also saw the franchise steal the championship belts for action, backgrounds, heart-felt storytelling, and industry-leading voice stars. These two seasons are currently streaming on HBO MAX, which you may need, because after Sunday it will be a while before you can stream Rick and Morty season five.