The covers: The Regular cover by CJ Cannon features the return of Tiny Rick, who’s piloting Rick’s ship, holding a juice bag in one hand, while Morty looks more nervous than ever. Across the hood of their craft, Tiny Rick has spray painted his name in neon colors. A funny cover that’s the appropriate way to announce the return of this version of Rick. The variant cover is by Erin Hunting. Rick and the Smith family are not in the best of places: on top of a six eyed monstrous green creature, whose tentacles end in maces that are about to pound them senseless. Rick could care less as he’s about to take another swig from the beer he’s holding. Summer has a space gun and eyes the beast, Morty is panicked while holding helmeted Snuffles, while Beth and Jerry look at Rick with disdain. The style on this is unlike any I’ve seen before on a book and, though it’s really different, I like it. Overall grades: Regular A+ and Variant A-
The story: The main story is by Kyle Starks and begins with Morty asking Rick to take him to the mall so he can buy some new shirts. “And, look, I know cool isn’t a quantifiable thing but, like–” Morty begins before he’s interrupted by Rick who says it is and uses a device to have their coolness numbers appear above their heads. The boy’s number isn’t very high, causing him to ask his grandfather why his is. “Very few Earthlings achieve this level of cool, Morty. I’m talking Sinatra, Timothy Leary, Spuds Mackenzie, uh, Tupac. You know who was really cool? Julia Childs. Julia Childs can party, Morty.” Rick dismisses Morty without removing the cool number above his head. This causes the teen an unending amount of trouble at school until Tiny Rick arrives. Summer asks if the same troubles will plague Rick as they did the last time he was Tiny Rick, causing him to answer, “What? Aw, heck no, I fixed all that years ago, Summer.” The tiny teen is an instant hit with the kids’ peers and he pleases Morty by taking his coolness number away. The two end up going to the mall, but not before Tiny Rick gives Morty an Anti-Rick gun, since a rogue Rick is going around killing Morties. At the mall the pair shop until a grown up Rick appears and fighting begins. There’s a lot of action, but the conclusion of the fight is fun, with the final page making me laugh uproariously. There’s no dialogue, but this ending is worth the cover price alone. The four page story “Rick and Jerry in : ‘Superior Posterior'” is by Marc Ellerby and it’s much funnier than the main story. Without spoiling things, Jerry uses Rick’s portal gun, goes somewhere, and has his spirits rise, until Rick arrives. This story is hilarious and ends in the same tone as one of the show’s episodes. Overall grade: A
The art: Kyle Starks illustrates his own story and it’s too different from the look of the show. Characters are recognizable, but this looks more like an underground comic than the usual visuals. The first page shows this instantly, with Rick’s head going through may changes in shape: his head is tallest in the first panel, squatest in the third, and the most normal in the final. Tiny Rick’s entrance is good, being the largest panel in the story, but when he does battle with the older Rick in the mall his legs grow considerably. The layout of Page 12 is great, with a ton of action shown, and his did start to win me over, but it was too little too late. The final page has no text and is comprised of six equal sized panels and is the highlight of this story. It’s still making me smile, but the majority of the visuals just don’t work. The four page story by Marc Ellerby is also drawn by Ellerby and it’s one reason why this story works is that it looks exactly like the art from one of the shows. The item that causes Jerry so much joy is laugh out loud funny, as is what happens to it. The visuals on this story look great. Overall grade: C-
The colors: The first story has very dark coloring. This could be due to the art’s style more than Katy Farina’s choices. She does what she can to brighten things up, but such heavy line work is tough to work with. Even when the backgrounds are empty, the colors are dark, such as on Pages 9, 10, 12, and 17. The final page of this story has the brightest colors, with one being extremely important in the final panel. Conversely, the four page back up story is much brighter. Set on an alien world, there are more opportunities for colors, but the item that causes Jerry so much joy has got a spectacular golden shine. Mixed colors to go with the mixed art. Overall grade: C
The letters: Dialogue, coolness numbers, yells, and sounds are Crank!’s contributions to this issue. The coolness numbers are done in an older looking font, which matches Rick’s age and lead to a good joke on Page 3. It’s the sounds, though, that are really memorable, with there being so many during the fight scene: a good BOOF and BOINK are hard to resist. Overall grade: A
The final line: The art on the first story hurts this issue’s overall enjoyment, but both tales are as funny as the show. Fun reads, but a visual letdown. Overall grade: B-
To order a digital copy go to https://www.comixology.com/Rick-and-Morty-25/digital-comic/489635?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC90b3BSZXN1bHRzU2xpZGVy
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