There’s chatter that Rick and Morty Season 3 could be back much sooner than we thought (like before 2016 is over), which is great news indeed.
That still means we’re months away though (it is August after all), so Oni Press is still offering our only Rick and Morty fix in comic book form. Question is, is it good?
Rick and Morty #17 (Oni Press)
So what’s it about? The Oni Summary reads (and check out the full preview here):
Rick’s old drinking buddy has been dethroned and imprisoned by the new queen that Rick told him not to marry. Rick takes Morty on a mission to restore his buddy’s throne, supposedly because Morty’s such a great travel companion. Of course, Rick doesn’t tell Morty that the aliens on this planet are very germ-phobic and he’s inoculated Morty with dozens of infectious diseases to sneak by them. It’s not like Morty’s going to DIE or anything… probably.
.
Why does this book matter?
We recently spoke to Kyle Starks about his new run on Rick and Morty as well as his thoughts on the characters. The guy is hilarious (that includes his work on Sexcastle) and the series is in very good hands. Meanwhile, Marc Ellerby draws this entire issue and continues to write the backup (and he never fails to disappoint). This could be a smashing good time.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
This is hilarious.
If the last issue didn’t do it, this one will make you wish Oni had signed Starks to write Rick and Morty for the rest of his life. There’s a few jokes in this issue that feel right at home with the show (like Rick bringing appliances to life and hearing the horrible things they have to say once sentient) and of course Rick is always good for some Morty abuse too. It’s actually quite amazing how good Starks is at making the character speak and act like their cartoon counterparts. You could easily take this issue and animate it and nobody would know it wasn’t made by the creators. There’s well timed cut aways to Summer while Rick and Morty are on an adventure and plenty of gross out and inappropriate humor too.
Marc Ellerby continues to draw the characters extremely well. He captures the cartoon style of the characters, but doesn’t skimp on details in the environments around them. I particularly liked how Ellerby drew the rainbow vomit (with perfect colors by Katy Farina). Ellerby also writes and draws the backup story titled Jerry Decoy Model and it pokes fun at, you guessed it, Jerry. This story plays the long game with a big joke at the end, but does well to remind us Jerry is a waste and even a robot could do better than him. What’s funny – and maybe this wasn’t intentional – the opening page talks about robots and actually ties in well with the backup.
It can’t be perfect can it?
While this issue only lasts a little over a page, the backup does show us the robot being the perfect father and husband too much and it’s devoid of laughs in this portion. It sets up the big payoff, but I did say to myself, “Okay we get it” and wished it’d get to more of the funny.
He really is…
Is It Good?
The quality is very high and the humor runs fast and deep. You can’t go wrong with this comic if you love comedy and especially if you love Rick and Morty. To reiterate: you could easily take this issue and animate it and nobody would know it wasn’t made by the creators.
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